Doing the laundry

Where we lived at Clitheroe flats when I was little we had a communal laundry. My mother's allocated washing day was Monday and it was a hard day's work.

The laundry was a cold grey square room with a low ceiling. Immediately on the left when you came in was a large shelf, about waist height, which ran along that wall and that was where you could sort your washing. Opposite the shelf were two deep concrete tubs with a mangle clamped between them and in the corner was the copper. Cold water taps ran into both tubs and the copper. Right behind the door where you came in was the gas meter which was fed pennies to supply the gas to get the copper going.

On washing day my mother would fill the copper with cold water, add 'Persil' soap powder and put in the sorted whites, feed the gas meter and light the gas. She was a great believer in cotton, so the bed linen, tablecloths, undies, shirts, my father's lab coats, tea towels and bath towels all had a go in the copper. All collars and cuffs would be scrubbed first with a brush and Sunlight soap. When the water in the copper boiled she would stir the contents with a big stick. When everything looked clean, the first tub would be filled and the boiling contents lifted out of the copper with the big stick into the rinse water. The second tub would be filled and the contents of the first tub fed through the mangle to be rinsed again. Everything was always rinsed at least three times. And squeezed through the mangle every time as well.

When this process was completed the washing would be loaded into a heavy wicker laundry basket and dragged to the clothes line which was just outside our back door. It consisted of two wooden upright posts with a wooden arm at the top with 4 lines for the washing. The 'arm' could be raised and lowered.

When all the washing was hanging up my mother would clean the laundry. All surfaces wiped down and the wet floor mopped. The soapy water was emptied out of the copper into a heavy metal bucket and used to wash the floors in our flat.

My poor mother had bad arthritis in her shoulders and all the heavy lifting was agony, so quite early on we were the first people in the flats to buy a washing machine. Everyone came to admire the machine when it was delivered in its big box (I used the box as a cubby house for some time, so I must have been quite small).

It was a Lightburn twin tub washing machine. The side with the agitator heated the water and the other side had the spin drier. It spun when you closed the lid.

We kept the machine in the laundry covered in a white and blue cloth when not in use. It was looked after so well I believe my mother used it for at least twenty years.

The laundry didn't have any power other than gas. In fact it didn't even have electric lights so if anyone wanted to do washing at night they would have
to take candles! My father bought several extension cords, put cup hooks along the eaves of the roofs on the way to the laundry and on washing day we would plug the end into the power in our kitchen before hanging out the extension cords like garlands all the way to the laundry and to the machine.

As there was always a lot of water sloshing on the floor of the laundry there were slatted boards on the concrete so your feet wouldn't get too wet. As I reread what I have just written I guess the fact that my mother got an electric shock isn't too surprising. One day she put her hand into the water to check if it was heating properly and the water was live. She ended up with a big cut on her middle finger, it could have been so much worse. Johnny Boy, a psychiatric nurse who had a flat upstairs, heard her scream, rushed down and bandaged her hand up. Perhaps the electric cord had somehow ended up on the wet floor, I don't know, but I do know that the washing got done that day even though my mother was very shaken.

How times have changed. My laundry is inside the house. I have a lovely big top loader machine which does a great job. I always do an extra rinse though thanks to my mother's instructions. If you want a bright wash you have to get rid of all soap residue - her washing was always brighter than everyone else's even though they used
'laundry blue'. I also have a dryer which I don't use all the time but I do like to put the towels in so they are nice and fluffy. I then hang them outside so they get that lovely fresh smell.

Getting back to the old days......when the washing was dry my mother would iron absolutely everything. As there were no steam irons, everything, just having dried, was dampened down again before being ironed. I didn't mention the starching - collars, cuffs, my dresses, tablecloths and napkins and my father's lab coats were all starched which made the ironing of those articles even more challenging. My mother even made her own starch using potato starch that she had collected after making grated potato dishes.

As the years went by my mother had an easier time doing the laundry. When we moved into our own home the laundry had power AND electric lights. The Lightburn twin tub lived out its life very happily and was replaced by a front loader when it finally gave up the ghost. We had stainless steel laundry tubs and the Hill's hoist was just outside the laundry door. Laundry baskets were plastic, no longer that heavy wicker. My mother thought it was bliss. She still made her own starch for napkins and tablecloths but collars and cuffs no longer needed that treatment as fabrics had become much more 'easy care'.

I rarely think about the old days when I do my laundry and often moan about the baskets of ironing that look at me accusingly. At least I know what a huge job it used to be and should be grateful that things are so much easier these days.