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Outside Toilet in Yard

debbieironmonger

master brummie
I have just been talking to my dad who tells me that the key to the toilet used by his family in the yard was attached to an old wooden cotton spool, I said I think this is in case it fell into the toilet, what do you think? any other idea's
 
Round about 1980 a friend of mine at Aston University lodged with an elderly couple at their terraced house in Small Heath; the WC was in the yard, with squares of torn-up newspaper hung on a nail. When my friend bought toilet paper, the old couple were offended.
 
Years and years ago a mate of mine was rehoused in a new flat, I asked him did he miss his old house in Ladywood, he thought for a second or two, then said "There no one to talk too in the (bog)​", toilet to more civilised of us. Paul
 
Hi paul
As you may have read from one of my threads about the slums of Aston where we lived in Cromwell square
And our experience of sharing with ten other neibours three toilets all with big family's ten in our house alone
The others was five and six kids and nots counting every adult whom may need to go to the bogs at the same time
There was times when two or three people wanted to go urgently it was abit of a problem at the same time
And hoping by the time you got to get in they left the cut up news paper hanging on the back of the door
Some time some ,Ind neibour would use it and not bring paper and then you was stuck so we always took a sheet or two
With us to the lav,,,
When we left Aston ,we moved to good old Ladywood it was a big house with four bedrooms ,as we only came from a one bed up and down we thought we was posh and yes it was magical becacause we had a bath room and toilet and where our plum house had a independent garden space with Palings around every body could talk to each other over the fences
But this house had a private garden there was entry for back and front and with a tall garden gate with a big garden brick wall
So you could not see your neibours it was great , we could go to the lab or take a bath when ever we wanted to
No tin bath hanging on the fence for Sunday nights bathing by the fire which was brought in every Sunday night
And boiling the pots of water and stress free from neibours banging on the bog door shouting hurry up nor having
To keep your foot stretch out to hold the door back if some trys to walk in
But what got me was they moved us out with the slum clearance of Ladywood and we moved back to Dear old Aston,
Upper Thomas street corner of Victoria road, after years there we moved further down to number 47 Victoria red
Then years later clearance again of Victoria red and moved up further to Berners street
Well my mother did not me, I moved to London
On the subject of why the news paper on the back of the door it was it was cheaper than buying bog rolls
Especially if you are a big family's and especially just after the war and rationing tokens it was the same as trying to buy sweets
With those rationing books best wishes Alan,,,,,Astonian,,,,,
 
I loved Ladywood Alan, the smell of the soot in the hot sun, and the little back doubles and yards. Regards, Paul.
 
I was 13 years old before we were rehoused and had our 1st ever indoor toilet and a bathroom, we all thought it was wonderful. Yes I remember the ripped up newspaper hanging on string on the door.
 
hi scarlet i was a bit luckier...at the age of 5 we moved from our nans back to back into a house with an inside toilet..our mom must have thought it was heaven..

lyn
 
As a child we lived in a 1930s semi yet we still had to go outside to the toilet. This was odd as we had an upstairs bathroom. The toilet was within the footprint of the house but there were three doors along the back wall of the house, the kitchen door, the toilet door and the coal-house door. The houses are still there but I expect they have all made alterations since then.
 
Re: From Birmingham Post 150 years ago

I also remember the newspaper, funny though, I went to a friends house in the 80's, they had an inside toilet and had a paperback book hanging instead of toilet roll...some old habits die hard I suppose. No other alternative's on the wooden cotton reel then, I can only assume it was so you could fish it out in the dark if it fell down the loo!
 
That would seem to be the idea for the cotton reel. When we had a boat we were given a plastic floating key ring as a advertise gimmick.
I should only have put the couple of keys for the boat on it but I also added the car a house keys.
We had a small swimming pool in our garden and at that time we were dog sitting our son's very clever Belgian Sheppard and I gave him a demo of my new toy (the key ring) saying something like "So there you are Ji this shows you man's supremacy! and dropped the keys into the pool.
I shall never forget the look on his face as the overloaded key ring sank straight to the bottom of the pool and I then had to give him a demo of how to get a net and fish them out.
 
We didn't have a key for our outside loo, there was a bolt on the inside. My friend was more unfortunate as she had to share the toilet with 3 other houses, I think there were 2 between the 4 of them, situated at the end of the block. I remember waiting outside in the cold when I stayed over, the man at the end house seemed to be in there forever, lol I don't recall those having a key either.
 
We shared our outside toilet with 3 other families...Things I remember...rust falling on your head when you pulled the chain...daddy long legs on the walls...the toilet seat was made up of 4 parts and would pinch your behind when you got up. Ah! the good old days!
 
Some of these forums make wonderful reading, thanks to you all. The cotton reel was the equivalent of todays keyring and because of its size was always obvious. My two grandparents both had outside toilets. Grays Road had only the one toilet at the end of the scullery block, past the fuel store. A bleak cold building with an inside bolt, bleached wooden seat, made up seemingly of four planks with the hole fashioned in the middle, all very carefully sanded and smooth, except for the joints. My grandfather always told me that this was how the seats used to be in Warwickshire country toilets. The other feature was the carefully torn up squares of the News of the World, I first read parts of Forever Amber and never understood what was wrong with so many Bodmin Vicars!!!! In the memory cells it is one of the articles that I can remember to this day, unfortunately in those wartime years our sexual knowledge was not as advanced as that of the children of today. In fact my dear mother passed away recently and still had not told me about the birds and the bees, so as Frank sings 'I did it my way'. My other grandparents in Queens Road off Slade Road, Erdington had two toilets one in the bathroom, floral with an ebony seat and one outside full of brooms, spades, spiders the size of small dogs, beetles and cold as the artic even on a summer's day. A bleached white wooden seat, no torn up newspaper, but shiny squares from a box - was that Jeyes? The memories keep coming from all that you write. Just completed a week on the canals, but could not get round the ring because of a cherry picker in the canal at Brierley Hill, can anyone tell me where I can read the full story?
 
Some of these forums make wonderful reading, thanks to you all. The cotton reel was the equivalent of todays keyring and because of its size was always obvious. My two grandparents both had outside toilets. Grays Road had only the one toilet at the end of the scullery block, past the fuel store. A bleak cold building with an inside bolt, bleached wooden seat, made up seemingly of four planks with the hole fashioned in the middle, all very carefully sanded and smooth, except for the joints. My grandfather always told me that this was how the seats used to be in Warwickshire country toilets. The other feature was the carefully torn up squares of the News of the World, I first read parts of Forever Amber and never understood what was wrong with so many Bodmin Vicars!!!! In the memory cells it is one of the articles that I can remember to this day, unfortunately in those wartime years our sexual knowledge was not as advanced as that of the children of today. In fact my dear mother passed away recently and still had not told me about the birds and the bees, so as Frank sings 'I did it my way'. My other grandparents in Queens Road off Slade Road, Erdington had two toilets one in the bathroom, floral with an ebony seat and one outside full of brooms, spades, spiders the size of small dogs, beetles and cold as the artic even on a summer's day. A bleached white wooden seat, no torn up newspaper, but shiny squares from a box - was that Jeyes? The memories keep coming from all that you write. Just completed a week on the canals, but could not get round the ring because of a cherry picker in the canal at Brierley Hill, can anyone tell me where I can read the full story?
Hi All,
I grew up in Carlton Road, Small Heath and we had an outside toilet exactly like the one described. I think that the presence of the newspaper was mainly because our shopping was done in corner shops. They were quite small and did not have room to store toilet paper. In other words you could only get toilet paper if you made a visit to a larger store - The Co Op for instance.

I am now in my late eighties and was never told about the birds and bees. We soon picked up our sexual knowledge in the school playground and in the street. I think that, in the main, only girls were given such information by their mother when they reached the menstrual stage. What a bind it must be being a girl. Am I right?

Old Boy
 
When I first came to Brum in 1967 I lodged at a house in Alwold road. there was another lodger as well as me, and we were provided with toilet paper in a holder, whereas next to it squares of newspaper were set out for the landlady and her husband
 
Hi All,
I grew up in Carlton Road, Small Heath and we had an outside toilet exactly like the one described. I think that the presence of the newspaper was mainly because our shopping was done in corner shops. They were quite small and did not have room to store toilet paper. In other words you could only get toilet paper if you made a visit to a larger store - The Co Op for instance.

I am now in my late eighties and was never told about the birds and bees. We soon picked up our sexual knowledge in the school playground and in the street. I think that, in the main, only girls were given such information by their mother when they reached the menstrual stage. What a bind it must be being a girl. Am I right?

Old Boy
old boy, like you we had an outside loo, never knew any different alone with newspaper squares and a treat at times some tissue when mom went to Griffins and managed to get either apples or oranges wrapped in tissue..now that was a treat...when mom and dad was moved to castle vale 1n 1969 l know they thought they had really stepped up the ladder with an inside loo and bathroom l was so happy for them..,,,l had to smile about your sexual education...mine was about the same, going to an all girl school if l remember the only education we had was how to take care of a baby when it arrived... how it got here was never mentioned....also the night before l was married l asked about having a mother and daughter talk, and all l got was" use your common sense."... thinking back now maybe that is what she had ....brenda
 
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