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Housing : Living conditions

  • Thread starter Thread starter colinwilliams1
  • Start date Start date
Yes Alf, we used to have the little beggars when we lived in Hunters Road, but after we left there, have never seen one again. I expect it was because they like a moist atmosphere, and boy, was that house damp. :)
 
Don't worry me Barrie
6.gif
 
Kandor,
say no more mate ;D
But while on the subject of insects,
this year is the first year for ages that I
have seen "grasshoppers" about, also
those "Jumping Jacks" remember them?
 
I came across this old Ad today for Distemper, what a laugh when I read it.......it killed insects and bacteria
and all sorts........well I remember the bugs use to thrive on it and if you brushed up against it you got covered in the stuff and as for looking nice .........well we was poor so ya had to use it mixed with lime to try to kill the bugs and the following year ya had to brush it down with a broom to get all the flakes off before ya could start all over again, and what a mess it caused. Every few years we had to whitewash the cellar so we could see to riddle the coal by candlelight. I bet everybody who lived in Nechells and Aston has a story about Distemper and I don't mean what dogs have.
And the House in the Ad.........I would have thought that was the Queens house if I saw that when I was a kid
 
Come to my bathroom, you will find plenty, that's of course if the cat hasn't had them first.
:flower: :cat:
 
HI CROMIE,
Yes I Can Recall The Days Of Distemper ,
Being AN Old Atonian ,
I REMEMBER MY OLD Father Useing It Reguraly,
On The Ceiling And The Walls ,At 5 / 92 Lichfield rd
ASTON.
We Had Big Problems , With The Cock roaches ,
And With Plaster BUGS ,
Coming Through The Walls Fom Thompsons The Buctchers
We Could Hear The Pigs Screaming As They Were
Being Slaughtered
I Also Remember The Big Balls Of Chalk You Used To Buy
To White Wash The CEILING .
You Had To Break It Down To Powder In Bucket
To White Wash Any Walls And Ceilings ,

Have A Nice Day Cromie , ASTONIAN ,;;;;;;;;
 
I remember white wash being used for the out side toilet walls, real posh with a new nail and sheets of the Birmingham Mail on it.:)
 
Yes That Right Sakura I Forgot To Mention The Mail
They Was Large Big Sheets In Them Day ,
Was,nt They ? .
My Old Man Used To Used It For Cieling Paper As Well
Before Painting The Ceiling With White Chalk ,
I Thought We Was The Only Poor Family Around
Nice To Know That Other People Done The Same
I Used To Like The Mail In It,s Large Size
And I Thought When They Reduced Its Size I Didn,t Like Itb
Have Anice Day Sakura , Best Wishes Astonian ;;;;;;;;;
 
I can remember the outside loo having to be painted in the stuff. My job, as a nipper, was to continually stir the bucket so the mixture would be thick enough to slap on the walls. Casting my mind back I can still recall how my little arms ached with that stirring.
The water boiler, heated by coals, was on hand for the water to be ladled into the bath for my father, first and me to follow, to go and wash the stuff off us.
I bless the mother of invention that banished distemper into history.
Will.
 
Remember having a bath in the same water as the washing was done in ...and sitting on the cold brick work with your feet in the water as the fire heated up underneath ........pure torture...and the ruddy wash house had to be kept distempered to look clean but the slate roof always leaked
 
I am not too about this....but I think it was also called something BLUE...OR BLUE something......

My uncle Ron every six months or so....I am not to sure of the time scale...would mix the distemper in a bucket of water, then paint the outside wall of the house (back yard) from the ground up. to about 7 foot, and the dividing wall....the finished job would make the walls that bright it hurt your eyes to look at it.....I can also recall getting some of it spashed in face and burning my eyes.....I wanted to die....the pain....after a minute or so....everything would be back to normal...
Another trick Ron would do....was to cover the ceilings with newspaper and then whitewash it.....
 
We never even had THAT on our walls:|........every time Mom sent dad out to buy some...........He'd Lose it.:D
 
I Remember Wash Days When I Was Small When I Lived At 1/40 New John Street West. It Was Very Hard For My Mother ,the Day Started Early She Would Light A Rife In A Small Great Under A Brick Built Unit Above This Was The Big Copper .when The Water Was Boiling In Would Go The Sheats And Other Whites .when They Had Boiled For A Good While Thw Hard Part Started .getting Them From The Copper To The Sink To Be Rinsed Then Rung Out By Hand Twisting Them In Oppisite Directions Next Through The Mangle And Hung Out To Dry .all This Took Place In The Brew House At The Top Of The Yard Nosy To Use Washing Machines For Us Then, But They Still Seamed Like The Good Old Days.gillian Jones.
 
Gillian.

We had a copper like that, but it was in the tiny scullery of our back-to-back house in Hunters Road. Mom had used to let me light the fire, but first I had to go round the bombed sites looking for wood for the fire. :D

The mangle was a communal one outside in the yard, all the kids took turns turning the handle. Ah, happy days. :D

barrie
 
gillian jones said:
I Remember Wash Days When I Was Small When I Lived At 1/40 New John Street West. It Was Very Hard For My Mother ,the Day Started Early She Would Light A Rife In A Small Great Under A Brick Built Unit Above This Was The Big Copper .when The Water Was Boiling In Would Go The Sheats And Other Whites .when They Had Boiled For A Good While Thw Hard Part Started .getting Them From The Copper To The Sink To Be Rinsed Then Rung Out By Hand Twisting Them In Oppisite Directions Next Through The Mangle And Hung Out To Dry .all This Took Place In The Brew House At The Top Of The Yard Nosy To Use Washing Machines For Us Then, But They Still Seamed Like The Good Old Days.gillian Jones.
Click to expand...

I lived in Newtown Row and we had the same Copper Boiler and many more around there:)

Check this out
https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=812&highlight=copper+boiler

If you think about anything from the early days just put the subject in the search box at the top of the page and you will be surprised:)
 
When I moved from Ward End at the age of 7 to Aston (1947) the only way I was able to have a bath (which I missed after having had new home with all mod cons in Ward End) was for my mom to light the fire under one of those copper boilers (we had no running hot water) & when the Temp was just right I would get my bath.
HARD BUT HAPPY TIMES
ASTON
 
My Mom used to make the Christmas puds for all of her sisters as well as us, plus a spare to be eaten at Easter, they all went into the boiler. The smell was wonderful, the smell of Christmas past for me Alfie.

Don't you just love a slice of cold pud - ooooooooh.
 
Wash house blues.

:D Bye. Jean.My nan used to live at 3 back of 36 Franchise street. At the one end of the yard were shared toilets and at the other was the wash house with a mangle wash board and washtub with what I think was called a dolly.:D
 
Jake they must have been hard times although everyone was the same. My mother said if you had daughters they would help. Its a brilliant photo I love this type of picture thanks for posting it.
 
My mom told me that mondays were wash days and that here mom would be washing before she went to school and when she got back from school her mom would still be washing, I can't imagine doing that it must have been very hard work, she did have 7 children though there must have been an awful lot to do in one day.
 
Yes Marie, wash day was all day on Mondays. I would get up in the morning and first of all the little Valor stove would be lit because the fire wasn't lit on wash day, for some reason mom used to black lead the grate, while she was waiting for the boiler in the kitchen to heat the water. I would go off to school after eating a bowl of hot porridge, at lunch time I would get a 'piece', and then I made myself scarce because mom was never happy on wash day, and it seemed to me that the line often broke and everything had to be rinsed and put through the mangle again. I would get home again in the afternoon and help to bring the washing in, while mom used the water left in the big old wooden tub to clean the window ledges and steps, what was left was used to clean out the drain. Dinner was always Bubble and Squeak, which I really hated so I was glad to see the end of Mondays. :rolleyes:
 
Hi all. Back to pick your brains again. Piskin or Biskin was a term we used to describe the area where the bins were kept. Anyone remember?
Also, Can anyone remember when the council first started supplying the bins? Finally-remember the boiler in the brewhouse? someone suggested to me that that these were heated by gas. I am sure I remember mom and dad carryingpots of hot water from the house to the brewhouse shouting words of warning to all and sundry.What say you?

A.T.B-John.
 
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