Black lead fireside range (please help)

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes I remember getting a walloping because I let ash blow over some newly washed sheets...though to be fair I don't quite know how I would have stopped it.

Another thing...were there arguments in your house over whose turn it was to go out and fill the coal bucket?
I remember dropping the key to the padlock of the coal place and being down on my hands and knees searching for it in the snow...I was blue with cold by the time I got the coal bucket back in the house.

And wasn't in an imbuggerance when the blooming fire went out.......all that palaver with the twisted paper, bits of sticks........and the shovel and a shet of paper up to make the fire 'draw'....reading the paper while it was drawing and watching it scorch
and go up in flames before you could do anything about it.
Ah the joys of solid fuel.

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Another thing...were there arguments in your house over whose turn it was to go out and fill the coal bucket?

No, once I could walk it was my job.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Yes I remember getting a walloping because I let ash blow over some newly washed sheets...though to be fair I don't quite know how I would have stopped it.

Another thing...were there arguments in your house over whose turn it was to go out and fill the coal bucket?
I remember dropping the key to the padlock of the coal place and being down on my hands and knees searching for it in the snow...I was blue with cold by the time I got the coal bucket back in the house.

And wasn't in an imbuggerance when the blooming fire went out.......all that palaver with the twisted paper, bits of sticks........and the shovel and a shet of paper up to make the fire 'draw'....reading the paper while it was drawing and watching it scorch
and go up in flames before you could do anything about it.
Ah the joys of solid fuel.

You were lucky to have the arguments ... I was an only child; so, it was my turn all the time But it was a ****** when the fire went out ... it was always my turn to beet it.

But we did have a proper blower ... luxury

It's a little chilly here right now ... we've reached the high for the day at -22 ... but I have a remote for the thermostat; so, I don't have to get off my skinny butt in order to change it. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the dog to bring me a beer

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, I had three brothers.......so there were always arguments...sometimes the fire went out while we argued, but Ma had something that would solve all arguments...it was a well aimed shoe.
We didn't have a blower Eric...we were really poor...it was paper and a coal shovel for us.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Well, I had three brothers.......so there were always arguments...sometimes the fire went out while we argued, but Ma had something that would solve all arguments...it was a well aimed shoe.
We didn't have a blower Eric...we were really poor...it was paper and a coal shovel for us.

If it makes you feel any better, hon, it was a home-made blower.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Home made or not...it was still a blower.
I was envious of my grandparents...they had a gas poker...so were guaranteed a roaring fire in no time at all.

[cashman]

I never heard of a blower until just now. proper peasants in our house.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, I only knew they existed because along with the gas poker, my grandparents had one.......I think it might have been made at Howard and Bulloughs(my uncle Harry worked there)

[susie123]

We must have been posh - we had a blower and a gas poker. But we didn't have a kitchen range - they were for the fire in the living/dining rom - the kitchen was out the back in the scullery. And a gas fire in one of the bedrooms!

[Margaret Pilkington]

Sue you were definitely posh.......bet you had a flush lavvy too(don't tell me you did and it was indoors).

[cashman]

Originally Posted by susie123

We must have been posh - we had a blower and a gas poker. But we didn't have a kitchen range - they were for the fire in the living/dining rom - the kitchen was out the back in the scullery. And a gas fire in one of the bedrooms!

Gas fire in bedroom? more n posh yeh were royalty.

[Margaret Pilkington]

or landed gentry at the very least

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by susie123

We must have been posh - we had a blower and a gas poker. But we didn't have a kitchen range - they were for the fire in the living/dining rom - the kitchen was out the back in the scullery. And a gas fire in one of the bedrooms!

I'll bet your scullery maid didn't get the bedroom with the gas fire in it!

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Sue you were definitely posh.......bet you had a flush lavvy too(don't tell me you did and it was indoors).

Oh yes a proper bathroom indoors - flush loo and bath too! AND an outside loo - which I think was also a flusher.

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

I'll bet your scullery maid didn't get the bedroom with the gas fire in it!

No that was me - and I had the little room at the back - definitely the maid's room!

This was when I lived for a few years in the fifties with my grandad, great aunt and second cousin in one of the bigger houses on Owen Street which my gt grandad had bought in the twenties - he had the fish business on the market and was very much a self made man.

My parents lived not far away on Queens Road in one of the houses built in the thirties I think - so again an inside loo but I think they also had coal fires and I don't remember any heating in the bedrooms. I lived there till I was about five and went back to live there in the late fifties.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

or landed gentry at the very least

Right ... next, we will be hearing about fridges and electric blankets And hot water that came out of a tap!!!!!!!!!!