Does anyone remember 'The Blue Bag'

[glen]

i still have one of those dolly blue bags here in Ausie,not game to use it because of its age.Methylated spirits works just as well,one cup in with the lace curtains and they keep their whiteness.Can anyone remember the cardinal polish (red Stuff) cmon Arthur you remember that dont you?

[sweetdexter]

Lots of the old steelworkers after the war used their gas mask bags as snap sacks. My father used his for years.

 

 

There used to be two stores that I know of that sold ex army paraphernalia.

One was on Exchange St and the other on the street that ran alongside the Town Hall ,where the public measuring

guide was , on the corner of Norfolk St

Nearly every manual worker used either a gas mask bag or the old small pack.

I preferred the small pack

[PeterJames]

I can confirm Reckitts Blue was made in Hull (or Kingston Upon Hull as my Dad insisted! - He was born in Hull but grew up in Tinsley).I can recall visiting Hull many years ago and the streets around the works coated with Ultramarine (Reckitts) Blue. The company, still based in Hull, is called Holliday Pigments - doesn't have the same ring to it does it?

[Nigel Womersle]

The product was called RECKITT'S BLUE - and was made by the Hull firm of Reckitt and Colman.

 

There was also a Reckitt's factory in Lancashire. We used to pass it on our way to Barrow In Furness, before the advent of the motorways. All the building had turned blue, so the chemicals must have got into the air

[hagardriley]

Mashing cans were what we called them.

When I first started work in 54 .One of my jobs was to see to the mashing cans 3 times a day.

I remember the tea and sugar in the newspaper,some used to put condensed milk in as well(what a mess).

 

My old feller worked in the building trade in the 1950/60s and I clearly remember him taking his 'mashings' to work exactly as described here, including the condensed milk, all wrapped in twists of newspaper.

[societygirl]

Sweetdexter

 

You mentioned black lead in your posting.

 

I remember mum cleaning the yorkshire range and then finishing it off with Zebo black lead.

 

That cast iron oven door used to shine brightly in fact when the light shone on it, it shunkled like polished chrome.

 

Many years after I thought Zebo in the yellow and black packets had disapeared until we 'modernised and bought an old cast iron fireplace, as you do!

 

After installation it was crying out for some polish and I was amazed to find they still made Zebo polish in a black and yellow striped tube.

 

We still polish that fireplace every so often but we cannot get it to shunkle like the old lass did. Maybe we use enough spit on the brush?

 

Happy Days

 

I think that Zebo has probably made a comeback following the current trend for cast iron stoves and fireplaces. I bought some for the huge cast iron range that came with the house, what a dirty job to apply and it did not sparkle as much after my efforts as the 'lady that does'.

[lazyherbert]

I can remember going to take my dads dinner as well & coming back with the tea & sugar rations they got from work.Do you remember that.

[PopT]

When I started work in the steelworks Mom used to pack me up with sandwiches and a couple of mashings of tea.

 

Tea,sugar and condensed milk were all put together in a twist of newspaper.

 

She used to buy the cheapest tea from the Meadow Dairy shop which was by the Hillsborough Bridge next to Timpsons Shoe shop around the corner from Baldock's Fish Shop.

 

You could always tell the cheap tea after it had been mashed as it had ' logs' floating on the top of it.

 

Happy Days!

[BLITZER]

I remember some of the washing powders of years ago. Restu, Oxydol, Rinso,

Persil,and Lux soap flakes.

[Nigel Womersle]

Easter 1965. I took my parents to my dad's sister's house in Barrow In Furness. Silly Nigel got lost and didn't know where he was. It must have been around the Lancaster area that we went through a village or small town and came across a building which straddled the road. There was a sign on it which read 'Reckitt's Blue'. Believe me it was - everything you could see was blue - building, road and verges. Workers were on the road too, and their faces matched everything else.