Old Wash Houses

[gilberthorpe]

Hi Tara

 

Some great memories there !

 

Perhaps you can help me with this one when did Judith's Hairdressers open I seem to remember this being a sweet/grocer's shop I am sure I used to buy my school pens and more importantly their home made ice-lollies from this shop on my way to Wincobank Primary School around 1964/1965.

 

Boco

 

Those ice lollies - we weren't allowed to buy Movely's lollies in case 'Aunty' May Brandwood got offended. But I would give anything to taste rainbow crystals stuck to the end of one of those lollies! Yum.

 

I'm wondering if the shop you mean was Nancy's fruit and veg shop. There was very little cross-over of the type of things each shop sold. If one shopkeeper found out that another shop was encroaching, there would be very bad feeling. I remember going shopping with the old lady next door, and she asked me to wait outside with bags of shopping because she didn't want to offend the shopkeeper! Wonder what they'd think now?

[tara]

Hi Tara

 

 

I always thought the swing incident with Elaine was a secret !!!! I can still remember the bashing I got for that.

 

I know cos I was there lol. So was Kathryn Haykin.

Not so much of a secret then lol.

[gilberthorpe]

I can just remember the one at the bottom of Merton Lane. The women took their washing down in prams. I remember the slipper baths as well - 6d for a bath I seem to recall.

 

Prams - didn't know that but it was a brilliant idea! My mother used to take our washing in a suitcase, and being a redhead she got very red in the face doing the washing (mind you I should they were all redfaced by the time they'd finished)

 

She would pack the clean things back into the suitcase (which would be even heavier, because the clothes still weren't aired) and catch the bus to come back up the hill. She would get very annoyed with the bus conductor for asking her if she'd had a nice holiday; whether he was kidding her, or serious, I don't know, but I don't suppose any of the red-faced women were very amused!

[gilberthorpe]

Hi Tara

 

 

I always thought the swing incident with Elaine was a secret !!!! I can still remember the bashing I got for that.

 

I know cos I was there lol. So was Kathryn Haykin.

Not so much of a secret then lol.

 

I made contact with Kathryn Haykin the other week. She is looking very well. She has a few grandkids now, lucky girl, and she said that the daughter she had whilst still school age is now 43! It's quite amazing, and was a delicious scandal at the time. I think I still didn't know how to 'do it' when I was that age. I told my daughters about this and their mouths fell open!

[gilberthorpe]

Tara was telling me that there was a lot on here about Dr Wynne. I had been waxing on about him on Facebook.

 

My parents knew that he was not whiter than white, but I think as long as he could do his job they didn't worry. She said he had an uncanny knack of being able to sober up when there was an emergency.

 

Mum knew he drank - most doctors did at that time, and some still do, to cope with the job. Doctors were also the worst people for smoking, but cigarettes were often recommended for patients with 'bad nerves'. It must also be remembered that doctors as a profession used to (and may still do for all I know) have the worst rate of suicides. They worked all hours, and were 'on tap' 24 hours a day. No wonder they needed diversions!

 

Wynne didn't leave his family until well after he had established his second family. I don't suppose he decided one day to do this. Like most of us, he just slipped into this day by day. He was an Irish Catholic so he and Mary Wynne may have been trapped in the marriage. Divorce wasn't recognised in Southern Ireland until several years ago. At a time when many other people got divorced and started a new family legitimately, he and his families were forced into a situation they had no power to change.

 

My parents were satisfied with Wynne. The only time mum was displeased was when my dad had terrible pain and Wynne said he thought it might be appendicitis, but he didn't want to send him to hospital and look a fool. Another member of the family said "well you're going to look even more of a bloody fool if he dies!" And off my father went to hospital. Peritonitis was not far off, and dad spent some time in a convalecent home. Mind you, my dad wasn't very healthy after the war so that may be partly to blame.

 

Wynne now seems an enigma to me, we've got some great memories of him and his family, and we wouldn't swap him for someone who has a pole stuck up their a***, who you can't talk to and seems more interested in their computer than your ailment!

[tara]

How true your very last statement is. Im sick to death of talking to a brick wall when I go down to mine. A bit of common courtesy to at least look a person in the eye every now and then wouldnt go a miss.

 

I had another irish Dr, in my childhood days,(as he was my mums Dr) dont know if he'd been on the whisky but at least twice when he came to see me he walked in to the wall and hurt his head.

He also mis-diagnosed my Nan, gave her Linctus for years, when she actually had Lung Cancer.

My Dad had Dr Wynne as did all his family. Oh how i wish I did back then.

[tara]

Does anyone remember that little waiting room within the Wash house, where kids use to wait for their Mums to finish the washing. I think it had a couple of Brown Benches and dingy yellow decor.

I remember always seeing Michael Kelk in there, he use to keep telling me "Dont stare at the lights or you'll go blind."

[sparkyfred]

Tara was telling me that there was a lot on here about Dr Wynne. I had been waxing on about him on Facebook. ....

He was a brilliant doctor IMHO

Edited August 23, 2016 by sparkyfred

[tara]

He was a brilliant doctor IMHO

 

Hi Old Tup Please read this Thread

[Billam]

Does anyone else have any memories of these places.- in the 60s.

I remember going with my mum to the wincobank one. the poor loves would have to scrub the clothes in giant sinks, and then rinse and twist them about six times, then put them on these burning hot metal rods .

The heat was unbearable.(women had to be tough in those days.)

my mum only went a few times then she got a twin tub.

But my grandma had been going for years and she had about 11 kids.

can you imagine all the washing for that lot.

 

In the same building was the slipper baths where you would pay so much to have a bath.

Usually people like us who didnt have a bathroom , living in the back to back houses.

Only alternative was the tin bath which if you were lucky and lived in the yard ,could hang it up on a big nail on the wall.

(as previously mentioned on 70s thread.)

Also remember catching a train at wincobank to go to belle vue zoo.

Dad used to take me and my brother to the slipper baths at Heeley baths. My mum had a gas copper on legs, it had a handle on the top to agitate the contents, the washing would then go into the dolly tub, she then used the poncher. The clothes were rinsed and hung on the line. I don,t know how she managed.