Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Second and Foremost

Rarely see the cups of dripping that was so common place in kitchens.

I also miss the real seasonality of food ,when eg British apples and the immense variety to choose from came into season so fresh, tasty, crisp and juicy . The real treat each Autumn was the massive red Canadian apples and cheeses my great Uncle used to send by the box load from Canada.

Oh definitely!

Bottled orange juice from the milkman was one of the biggest treats, although it may not have seen an orange.

Oh and we didn't have hot water bottles. Either a shelf from the coal oven wrapped in a blanket, or we had a corrugated metal cylinder filled with pebbles, warmed in the oven all day and wrapped in a blanket.

The milkman and grocer both had horse & carts.

I don't know if anyone else used a Tilley Lamp, it was a paraffin heater that you pumped up then lit the gauze and it had a large reflector to push the heat out? We used it in the old farmhouse toilet which was semi outside to stop the pipes freezing, my job was to keep the Rayburn fueled with coke it always kept the kitchen warm which is where we lived most of the time. Also how many of you, a bet a fair number, had a ceiling rack in the kitchen which the washing hung from to dry; oh the smell of damp wool.

We used to holiday in Donegal near the Aran Island coastline. We spent some time in a farmers cottage and he had only tilley lamps. Made in Ireland.

I had an elderly great aunt who had no electricity and had gas lamps throughout the house. She was lucky we only had had fireflies in a jam jar for both heat and light.

We used to huddle around a single candle for heat, when it got really really cold, dad used to light it😂

Seriously though being a tad younger than some on here I feel I was very fortunate, electricity, indoor kazi, hot and cold running water. No central heating though, coal fire in living room only and paraffin heaters everywhere else. I can remember the tilly lamp, but only brought out during power cuts. Which by the way could sometimes last 4-6 weeks.

We had no central heating & I can still remember ice on the bedroom windows even in Devon. Dad put in central heating when I was about 11.
Our first flat had no central heating, moving to a house with it in S Norwood was bliss.

It's interesting how standards have changed in one (partial) lifetime .... bringing up a child in the conditions a lot of us were would be cause for Council intervention ..... when I look back at the photos of my childhood they look like historical documents .... wouldn't change it though! 🙂

K