Mayor's
Sunday was a very important day, the mayor elect
attending whichever church or chapel he was connected with for divine
service.
It was an annual pageant as the mayor and organisations of the town made
their ponderous way along the streets from Stubylee where all assembled.
The procession was preceded by Irwell Springs or Stacksteads band. Behind
the band came the mayor flanked by 2 policemen carrying halberds ferocious
looking weapons then the aldermen and councillors and town clerk complete
with wig followed by the gentlemen of the borough. Then came boy scouts,
girl guides, cubs, brownies struggling to keep in step and not being very
successful at that. Of course all the town characters turned out to watch,
'Charlie Brown, Billy Amos, Billy Willsy (complete with bowler) he was the
organ blower at Christ Church, Micky Luke, Scotch Molly, Hughy Dunn. It was
quite an impressive occasion and if the day was fine worth turning out to
see. For those who didn't get up early they could see the procession return
to the market ground in front of the police station where the mayor thanked
all present for turning out.
WASHING BY HAND
MONDAY was the recognised washing day, every article washed by hand. The
operation started with a big black pan that held about 2 gallon of water
being placed on the fire to boil and the whites placed in followed by
colours, when they had had a good boiling. These were then put in the dolly
tub (a wooden tub that held about 6 or 7 gallons of water) ready to be
possed (twisted and pushed about) by a clothes dolly (looked like a 5
legged dairy stool with a hole in the middle through which was a spindle or
handle to twist and turn it) then it was the turn of the rubbing board. The
clothes were lifted out of the water in their turn and given a rubbing with
Dr Lovelaces or Mother Shiptons or carbolic soap then rubbed hard on the
ribs of the rubbing board.
Then to the mangle a huge cast iron contraption made by Pioneer of
Accrington, almost 5' tall with two wooden rollers almost a yard long and 7
or 8" in diameter. These were turned by a huge cast iron wheel at the right
hand side about 15" in diameter and connected by large cogs to the rollers.
Pressure was applied to the rollers to squeeze more water out of the clothes
by means of a handle on top. They squeezed water out all right but what hard
work it required when articles such as blankets were placed between the
rollers.
STREETS BLOCKED
Even though it was hard work some women on account of their meagre finances
had to take in other people's washing each week and for a family wash and
ironing would only receive 6d to 1/- and that included fetching and delivery
of the load usually in a large wicker basket. After the washing and mangling
had been completed the clothes were hung out on a line to dry, the back
streets used to be blocked with washing on lines.
IRONS IN FIRE
If it had been a good drying day the washing was ready for ironing, no fancy
electric irons just a box iron which as the name implies was a box shaped
like the present day iron but the box was about 4" high with a handle on top
and with a sliding door at the back into which was placed a cast iron
heater, shaped like the box but slightly less which had previously been put
in the fire until red hot. This heated the base of the iron and as this
rapidly lost its heat another heater was kept in the fire as reserve. White
stiff collars were worn by many men and these required special washing and
starching. Starch was a specially prepared liquid into which the white
collar was dipped then ironed and it dried stiff. The operation called
washing day even then was not completed, patching and darning had to be
done. Stockings all wool were usually above the knee length and knees and
heels wore out. Wool was easily obtainable and the method of darning was to
insert a wooden gadget shaped like and called a mushroom and place this
behind the hole then stitch wool in the hole from one side to the other
until the hole had been covered then stitch the opposite way but going under
and over the strands stitched the opposite way, thus a new piece of stocking
had been woven into the old. This happened time and time again and was an
economic necessity in the days of which I write. When the feet would darn no
more the legs were used to cover table legs to keep clean and free from
knocks and damage.
CLOTHES WITH HOLES
Clogs which were the common mode of footwear but were the main
culprits in wearing out the heels of stockings. Jerseys which most lads wore
invariably became a bit holy at the elbows and these required darning.
Short pants which were the style until lads became about 15 years of age
were often patched on the backsides, economies demanded this, most clothes
where there was a large family were handed down one to another and when no
longer wearable were cut up and used to make a peg rug. This consisted- of a
piece of sacking or Hessian the size depending upon the size of rug one
wanted and a special tool was used to push through the Hessian and grip a
piece of cloth which was pulled i of its length through the Hessian and
after the process was repeated hundreds of times with different cloths a
handy hardwearing rug was available.
