Part 5

by Pat Whalley

Cleanliness is next to Godliness……………this was one of Grandma’s mantras so, like thousands of women all over northern England, Monday meant washday.

I really do not know where the obsession with Monday as the only day to do laundry came from but, whatever the weather, Monday was the chosen day. So, out would come the carbolic soap, the rubbing board, the dolly tub and poss stick, an old baby bathtub and the bluing.

For the uninitiated, the dolly tub was a zinc, barrel shaped tub about three feet tall It sat upside down, in the back yard and was dragged near to the kitchen door every Monday, filled with hot water that was carried from the kitchen and the white clothes would be put inside. One by one the items of clothing, then towels and sheets, would be placed on the corrugated surface of the rubbing board, rubbed with carbolic soap and scrubbed till all the stains came out.

The pieces of clothing would be put back in the zinc tub and, when all had been scrubbed, the rubbing board would be put aside and it was the turn of the poss stick. This was a wooden broom handle, about five feet long, with a circular wooden disk, like a thick Frisbee, attached to one end. The circular end would go into the water and then the stick would be worked up and down, through the clothes, until grandma was satisfied that they were clean.

Each item was then put through the big rubber rollers of the wringer and put back in the tub, that now had clean water and a blue rinse. The clothes were worked once more, with the poss stick, back through the wringer and, depending on the weather, hung out to dry. If it was a good day, long clothes lines were strung across the back street and the clothes would be hung out there. As every woman in the street would do their laundry on Monday, the lines of laundry would stretch all down the street and down every street in town.

The water from the tub would be poured out, onto the stone flags of the back yard and then scrubbed with a long broom. Once this was done Grandma would get out the Donkey stone. This was a square of white, chalk-like substance that would be used to outline the steps. I don’t think this had any other purpose but to announce to the neighbours, that the steps had been cleaned, and woe to anyone who stood on the chalk and made a mess.

Grandma and I would then walk to the shops while she kept up a constant criticism of all the lines of washing we passed. Different shades of white, or grey, would be commented on and reported., at a later time, to any neighbour who cared to discuss the merits of laundry.

If Monday was wet, the linens would be draped all over the house on various clothes racks, which gran called horses. She also had a drying rack that hung on the living room ceiling and was lowered and raised by pulleys. Once dry, the laundry would be ironed, with irons that were heated in the oven, folded and put on the ceiling rack to air. Quite often stuff would stay there until it was used again, which would cause it to take on any cooking smell that emanated from the soup pot that permanently lived on the fire hob.

Sweaters and other hand knitted items had to be dried flat as, in those days, all yarn was pure wool and would stretch if hung to dry. For these items, the carpet would be rolled back, a thick layer of newspaper put down, the clothing spread out on the paper, and more newspapers layered on top. The carpet would then be put back down and the items would be left to dry for several days. Seems strange, but it did the job.

When I was about eleven a coin laundry opened in our town. When grandma heard about this, she was appalled, apparently if laundry wasn’t done the “old way” it couldn’t possibly be done properly. However, as one by one her neighbours told her about the wonders of the Laundromat, she caved and became an enthusiast. She would take her knitting and sit, enthralled, watching the clothes go round behind the glass door.

Her obsession with the cleanliness of other peoples clothes didn’t stop as she kept an eye on what came out of the machines, with an occasional tut tut, however, her life became a lot easier and sometimes she would get completely reckless and go on Tuesday.