I wonder how many remember

[binley100]

When I were a lass.........we had a flatley , twintub, no fridge, coal fires downstairs and nowt up, no tv , no settee even (can remember then buying that and the fridge)...

[ladylottie]

The only one I couldn't remember was
Metal ice trays with levers

but when I was small we didn't even have a fridge! we had a 'meat safe' in the yard - as well as the metal bath hanging on the yard wall - remember them?

I am ancient too except for the metal ice trays.
Same with me Thelma - we didn't have a fridge either - instead we had a huge cellar with three flat surfaces (big enough for two people to lie out on each one, not that anyone did!) and it was very cold all year. The light switch was on the outside and it locked from the outside too - I was always threatened with being locked down the cellar in the dark if I was naughty
We also had a well under the kitchen with a hand pump to get all our water out, plus a tin bath that was hung on the brew house wall waiting for Friday night when the water was boiled up and we all had a bath in the kitchen.
Seems unbelievable now!

[veggiechicken]

We had only one power point in the house, none upstairs. There were adaptors piled on top of adaptors until they looked like some sort of Lego construction. The iron was plugged into the light socket.
When I wanted to have a record player, my parents had to save up enough money to have another socket in the front room - so that they wouldn't have to listen to my rubbish - as my father called it (opera and classical music!).

[cardiffsteve]

I got 13 out of 15.
Dont remember Jukeboxes in coffee shops or newsreels before films.
There was always 2 films though.

[Bren In Pots]

I remember you could stay in the picture house ( cinema) all day if you wanted to.

[veggiechicken]

Yep, you could watch a film twice and the newsreel with the cockerel - Pathe news - and trailers for what was coming next week. There was an usherette with a feeble torch who'd show you to your seat and would reappear between films with a tray of icecream tubs in vanilla or strawberry and vanilla, with cardboard lids and a wooden spoon. Trouble was, once you'd take the lid off there was nowhere to put it except a little triangular metal ashtray between the backs of the seats of the row in front - and that was usually full of ash. Funny how things have changed!

[bramble]

I remember them all except the metal ice tray and the lemonade bottle with the holes in.
And yes, we had a last that my dad soled and heeled our shoes on.

[Bren In Pots]

Not sure why but at ours they used to give up dog biscuits, think it might have been to keep us quiet

[veggiechicken]

Barking mad ^^^^^

[mothhawk]

I too remember all except the juke boxes in coffee shops. I remember that the coffee was served in pyrex-type glass cups and saucers, though. And my dad also had a last for our shoes that became a door prop in later years. And us kids had spud guns and cap guns, and on Guy Fawkes night, Bengal matches, which we pronounced "bengle"

[Potstubsdustbins]

I have just remembered where I saw those metal ice trays with the lifting levers.

I was 15 or 16 and working for the gas board in a posh restraurant kitchen.

Like the others we certainly did not have a fridge but we did have an over sink instantaneous water heater. Ascot to the rest of you. Well we did after father found out I could get a discount and fit it myself.

Potty

[veggiechicken]

We had an Ascot too! Ran hot water from it through a hose pipe into a bath in the kitchen with a lift-up lid - which was the only work surface in the kitchen. We thought that was very refined after the tin bath in front of the fire

[BarleySugar]

I remember a lot of those too, although my family was way behind the times compared to my friends so I'm not sure I qualify for ancient (no juke box and Mum more often than not ironed the clothes to dry them, so she didn't need a water bottle). One of my earliest memories is visiting my Gran's house, a wooden bungalow built by my grandfather when they got married. She had no running water or electric. The water was collected off the roof into a water tank and she strained out the mozzie lavae before boiling it up for tea. The loo was the wooden seat over a dirt box. There was an amazing feather bed though!
Home, with an outside flushing loo, cold running water, gas (needed sixpences for the meter), electric and a black and white TV seemed very up to date until I started school and realised other people had indoor toilets and bathrooms and telephones. They also didn't share a bedroom with 4 other siblings! The first time I had a bath in a bathroom was when I stayed at my fiance's house in 1979. I felt really awkward not knowing the 'protocol'. At home we had a rota as to who went in the water first to stop arguments, the water being boiled up in the gas copper.
Mum never had a washing machine until we had all left home (well 6 out of 7 of us, my brother never left). All those nappies and clothes, although us girls were expected to do our own washing once we started secondary school. I remember the mangle, it seemed amazing when Dad got Mum a spin dryer!
Thinking back I remember when the meter man would come to empty the gas meter, he counted all those sixpences really quickly, and Mum was always pleased when she got a bit of rebate. I also remember being sent to the filling station as we called it, to buy 20 Weights for Dad, never any problem that we were only 6 or 7. I was also sent to collect the family allowance for Mum, often having signed the book for her too
Our original bungalow was 4 rooms, kitchen, living room (with bed settee for Mum and Dad), and two bedrooms. It was 1990 before my mum and dad had a bathroom and another bedroom added, I remember Dad coming out of hospital after having his first stroke and them living in a caravan in the front garden while while the building work was finished. Now my brother is in the process of adding a double garage and two more bedrooms, as well as the loft conversion (bedroom and ensuite bathroom) he did for him and his wife while Mum was still alive.
Wow, have almost written a book here!

[Potstubsdustbins]

I don't BS you youngster's....... tanners for the meter, t'were one old penny when I was a lad.

I remember quite clearly going to visit an uncle in Hucknall so I must have been about 10 circa 1956.

I was amazed by the gas lights no eleci at all, batteries for the radio, the old fashioned glass one's that you took to the garage to get charged up.

When I asked for the loo I was sent to an outhouse in the back garden and found a thunderbox, what really surprised me was that it was a double seater. Now who would want to sit next to each other whilst on the loo................. maybe thats the deffinition of true lurve.

Potty