Memories - early or general

Hello, A visitor to Coventry, a one time resident once said to me that Coventry could only get a water feature to operate for three minutes before it stops working. How much accuracy there is in that, is over to you. Coventry water supply is so hard, how often do we have to clean a scrape water taps clogged with scale. Domestic central heating systems were historically limited in our area because of this, until the indirect boiler technologies arrived that used the same circulatory water over & over again. It's the oxygen reaction with the lime that exacerbates the issue. Both any external oxygen or oxygen dissolved in the water. If during maintenance, a particular radiator gets removed for partial drainage, it's not long before that radiator & the connection go rotten. With external water features it's hardly surprising that there are constant issues. Wiki illustrated explanation Folk of my age might remember the galvanised outside water tanks, that sat on top of kitchens like my mum's in Sewall Highway. Not for drinking, but for doing laundry. My mum's washing machine was fed from it. I can't remember seeing many when I came to live in Holbrooks, but Holbrooks had its own ground water supply, where the local pumping station in Watery lane had water softening stuff. Them wert days, hey! Post copied from topic Water features in town on 17th Jul 2024 10:57 am

Philip, we had a water tank over the kitchen in Poole Road, and there was also one in Butt Lane. When I was little the taps in the kitchen at Poole Road were cold water and soft water. Yes, we used it for washing, we also used to boil it to wash our hair as mum always said it was softer. The tap was eventually moved outside and used to water the garden when we had an immersion heater fitted and a hot tap in the kitchen. Later on the tank started to go rusty. Eventually they had it removed which was also to make it lighter in the toilet just outside the back door. I can still remember doing the washing and mangling outside on fine days so the kitchen did not get wet and steamy, lots of exercise with the old dolly and tub !

The terraced houses in Oldham Avenue had a rainwater tank that covered the pantry and outside toilet of the house and that of the next door neighbour's. It was open to the sky and was filled from the gutter that ran along the back of the terrace roof. As in Poole Road there were two taps at the kitchen sink, one fed straight from the mains and the other from the tank. Being directly over the pantry it ensured that this was the coldest place in the house, but occasionally a bird would drop a crust in the tank that got caught in the overflow. There would be a frantic evacuation of food packets from the pantry while my father climbed a step-ladder to clear the blockage in the pouring rain. I used to watch the "waterboat men" from my bedroom window as they skimmed across the surface of the tank wondering how on earth they got there. A family friend from a house without a rainwater tank had a water softener fitted under their sink on medical advice because the hard water was said to be causing skin problems with their children. This was a Heath Robinson looking affair with a tangle of pipes and stop taps that had to be operated in the correct sequence. I well remember wash days when the "whites" would be boiled in the gas "copper", transferred to a corrugated galvanised tub and agitated with the wooden dolly we called "the posser". Next to the tub would be the cast iron, wooden roller mangle. During winter, every window of the house would be covered in condensation but in good weather the operation would take place on the flag-stoned back-yard. It was not until 1960 that the tank was removed and piped hot water available heated by a back-boiler in the kitchen fireplace. I marvel now at the strength and energy of my mother.

Our little family moved from Bagington Fields Hostel to Beake Avenue in about 1951 and I remember the copper which was stored in a surprisingly large pantry off the kitchen. It was a godsend for my mum and our family at a time when most homes didn't have this luxury. It was still very hard work - not like today when you toss the wash in the machine and then into the dryer with almost no ironing needed. I remember when I got our first second hand twin tub in about 1970, no more launderettes for us. Then we got an Indesit front loader but no dryer. I also remember the water butt in the back garden at Beake Ave. where we used to play IN on hot summer days!

Gosh, You're memories of Beake Ave must be fabulous, Linda. It was 1960, before I knew where or what it was. Thank you as always for your posts.

In the early 70's our first house in Holbrooks had a shared rainwater tank over the pantry and outside toilet. There were several builders about back then who specialised in removing the tanks and replacing them with either a tiled or a flat roof. I know it was something we thought about doing, but at a time of rapidly increasing mortgage rates we had to be cautious with what money we had.

In my parents case ~1963, we extended the pantry and loo to make a separate kitchen about 8 ft square, the kitchenette became a living/dining room 16 ft by 12 ft. The tank was cut in half leaving the neighbours part intact and a flat felt roof was placed over the extension on our side. The work was done by Gaffney's, a local builder.

Choirboy - We also contemplated the same sort of alterations, but again it was lack of money that prevented us from doing so.

Before getting in the shower last night, I had to reach for a new bar of soap, and reading "memories" today I realised that I have used Imperial Leather for as long as I can remember.

Hello, I'm a pears baby! Green or amber.

We never had a shower, just a bath, like most English people of that era. I remember on one occasion, after a bar of soap had been carelessly left on the lino flooring, I didn't spot it, and trod on it. I lost my balance and fell, hurting my back. When I told my mum, she just said "well, that's life boy!".

Groan! We used to have the cheapest soap Dad could bulk buy from Macro, the wholesalers. A friend had Imperial Leather but also magnetic tags on the soap so that it could be attached to a special sink fitting to keep it up off the wet sink. I thought that was very posh.

Our soap always came from Boots - pretty colours and lovely smells. My mum swore that soap that had been stored for a while lasted longer but she had many strange ideas. We sometimes got those birthday/Christmas gift boxes with soap and bath cubes which lay untouched for months. Lavender was a favourite scent.

True story. Years ago, my parents had an old-fashioned hardware shop where they sold just about everything, including several brands of soap. Most customers were like me, i.e. not fussy; I mean. soap is soap - I've never given a hoot what make the soap is, or what colour. Well, I'm a bloke. One day, a rather posh lady, who wore expensive clothes, came in. (I won't say what her husband did for a job, lest her identity leaks out, but hubs had a "professional", well paid job; to do with OPM [other people's money!]; nuff said.) Any road up, she asked what makes of soap were stocked. Answer: "Camay, Lifebuoy, Palmolive, Cold tar.." The lady then wanted to see the pink soaps. One by one, she picked each bar of soap up, took it over to the window, so she could see it in sunlight, and eventually said "Thank you, but I'll leave it". My mum just had to ask what was wrong. The lady said: "None of them are the correct shade of pink to match my bathroom suite." You get all sorts of customer in a shop.

Slightly off topic. In the 1950's my dad had a launderette. One day a customer brought in her washing and brought out her beautiful new coloured silk sheets for others to see. A luxurious novelty in those days. She completed her washing and removed the sheets.from the machine to find that she now had a number of Japanese rising sun flags. The dye had washed away to expose the original design.