All clean water had to be carried in pails and dirty water was poured down the

drains. Washing, which was hard work in those days, was done in tubs with

scrubbing boards and hard soap. If one did not have a wash boiler, white

articles were boiled in a huge pot on the kitchen fire which made them as

clean and white as they are today. Every housewife had a personal pride

in her line of sheets, etc. hung out to dry in the fresh air and sunshine. Lava

tories were outside with pails which had to be emptied.

‘Paraffin lamps were used for lighting, the wick being trimmed and the

globe polished each morning ready for the evening; if one forgot to prepare

the lamps in the morning and tried to fill them in the gathering gloom of the

evening, it was most probable that the paraffin would overflow and the resul-

ting smell would linger in the house all evening. Candles were also used to

light one to bed.

‘Most houses were a butt and ben (two rooms) with a small room in the

middle used for water and coal pails, sweeping brushes, a table with a basin

to wash the dishes and a bread bin. There were beds in both ends with white

covers and valances which were always clean and starched, and under the

beds clothes baskets were kept and anything one wanted to keep out of sight.

All the houses were well-cared for, the windows sparkled and the brasses shone

Gardens were usually large and cultivated and vegetables such as potatoes,

kail, turnips and peas were grown. Most people also kept a few hens for eggs

and a fowl for the pot.

‘In the field opposite the smiddy the men played football, and in August,

about market time, a flower show was held there. There was keen competi-

tion with flowers, vegetables and onions. Mrs. Younger provided a marquee

and lent many beautiful plants from her hot houses at Mount Melville, and

she always presented the prizes.

‘The village was supplied with drinking water and cooking water from

wells and nearly every garden had one. The main wells were the one at the

school, one opposite the Girls’ Club (the Youth House), one at Lower Main

Street and one at Mrs. Hughes’ where the bleaching green is.

‘There were a few smallholdings in existence; The Poffle — Mrs. Douglas;

California which had a horse-mill until the new houses were built; and Harry

Peattie’s piggery where Mount Melville Crescent now stands.

‘Electricity came to the village in the 1930s and water and sanitation after

the end of the war in the 1950s when Council Houses were built and things

began to settle down again. We then began to have electric cookers, washing

machines and all mod cons. Cottages were renovated, beds were now installed

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