When our family moved into the house on the "Manor", all the inside doors were painted dark green and the walls were all distempered. Either a buff colour or a kind of duck egg green. In those days of course a great many people had distemper on their walls, wallpaper was almost non existent then and no fitted carpet on the floor either. Lino was the main floor covering at that time and that was if you were lucky. It was always kept highly polished and the smell of floor polish was ever present.

The means of heating in the homes was either a cast iron fireplace with a back boiler that provided hot water for baths (when there was a fire in the grate) alternatively, some homes on council estates, had old style kitchen ranges also made of cast iron. An Auntie of mine had one of those ranges and the kettle always seemed to be boiling on in readiness for a cup of tea. Making it appear cosy and very welcoming to me as a young child.

Around the wall of our front room there was a rather clumsy picture rail from which hung old prints of country scenes, in monochrome. I remember that one was of a flock of sheep and another of a herd of cattle. They were in heavy wooden frames, which were kept clean and polished quite religiously and over the years and became a very real part of our lives. We didn’t have much but what we did have we learnt to look after and I think that was a great lesson to learn. The pictures may not have been of monetary value but they were ours.

We had an old piano in the front room that was kept well polished and was used from time to time, particularly at Christmas, when we often had a party with our relatives. My brother-in-law could knock out an acceptable tune, he hadn’t had any lessons, but it was good enough for a singsong. Some Christmases a lot of relatives, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins would come over for a family get together and the party would go on until the early hours. No need to say that a good time was had by all. It wasn’t just that old piano that provided the music, my other brother-in-law had an accordion and someone would have a mouth organ, accompanied by someone on the spoons or with even a comb and tissue paper. A veritable orchestra of the most unconventional kind was assembled, all in the cause the family having a good time together and that is invariably what happened.

Included in the accessories that came with the council houses at that time was an electric cooker, a copper for boiling up the washing, a copper kettle, an electric fire and an electric iron. The places were certainly well equipped but it must be made clear that all that equipment remained the property of the local authority and could not be disposed of by the tenant. It was a good thing of course that all those aplliances were supplied, most people would not have had the money to buy most of it. However, although most families were poor in a financial sense, they were not poor in spirit, which was a good thing too, considering the war years that were to follow.

Written by Fred Netley.