My Childhood In Southall

A Memory of Southall.

Another thing that I remember was bath night. Notice I said night and not nights!!
We had a tin bath which had to be filled up by boiling kettles and saucepans. My young brother would go in first, then me, after me was mummy, and last was daddy!! What ever would health and safety have to say about that today!! We were, however, one of the first houses in our street to have an inside toilet and bathroom.
We didn't have central heating so therefore, in the winter, we had ice on the inside of the windows! I used to love to "huff" on the window and watch the lovely frost patterns return. We didn't have fitted carpets, or heating upstairs.....we didn't die from the cold and to this day, I don't like heating in my bedroom.
You may think reading this account that we were very poor.....far from it....we weren't
poor, nor were we "we'll off". However, if you are a young person reading this and judging by to-days standards then you may have a different point of view.



Added 20 June 2013

#241741

Comments & Feedback

Hi Janet

My name is Michael and I lived on Endsleigh Road in Southall from 1947 until 1967. Yes bath night was the same for me, but we had a copper boiler which we used to fill the bath. You had to be careful getting in as the water may have been warm but the sides of that tin bath were cold. Only fire in the house was a range in the back room so the rest was freezing in the winter, but it did us no harm.

Outside loo was an additional fridge/freezer in winter

Happy days
Hi Janet & Mike. I lived as a child in the 1960's at number 65 Endsleigh Road. Like you we had a weekly tin bath on a Sunday but in the kitchen as mum filled it up from the ascot on the wall. Mum was first in, then my sister then me and then dad. I cam remember the water looking rather grey! And yes outside toilet and no heating except for the fire in the lounge and a paraffin heater at the top of the stairs. About 1967 my dad got a job at Hatfield and we moved to a council house with a bathroom and central heating although Mun and Dad had to provide the council with 5 years worth of rent books to show that they were good payers before the got the council house!

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