Bath Time

A Memory of West Ham.

My memories of bath times goes back to when Mum would once a week fill the copper again, in the corner of the scullery. The copper was built of bricks if I remember, with a tin liner, below was an opening, where you would light a fire which would heat the water, the copper would also be used for mum's washing, which there was a lot of, having seven boys and four girls.
Mum would start to bath us all one at a time, starting with the girls, as we were usally cleaner than the boys, after they had been playing football or cricket, or making their dens on the old bomb sites. Half way through bath time Mum would take out a large jug or two of water, and replace it with cold water, this would keep the temperature just about right. I can remember on one occasion when my brother Daniel caused me trouble, while Mum had gone to fetch the towels from the fire guard, which was hooked to the wall around the dining room fireplace, it was a large black guard with a long lid on top so you could not touch the fire, she had put them to warm, as she did most of our cloths to air them. My brother said that he was going to build the fire up, so the water would get hotter, and I would boil, this made me scream. Daniel got a smack for being nasty. After bath time was over, Mum would have to empty the copper, there was a little tap to one side. I used to like the job of turning the tap and watching the water run into the white bucket with a blue rim around the top.
Later on we had a big bath which was kept on the wall by the outside toilet, it was brought in from the garden into the dining room in front of the fire, because it was too long to fit in the kitchen. This was a much harder job as Mum then would have to heat the water in the white bucket on the gas cooker, which was now standing where the old copper once stood. Looking back this was not as safe as having a bath in the copper, as all that hot water had to be carried from the cooker into the the dining room. The same system was used, girls bathing before the boys, after the children were bathed the bath would be emptied, this was done by scooping up the water in the bucket, and taking it to the back drain to pour it away. The whole thing would have to be repeated for the grown ups to have their baths, what a performance.
This is where the fun started. In Plaistow Road, which was the main road which ran at the top of the road where we lived, was a public baths, that is where I would go with my eldest sister Elizabeth. Just for a few pence you were given a towel, also a bar of soap if you needed, you were then shown to a little bathroom, of which there were about six or eight, in a long corridor. In each bathroom was a lovely big white bath, the taps were huge silver ones, not like ours at home, small and made of brass, which Mum would polish to make them shine, these were very big, and the water ran out so fast. When you entered the baths there was the smell of soap and fresh hot water, along with the sound of women singing, and also chatting to the person in the next room, as they bathed. The lady attendant would go along the corridors shouting out to the ladies who had been in there too long, you would then hear them shout back "Nearly ready". The attendant would also clean the bath and the floor before the next person went in to use it. Mum said it was worth every penny. Dad and the boys would go there to bath on another day.

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