THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Stanley]

I was reminded the other day about an image of my mother sweeping the floor and then lifting the corner of the hearth rug and sweeping the dust underneath because there wasn't enough to pick up with a shovel. The house wasn't dirty, neither was she, this was before vacuum cleaners and it was the quickest way of dealing with it. If there was enough to get it on a shovel it was thrown on the fire and eventually went out with the ashes. The dustbin was the old-fashioned ribbed galvanised bin and nothing went in it unless it had been burned on the fire, even empty tins. So, despite there being no plastic rubbish bags there was no smell, everything in the bin was dry.

[Stanley]

There is a good chance of rain today from noon onwards. What we often forget is that it wasn't until well after 1945 that we had cheap waterproof clothes suitable for work wear. True, there was the ubiquitous mackintosh and my mother always made sure mine 'had room to grow into', I looked a right object when I had a new one! Ex-army 'gas capes' were very popular but not good to work in. Remember 'donkey jackets' with plastic covering the shoulders? As late as the 1960s the defence against rain was a coat thick enough to soak the water up. In bad weather it was always damp the day after! In those days it was common for outdoor workers to be 'rained off' but this changed when cheap plastic jackets became available. The problem with these was that if you were working, the condensation on the inner surface was almost as bad as the rain. Being rained off is now a thing of the past, modern waterproof clothing has ensured that those welcome spells in the hut with a brew and a smoke are long gone.

[David Whipp]

Cheap condensation filled plastic waterproofs were all we got when I worked in the woodyard; they were probably a formative influence on me deciding to wear shorts. I've found that my legs dry far faster than any clothing, as long as the temperature isn't too low, bare legs are best whatever the weather.

On a recent visit to the new school, I was greeted by Roger, the keyholder, with "I haven't seen you since you worked at Carters Woodyard...", which was 40 years ago at least. I don't think we even got a plastic waterproof there and everything was handball over the fence from the road into the old yard. John Eden was the sales rep at the time; Ilse Eden is now one of the stalwarts with Barlick in Bloom.

[Bodger]

When cycling i always had a oilskin cape & sou wester with me

[Stanley]

Same here! Can you remember how sticky the old yellow oilskins were? We used to pinch mother's talcum powder to dust them, it stopped them sticking together when rolled up. Nearest thing to it now is the waxed cloth used by people like Barbour and Dryza-bone.

[Tizer]

Photographed last week in Okehampton Town Museum. Labelled as a slipper bath but how did you get into it? Did the top half lift off? What's the tube for running the length along the top of the bath?

[Stanley]

Interesting. Could be for topping up with hot water when a body was blocking the entry....?

[David Whipp]

Good idea; it would certainly warm your toes.

[Tizer]

But unless the top lifts off how would you get into the bath? You'd have to have knee joints that worked the opposite way to normal. Perhaps they were all mutants in old Okehampton!

Here's something else from the same Museum - a list of tolls payable to the Town Clerk on Market and Fair Days:

[Stanley]

The Toll House at Higherford in 1982. We had just finished refurbishing it and when I worked at Pendle Heritage my office was in the top right hand room, lovely view down the road. The bearded bloke was foreman of our building team, I forget his name but a good bloke, we worked well together. Later the original list of tolls was recreated and put on the wall above the door. We had the list and got the lettering style from the pew list in Colne Parish church which was the same period.

[plaques]

The Toll House at Higherford in 1982

[Stanley]

Funny, that doesn't look like the one we designed......

[David Whipp]

Probably inflation...

[Wendyf]

These adverts are from a catalogue for the Bradford Centenary Exhibition in 1947.

[Stanley]

I remember them all... Bradford City don't mention the fact that straight lanolin went to Yardleys and other lipstick and cosmetic manufacturers or the fact that fats also went for margarine production.

[Tizer]

And they don't mention that a lot of the waste went straight into the canal and the local kids made their fun by setting fire to the fumes coming out of the water.

[Bodger]

http://www.jowettjupiter.co.uk/kellerindx.jpg

[Tripps]

Vaguely related I suppose. I went to the opening ceremony of our local Morrisons, and had a chat with Sir Ken's chauffeur. He told me he attended every opening, and the vehicle they used was a Jowett Javelin van - made in Bradford of course.

[Bodger]

It was known as the Jowett Bradford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1952J ... linVan.jpg

[chinatyke]

I remember them all... Bradford City don't mention the fact that straight lanolin went to Yardleys and other lipstick and cosmetic manufacturers or the fact that fats also went for margarine production.

I notice City of Bradford's wool grease works was situated at Esholt. Would I be right in assuming that they recovered it from the sewage plant there? Not a nice thought if you are a lipstick user.

[Stanley]

Spot on China. They collected the fat on lead plates immersed in the flow and in the Heavy Woollen Districts there was a lot of input from the scourers who cleaned the wool from the fleece.
Jack Emmot at Hain Slack up on Black Lane Ends had a Jowett Bradford van but couldn't drive. I arrived one day to find him in the croft with the van yoked up to his horse. He had opened the front windscreen and the reins came into the cab. He was moving round in circles and when I asked what he was doing he said he thought the best thing to do was get used to the steering before he used the engine. (He never did learn to drive....)

[Tizer]

I'd swap a Ferrari to have that red van. Wonderful! Did the vans have the flat four engine?

[plaques]

Did the vans have the flat four engine?

My first and only Bradford Van was a two lunger. A flat twin like the modern BMW motorcycles. One night going to a dance in Rawtenstall it pulled ten of us up Manchester Rd Burnley. Down hills were a different matter. Virtually no brakes, cable connected, and the steering was a bit 'on the wild' side. It died the death when a piston came through the crank case.

[Stanley]

P is right, flat twin. The chassis featured half elliptic leaf springs front and rear with beam axles. The front-mounted flat-twin engine produced 19 bhp (14 kW) and drove the rear wheels through a three speed non-synchromesh gearbox. In 1950 the engine was updated to give 25 bhp (19 kW)[4] and synchromesh was fitted to the top ratio. This improved the top speed to 53 mph (85 km/h). The 10 in (254 mm) drum brakes were operated mechanically using a Girling system. [Wiki]

[Tizer]

In the 1980s one of our friends dreamed of owning an A35 van but by then they were classics and few of them around. Eventually he found one but it had been repainted by hand in black. I seem to remember the paint appeared to be bitumen!