…Wash days was a hard day for our mam. We had a copper boiler from the council and apart from that the only other source of hot water was from the back boiler behind the fire, so the fire was kept burning throughout the year. Mam had a washing machine tub, though it had to be filled with hot water and once it was going it would send water flying everywhere. If you were too close at certain times you got a free bath. Mam had a mangle as well and once the washing was done it had to go through the mangle ( a very effective way of squeezing the water from the clothes. Sometimes out back I’d run or pedal through the washing and If I’d been playing in the dirt or mud mam would go mad, though that didn’t last for long and we were soon friends again….