It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

When I was a nipper back in the 50's and early 60's we all had "our" jobs to do around the house. This as when Mum and Dad were still at work and you had got back from school. Mine was to light the fire??? Picture it, all the good stuff from yesterdays fire put to one side. Empty the ash in the bin ol', if we could afford it some wood if not rolled up newspaper then a few pieces of new call on top of that. Now here's the good bit. Get the shovel and a sheet of paper and light the paper under the coal. Once it has got hold balance the shovel on the grate and the chimney breast then cover with the paper to "draw" the fire. Almost always worked! Almost always, and I did it for years, set the drawing paper alight. Running around the room trying to put it out!!! Try that today with your kids and they would take them off you!!!! :eek::eek::eek:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I did the ironing and polished the lino

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

clean the bathroom and sweep the stairs, every Sunday

my little bro (not so little now) used to have to wipe down all the skirting boards

my big sis used to have to clean our bedroom

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Well I didn't do a thing, I the only one, and Grandma lived with use so by the time I got home from school everything was done. The only thing I can remember was going down Accy Market every Saturday to get the Fruit and Veg, in my teens. Later on I did any repairs round the house

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Skim the leaves off the swimming pool, before we got an indoor one.

:D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

it varied 1 week wash up after tea, our kid went co-op n corner shop fer messages, switch around week after, simple house rules- don't do= no spending money, brought mine up the same. wouldn't mind betting many do nowt these days fer there spence.:rolleyes:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Oddly I'd never heard of 'messages' until I lived in Glasgow.

'I'm away for my messages in a wee while.'

Messages?

Are you a spy?

Anyone else in the area, besides Cashy who called shopping 'messages'?

I still think it's more Scottish than Lancastrian.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Fetch the bread from Mrs Almonds shop....fill the coal buckets.....make sure my little brothers were washed and put to bed, and their clothes were ready for school the next day. I used to shop for an old lady nearby....and she gave me one and sixpence for doing it......my only spending money.
I had lots of jobs to do........I suppose that is why I didn't have much time to get up to mischief

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

twas a word i aquired in county dublin when i was a nipper.;) so i always assumed it was irish.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

We had various chores to do and woe betide if they weren't done when Mum came home. Like MargP there was no spending money unless you did jobs for other people.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I was thinking just that Rindi, I never heard that until I worked with a lad from Glasgow in the 70s, the first time he said that I looked at him as if to say what you on about, but in time I got used to it, like are you going for the messages this morning (bacon and egg butts) :D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I had jobs to do around the house (as did my brother and sisters) and we also did this for spending money, the jobs were split between us, washing up, drying, putting away, throwing the hoover round and at weekends sweeping stairs, cleaning bathroom, tidying bedroom etc. Used to get a bonus aswell if we cleaned the car :D

I "treat" mine when they help me tidy up etc. and thy are only 2 :D never too young to learn lol

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I had to make sure my 3 sisters did their work :rolleyes:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Not the moat then ?

My mum never let me do any household chores ... said I would have enough to do when I got married. Did like to clean the brasses though, and was sent to the butchers and Catlows for the veg.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Lots of jobs to do but the one I remember most was having to take unwanted pets to the gas oven behind the police station. Never liked watching them panic before they croaked. It was a rotten job but somebody had to do it!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Are you serious?

How dreadful.:(

Thankfully, my childhood chores went no further than the usual cleaning of my bedroom and , later on, a bit of ironing.

I would have done more if I'd been there longer but I left home at 19.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

There were three of us in our house and it only takes two to do the washing up so we used to play cards or draw straws or throw dice after tea every night and the two losers had to do the washing up.

Had to help out with jobs but didn't have a specific one and my spending money wasn't based on helping out - just wasn't allowed to be sat around reading whilst my mum was cleaning. A duster would always be aimed in my direction. :D

I didn't have a swimming pool to clean as I grew up but I had fun watching the people next door cleaning theirs. :D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

...those were the folks who couldn't afford a bathroom?

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

You lot don't know you're born. We had to get up at 3.30am and lick t'road w'our tongues!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Why??? :confused:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Cuz it taught us t'meanin' of hard work, that's why!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

They had one of them in the Gt. Harwood UDC council yard , could never figure out if they were gassed or electrocuted , a big box with a padded bottom and a glass lid , owd chap who operated it would let us put them in, but never let us kids watch, allways shunted us out . don't ever remember anyone taking kittens or pups , think they went into the dolly tub then into an owd coal sack then into back of bin wagon , :eek:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Ohh, no more please.

Too sad. :(

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

so they would have something to complain about when they got older :D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I didn't have any chores to do but I did have rabbits, in a shed at the end of the garden, and I had to clean them out and feed them. I used to help with feeding the hens too.

I was never made to do anything in the house but I started to help my mother with cooking, because I wanted to, and I suppose that's how I learned to cook.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Complain? complain? We never complained...and we lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. but did we complain? Never!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

When I was old enough my job was chopping enough firewood for the week every Sat morning, then I had to go to Grandads and get his weekly shopping, and make sure they coupons wer'nt fiddled, for that I got 6d per week.

If I wanted any more I had to earn it, so I helped the caretaker at Hargreaves St school, cleaning out the boilers and shoving the coke down the shute, for that I got 3d. Treated myself to the Bug Hut every Sat afternoon, Roy Rogers, Flash Gordon, Bill Boyd, Harold Loyd, Laurel & Hardy, Lon Channey. All enjoyed wi a penorth o bits from Toffee Lythe off Plantation St.

Retlaw.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

You telling porkies, it was a cardboard box, not a paper bag, and you only did 12 hours at mill an 1/2 day sat. :theband:

Retlaw

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Brown paper though was very usefull fer wrapping round yer body when kippping rough, good insulation.:D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

It's funny because this came up today. My step daughter requestd sausage and mash for tea - I am feelin a bit under the weather and couldnt bare to peel spuds so I said fine so long as you peel the potatoes- she laughed and said ...mmmm.

So in she comes with her dad at six and said she was going to watch a video in our room - I reminded her about her little job and she laughed - i said it wasnt ajoke - but not wanting to get on her case left it at that -

an hour later she declared she was hungry- when was tea- I said about 45 mins after you have peeled the spuds-

she was beside herself that I had actually expected her to do something lol

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Did she peel em Keetah? best way to learn em IMHO:) p.s. hope yer feelin better tomoz.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Had to polish the upstairs and the front room on a wednesday ... and living room on sundays without fail and dust the living room every day. Mum did the cooking .. but we had to wash up .. which brother hated big time!!! Everytime it was his turn he was either out thro the back door, through the front door, through the loo window and when we got wise to that .. out through mum & dads bedroom window!!!! All to get out of washing up!!!!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Each Wednesday it was my job to make Lancashire Hotpot for the evening meal and god help me if i didn't get it in the oven early enough to cook, but still one of my fave meals
even though i am in Wales. Anyone else loves pea soup with ham shank or spare ribs? Yum!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

LUXURY! we could only dream of a life like that.:)

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

No - I ended up doin them :(

but she is on hoovering and polishing next week - which got a groan lol - but she's doing it grr

And yep feeling a bit better ta- this bloody cold cant shake it.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Blimey
What was a swimming pool ?,we thought we was posh just having a bathroom.....(even if we did only live on a council estate)...:worthy::worthy:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Lucky sob ... I had my tongue nailed to the floor so that I couldn't chew on the mouldy crust that was my breakfast, lunch and supper allowance for the month .... :eek:

I used to have the fire starting chores, help with dishes, and when my grandad kept chickens, I fed the little bastards, collected the eggs, and disposed of the shlt (oops, manure). But I did get a small cut of the profits from the eggs. Think it came to about five bob a week ... some weeks as much as ten bob .... not bad pay when 20 quid a week was a small fortune.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

We didn't have a bathroom...we had an outside 'long drop'.....and a tin bath that hung on the wall outside.
The tin bath was dragged in every Friday night and we all bathed.

both bedrooms had po's........parents had a posh pot one with flowers adorning the outside.....we nippers had a white enamel one with a blue line painted around the rim.....it was someone's job to bring them down every morning and empty the contents down the long drop...then wash the Jerry out and place it upside down on the stairs steps.(the stairs at that time were only painted......too poor for carpet).

I didn't get asked to do that job...it was usually one of the boys who had to do it.
My brother Michael hated it when it was his turn.......he once threw the enamel jerry up the stairs and it bounced and came back and hit him on the head....nearly knocked him out.
Ma said that it served him right for not doing as he was told the first time of asking.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Hmmmm well my jobs were too long to list as my parents bought a really run down hotel when i was 5 years old and spent the next years doing it up and running it, so any went for me , make beds , cook , serve in the dining room , make up bills and age didnt come into it!! from 5 i was learning to cook and peel veg , make breakfasts and lay up the dining room with the necessary cutlery etc. I am not complaining tho , it has stood me in good stead for work later in life in catering and of course having a large family as i can easily cope with large numbers to cook for hahahaha.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I have Gary but then I am a scot lol

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

i remember as an 11 year old upwards, having to wash up, dry up and put away after tea, before i could go anywhere, look after sister and brother, 4 and 1, after school till my Dad came home from work. Saturdays, i had to do bits of shopping for Mum, Nan, and 2 Aunties, and got 3d from each of them, at 14 i lied about my age and got a Saturday job.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Mine was washing up and keeping my bedroom clean and tidy. I was lucky reall being the youngest of 6 , I was spoiled rotten compared to the others.
They all had it tougher than me:D

I do remember being taught to make the fire though . I used to love making the tapers.
when I was at our house I made them out of paper and if I was at my grans they were made out of bread wrappers.
and putting the paper up as a draghter omg!!! the amount of times I set that alight hahaha.

when I was about 4/5 my dad had a pen and we all had a rabbit each.which we had to all go down and clean out each day. silly me thought they were pets and then my dad one day told me that the foxes had got in an killed em :eek: I was so distaught. strangely enough my mum made a few rabbit pies round that time. :((

Didnt realise though till years later.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

One of my tasks was to scrub and sand-stone the front door steps, and I went for our neighbour's bread - for which, she gave me a farthing ( a quarter of an old penny!) So you can guess how long ago that was!:)

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I'm 63 and I don't remember farthings ossylass:rolleyes:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I'm 66 and I do - they had a wren on the back.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

i'd be suprised if ya remembered Half A Crown.:D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I have been amazed how all my senses, and my memory, have improved since I improved my nutrition and cut out all pharmacuticals.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I used to 'sand stone my grandad's step when he lived in Cross St. Ossy. but I don't think he gave me a farthing, perhaps a bit more. I remember he used to to go to James St. Club and play on the 'Bandit' if he won he always used to give me something. I can remember the other men used to queue up behind him when he was on the 'Bandit' because he was always winning!!
What lovely memories!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Margaret, I'd like to be your friend and I've been trying for ages to send you a message (re. thread: Mullards) but without success.
Any suggestions??

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I have sent you a private message -look at 'notifications' top right of this page :D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I've seen um Margaret but can't remember them being legal tender:rolleyes:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

No hope for me then Margaret,:rolleyes: and you shut your face cashy, or I'll get you at playtime:D :p

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Farthings were legal tender until 1960 so I don't know how you missed them, Jaysay. Mind you, I can't remember using them much after about 1955. Before that they were common.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Blackjacks were 4 a penny n Fruit Salad,:)

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

bit of a wander , maybe should be a new thread , Maybe I'm wrong but I think one thing about the "old" money, weights and measures systems was they stimulated a childs brain a bit more than everything being based on 10. No proof to back it up , just a general observation over time
anyone agree/disagree ?

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

This crossed my mind too .... it might take a little more mental effort to figure how many half crowns there are in a pound, than working out how many quarters are in a dollar. I remember some of the arithmetic questions, like adding one pound eleven shillings and three pence three farthings to seventeen and a half guineas:eek:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I've seen them but certainly can't remember using them at all Margaret

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

That had me scratching my head Eric, and just proves how we have forgotten old money, I think your little sum would total
20£ 4 shillings 9 old pence 3 farthings, but hey I'm not 100% sure:eek:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Jaysay, I'm not Margaret. ;)

Oh, I make the sum £19/18/9 3/4 - this is after 2 large glasses of red wine so may be rubbish.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Correct £19-18s-9d and 3/4d.
and 8 1/2 dollars [[2s-6d] made £1
10 florins = £1
20s = £1
40 tanners £1
80 3d bits =£1.
240d == £1
480 1/2d == £1

I still reckon up thinks in old value
like some loafs of bread are now near 25 bob, my gran used to feed 5 for a week on not much more.

Now for the cruncher how much were a groat
Retlaw.

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Without googling, I think a groat was 4d (4 old pence).

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

4 old pence for a goat, not bad!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I get £19.8s.9.1/2d. 1f. ... LOL.

Jaysays's correct on how quick you forget (never thought I would)... not sure if we converted the 3 farthings to one half penny and 1 farthing. :confused:

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

A groat was equal to four pennies or a four penny piece
I can remember my grandad saying he didn't care a groat...... so it can't have been much.
Can Cashman not remmber them I think they were still around in the 1850's!!

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

Forget that is 18s. maybe I need a glass of wine West Ender.. :D

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

not a chance my memory don't go much beyond boozers n music sue.:tongueout;)

Re: It was your job to do, when you was a kid.
 

I agree with Westender - £19.18 9 3/4 Anyone remember ship halfpennies, or Honolulu pennies? :)