KBGS Old Boys' Forum

A place to discuss Keighley Boys' Grammar School. 


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KBGS Old Boys' Forum
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Re: Consumer gerbils!

Shaun, Of course the details were for my parents dates of their acquisitions ,not mine . One early first for me was a flight from the then wartime Yeadon aerodrome in s test flight of a new Avro Anson . Thet was in summer of 1943 and we flew over Keighley. Then car in 1952 ,a Vauxhall 14 , 1934 model. . Most other stuff in 1953-56 as we set up for our married life .

Current location (optional) Tasmania

Re: Consumer gerbils!

Back to Allan's original question.
I have no idea when my parents got their wireless. As far as I was concerned it had always existed. It was a wooden thing about the size of a small writing desk. You could get stations from exotic places like Hilversum and Droitwich.
We never had a Hoover. It was always called a Vac and, again, I can't recall when it appeared.
The TV is a different matter. We moved house in 1953 and, as part of the deal, my father retained the (then) enormous sum of £50 from the transaction and bought a TV so we could watch the coronation. Again this was about the size of the wireless but a vertical rectangle rather than a horizontal one, and the screen was enormous - 12 inches.
The first washing machine I recall was a huge cast iron thing that simply heated the water electrically. I then sat on the draining board in the kitchen moving a handle back and forth agitating the washing for an eternity before the water was emptied and the clothes decanted into the sink to be rinsed before putting them through the mangle. We certainly had it through the 1950s. At some time during the 1960s a twin tub appeared as did the feeling in my arms.
My father briefly got an old mini some time in the late 60s after I had left home but didn't keep it too long after deciding that he was now too long in the tooth to learn to drive.
Two things that Allan didn't mention were fitted carpets and showers. We never had fitted carpets. It was always a carpet square surrounded by lino. And I don't recall when people started to have showers installed, but the only ones I ever saw until I left home were in the ridiculously small changing rooms at KBGS.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Consumer gerbils!

The first wireless I remember probably dated from the 1930s. It was housed in a large oak cabinet with an art deco speaker grille. My first memory of it vividly recalls the cheery signature tune of the Saturday teatime sports programme, in about 1948. I was plonked in a high chair at the time, and for many years I associated radio sports programmes with sticky fingers. A telly came in 1952, in time for the King’s funeral. It had a 10 inch screen and was a floor-standing model. The TV signal came from Home Moss, wherever that was. We had the lino and carpet square too, kept clean with a carpet sweeper before the arrival of the hoover in the early fifties. In 1955 there came a car, a black Morris Minor with the registration UUB 66. I remember being taken for a spin and reaching 60mph on Bradford Road. No seatbelts. A fridge arrived in 1960, prior to which the pantry was used - an under-stair walk-in cupboard really, but on an outside wall with a small bubble glass window. The first washing machine I remember was from the mid fifties and incorporated a mangle (hand operated). A Hoover twin tub replaced it in 1960.



Re: Consumer gerbils!

Allan Jones
The first wireless I remember probably dated from the 1930s. It was housed in a large oak cabinet with an art deco speaker grille. My first memory of it vividly recalls the cheery signature tune of the Saturday teatime sports programme, in about 1948. I was plonked in a high chair at the time, and for many years I associated radio sports programmes with sticky fingers. A telly came in 1952, in time for the King’s funeral. It had a 10 inch screen and was a floor-standing model. The TV signal came from Home Moss, wherever that was. We had the lino and carpet square too, kept clean with a carpet sweeper before the arrival of the hoover in the early fifties. In 1955 there came a car, a black Morris Minor with the registration UUB 66. I remember being taken for a spin and reaching 60mph on Bradford Road. No seatbelts. A fridge arrived in 1960, prior to which the pantry was used - an under-stair walk-in cupboard really, but on an outside wall with a small bubble glass window. The first washing machine I remember was from the mid fifties and incorporated a mangle (hand operated). A Hoover twin tub replaced it in 1960.



Gas mantle hanging from centre of living room.

Mother's peggy tub and gas boiler in kitchen. Stone floor.

"Tin" bath in kitchen could be carried into cottage living room.

Grandfather's wireless in wooden cabinet on legs. could get Radios Luxemburg, Moscow + others?

I built a crystal set with condenser from an old wireless set, home wound copper coil on a vim tube and crystal diode from ex Army shop. Aerial just a long wire.

Mother's washer circa 1950 was a Service, round tub on legs with central agitator.

My Grandfather carried in a peggy tub from hut in garden and a laidlin can was a common feature. Grandfather filled this brimming when I called with my dog on short legs.

My father had flagged living room floor asphalted.

In about 1963, when I had a van, I was able to deliver a frig to my parents.

Will these postings survive ourselves?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1953-58

Current location (optional) West Yorks