A childhood memory was that certain days of the week were reserved for a bath. I suspect my dad's generation may have had a certain *day* of the week reserved for a bath. Or was this just my soap-shy family!?

In Singapore it's now the number of showers per day you take.

Yes, Chris. Until I was seven we lived in a house with an outside toilet and no bath, except for the "tin" bath that hung in the shed. That was used every Friday evening - bath night. It took a lot of work heating the water to fill it, but was followed by a warm bath in front of a blazing fire (not sure what used to happen in the good weather) and toast made on the toasting fork over the said fire. Glorious!
When we moved to a house with a bathroom the ritual of a bath night disappeared. I guess some of our contributers who preceded me at kbgs will have clearer memories of bath nights.
A bath once a week seems quite infrequent now but I suppose children were just cleaner in those days.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Shaun, I was telling someone recently that our Sunday night treat was toast on the end of a fork over the fire. Our bath night was Friday until we moved into a house with it's own bathroom and toilet when I was just turned 11.Until then it was the old zinc bath which hung on the wall for the rest of the week. Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

You haven't had a bath, until you've had to remove the "Bath Top" which was a table top type cover over the bath.
The bath was sited under the window in the living room !!
Bath night was Friday so that the removal of the top was simply done once a week
The heating up of water was concentrated on Friday via a coal or coke fire and fire-back back boiler.
The outside toilet, which during a cold spell, always had a candle in a jar situated near the toilet cistern in an endeavor to stop the water freezing.
On the pulling of the chain, the dull sounding clunk soon made you aware that the flush wasn't working because the water had frozen in the cistern.

On Keighley Gala Day, and with our house's close proximity to Victoria Park, we usually found several overcoats in the outside lavatory.
These had been left by relations, not wishing to "cart" them round the fun-fair, but were dutifully collected after they had run out of cash!!

I'm sure Michael Palin must have made a comic sketch on this scenario.
Over to you TERRY M

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1950-55

Current location (optional) KEIGHLEY

Eeh, Derek.That woh luxury. We hed to mine t'coil dahn i't' cellar and stoke up t'copper and get on a reight eead o' steeam. Then cart watter in severeal buckets to t'top o't' stairs and fill t'tin bath at stood i't'front o't' fire. Little'uns in fost then t'proper mucky'uns that hed been laikin' in t'park or on t''oller. And as for t'lav - we shared one outside lav wi a family of 6 adults - 1 priceless piece of porcelain between 22 cheeks. Tha wou'n't 'ang the coit i' theer - wet or dry - I'll tell thee. I' them days the guzunder woh king ower neet - 'specially in the winter of 1947 when there were icicles longer than a donkey's donger. Yer woh summat special, Derek, if yeh lived down by t'park i' those days. It woh tougher the closer yer got t'village.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

I was lucky, my father was a boilerman in a mill, every Saturday afternoon I went t't mill and had a proper bath with water so hot it took forever to get into it. The lav was shared with three other houses, oh the joy of an indoor bathroom and toilet at last. There must have been some sort of government push at that time to bring everyone into the 20th century.

I was telling someone about gas lighting in the houses and streets, they didn't believe that this was still happening in the 1950s and 1960s.

Wow! I thought I was the only kid in KBGS poor enough to have a zinc bath. Maybe I was just too class-conscious to ever actually tell anyone at the time. Friday night was definitely bath night. Four of us must have shared the water. Just as well we had "oilcloth" on the floor and not carpet cos my brother and I got in together. Open fire and toast on a long fork also brought back memories. And did anyone have a fireplace with a metal arm that held a kettle that swung across to be heated on the fire? Or a fire-side oven to bake bread? I think I read on this forum somewhere about a rubbing-board and a mangle. Did you also have a cellar-top kitchen?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 54-59

Current location (optional) Denholme

Were those baths really zinc? Surely zinc would have been quite expensive.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

I think they were called zinc but in reality they were probably galvanised iron. We still have one in our basement which we salvaged from my wife's childhood home when her father passed on.Can't bring myself to throw it outMLN9!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

You're both right in a sense. What we generally call a zinc bath would be iron (steel) electroplated with zinc to prevent corrosion. A chrome fitting for example is named as such even though it's (usually) steel electroplated with chromium.
We also generally call aluminium foil silver paper!

We used to put a brick under one end. The bigger kids got the deep end!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Test yours with a magnet, Bill, and let us know the result!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65