Easier to be OS in the olden days?

meritaten

have you not been to South Wales parsniphead? lol - I know most of the 'tourist' attractions and some very well kept 'secrets'! if you plan on a trip - then contact me and I can help you with some interesting places to visit. St Fagans is very popular - even with us Welsh! been many times and there is ALWAYS something interesting to see.
during my childhood the 'valleys' were dotted with 'tips'. great unsightly things (but very useful if the coal 'delivery' was late and you had used your allocation), it was a common sight to see men or women or older kids up on the tips with their buckets looking for 'lump'.
after the horrific 'Aberfan' disaster - they slowly started making the tips safe. nowadays the Valleys are green and beautiful. I think I am lucky to live here (mostly).
and the rivers which used to be 'black' are now clear and I have seen kingfishers and water voles in my local (Rhymney) river. The rivers are now safe for fishing and trout is plentiful - when the pits were pumping into it NOTHING could live in it!
rofl - but in my childhood during hot summer days, the local kids would 'cool off' in the river anyway! and they came out looking like 'mini-miners'! parents would be furious - there are some deep 'holes' in the river bed and it really isn't safe! but the mums were more concerned about the dirty kids and clothes!

lessonlearned

I'm a Derbyshire lass, and I have noticed a big difference now that most of the mines are closed. The areas that were given over to mining and what had become barren wasteland have either been turned into country parks or just left to green over naturally. The rivers are cleaner and wildlife thrives.

It's amazing how quickly nature reclaims the land.

Do you remember the smogs. They got so bad that the buses would stop running. I had to walk about 4 miles from school in the pitch dark. You could scarcely see you see your hand in front of you. And th smell.......it stung your eyes, caught in your throat and made you cough. We used to fashion makeshift face masks from our school scarves.

I can clearly remember the winter of 63 when it froze for 6 weeks. Great fun skating on the local lakes. The thaw when it came seemed to be even colder than the frosts. :rotfl:

parsniphead

I have only been once Meritaten, for weekend trip to The Black Mountains.It was absolutely beautiful and would like to see more of the area. As a child my aunt had a caravan in Llanfair Caereinion where I spend many happyhours playing in river. Oh how times have changed. In recent years it's always been the Snowdonia area as my DH went to college in Harlech and is obsessed with the area. Also with him being another kid from the Midlands (albeit him being a Brummie) he also tended to spend holidays in North Wales. Perhaps next year I will drag him further south.

[Deleted User]

I used to go to st fagans a lot, loved it there. The row of cottages is called rhydycar cottages and they came from near merthyr tydfil. There was a small reservoir above the cottages and a branch blocked a culvert, the reservoir then emptied above the cottages and they were flooded, at least one person was killed. My dh had something to do with the cottages afterwards. The terrace was removed from there and taken to st fagans. The cottages are a wonderful memorial and very evocative of the times

I sat and made another crochet square this morning, I have several cotton cones of lovely colours after making dozens of dishcloths for everyone. My mind wonders when I am quietly crafting and I suddenly remembered sitting at the table, first of all cutting strips from rags and then latching them, to make rag rugs. They were very nice and homely, in front of the fire and distracted from the threadbare lino

I believe the squares are called granny squares and I am making more throws as the children love using them when they visit. If they are big enough then they could also decorate a bed. Plenty of info on youtube if anyone wants to learn how to make them

Shortypie

Kittie - I am currently trying to teach myself how to crochet with the help of YouTube, I'm a bit cackhanded though! I would love to make a bedspread for my double bed, I don't have much time though between work and three kids so might take a few years! :rotfl:

St Fagans sounds really interesting, if a bit far from me! I've been considering investing in camping gear for holidays so we can gave a break even if money is tight (had a cheap Butlins holiday shared with my mum and dad thus year) and Wales would def be on my list.

There's a museum calked the Geffrye in London, it's in a house from the 1700s and each room is done as a "living room" through different eras. The 50s one was like walking Into my nan's living room (even though I wasn't born til 82). They all decorate them at christmas with authentic style decor, bringing in the green etc, I hope to get there again this year.

I can't help but think we have too many distractions these days that eat up our time that could be better spent being thrifty and OS - like me sitting looking at these forum right now! :rotfl:

Broomstick

This thread's a good trip down memory lane. I'm another mid-1950s baby. (Another fan of St Fagan's too!)

Did any of you visit the Imperial War Museum's 1940s house when it was on display? Many years ago we were at the IWM doing some work on first world war poetry and artists (me plus my home-ed sons) and I only stumbled upon the house by chance. My Gran's house was three bed but a bit smaller and shabbier and I cried quietly as I went round the museum one because so much of it was like her house and some of it was identical. I wasn't expecting to be hit with grief like that. The 1940s house telly programme wasn't the same as seeing the museum one in real life.

The IWM has put various videos about the house online:
The kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPVvta-tHC8
The living room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhdxmKcmVzw
The dining room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltDxY_7TMQw
The entrance hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Pba8FeFW4
The master bedroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vt5NnUYWA4
The front bedroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP-Dc5gBhP0
The boys bedroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--xjXzY-L6s
The bathroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nox5Fwz29Ac

Bx

Caterina

Shortypie wrote: »

Kittie - I am currently trying to teach myself how to crochet with the help of YouTube, I'm a bit cackhanded though! I would love to make a bedspread for my double bed, I don't have much time though between work and three kids so might take a few years!....

Shortypie, I live in London and occasionally organise OS meet ups, hoping to do one in early December, so if you are interested to come along I shall teach you to crochet. It is very simple to make a basic bedspread, you just do a giant granny square, I have made one each for my two (adult) children and they love them.

Where in London are you? I am in SE London, not far from Blackheath.

BTW I love the Geffrye museum!

[Deleted User]

I can recommend the WEALD AND DOWNLAND OPEN AIR MUSEUM at Singleton in West Sussex, it's a superb place where buildings have been rescued from destruction and reassambled on a 25 acre site then furnished by the museums' carpenter and weavers and potters in the period they represent. They have wonderful gardens too, planted up with the species of fruit, veg and herbs that would have been grown in the period of the property. They have re enactors sometimes living in the cottages, run very useful courses, have a working Tudor Kitchen and shows and open days right through the year. Well worth a visit if you're in the area. It's about 8 miles inland from Chichester next to the Goodwood estate.

meritaten

Caterina wrote: »

Shortypie, I live in London and occasionally organise OS meet ups, hoping to do one in early December, so if you are interested to come along I shall teach you to crochet. It is very simple to make a basic bedspread, you just do a giant granny square, I have made one each for my two (adult) children and they love them.

Where in London are you? I am in SE London, not far from Blackheath.

BTW I love the Geffrye museum!

this is the method I use too - as I absolutely HATE stitching the little ones together! I have made about a dozen now. Including two for my Aspie grandkids which are made from double knit wool, then I do a deep border 4 - 6 inches, in dc crochet in chunky wool. this 'weights' it down and they love it! while not making the blanket too hot for the summer.
I usually start one each year by keeping a look out for 'Bargains' in wool and charity shops. then when I have about kilo of wool I will start one. (that's ten 100 gm balls) I try to 'colour co-ordinate' but find if you use lots of white and cream as well, you can put many shades of the same colour together.
a rough guide would be a kilo of wool and using a fairly open stitch will make a single bed cover.

Caterina

MrsL, I absolutely love the Weald and Downland Museum, in my family we call it "This Old Man", because of the life size mannequin on an old gatekeeper sitting on his bed, which DD was terrified of Enron she was little.

It is also one of the places where Ruth of Victorian (and others) Farm teaches some courses. I keep meaning to go to one of her courses but not got around to yet. One day...

Meritaten I also hate stitching the little squares, great minds an' all that ...