Wednesday, 12 July 2017

Mangle? Granny what's a mangle?

One of my son's is renovating a house and found a 1950's Practical Woodworker magazine in the loft.  We all enjoyed reading it and laughing at the some things looked odd and some things we were still doing - like insulating the loft!
This page sparked a lot of discussion.


The bottom right advert is for a stand alone spin dryer.  My mother had one!  Daughter in law (Indian descent/city dweller) and grand daughter could not quite grasp why you would have a spin dryer separate to a washing machine. Why would you want something that squashed all the washing so that it was plastered to the sides of the spinner and came out all creased they asked? Was it not all soft and bouncy?

Twin tub washing machines (my second washing experience when we had first child in 1976) was vaguely familiar to daughter in law but then I mentioned my first washing machine with a mangle on the top (second hand freebie in 1971). Bit like one of these.
Image result for washing mangle wringer
Mangle?  I tried to explain the working of two rotating drums squashing the washing as you turned the handle and how my mother's and grandmother's were so big they were kept just outside the back door.
Image result for washing mangle wringer

Perhaps I should not have mentioned the wonderful description Charles Dickens gives in "Our Mutual Friend" of mangling.

"See sweetie" explained R. "You always say Mummy was brought up in the Dark Ages. Grandma was brought up in ancient times!"



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5 comments:

  1. Sally12 July 2017 at 14:26

    As a child I loved wash day. The scent of life boy soap and blue bags bubbling in the twin tub. We had the washer with the mangle on top!
    Happy memories for us children but hard work for Mother. We also had a baby burco for boiling nappies. Thanks for a lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sally12 July 2017 at 14:27

    As a child I loved wash day. The scent of life boy soap and blue bags bubbling in the twin tub. We had the washer with the mangle on top!
    Happy memories for us children but hard work for Mother. We also had a baby burco for boiling nappies. Thanks for a lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sheila12 July 2017 at 14:54

    That's a blast from the past Trish.
    My first washing machine was exactly the same as yours with the mangle on top and my Grandma and Mother had the stand alone mangle kept outside the back door-x-

    ReplyDelete
  4. Frugally challenged12 July 2017 at 18:59

    Does Widow Twanky still have a mangle at the panto?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Living Alone in Your 60's12 July 2017 at 19:10

    I had a spin dryer when I got married in 1978. I didn't have a washing machine until 1980.

    ReplyDelete

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