Remember getting up and lighting the fire

[cazza 10]

my aunt is 94 and still has a cole fire and gets up every morning and makes it herself even fetches the cole in from outside,and yes she chucks the ashes on the garden i must admit the earth in her garden is wonderful

[teddie 10]

my aunt is 94 and still has a cole fire and gets up every morning and makes it herself even fetches the cole in from outside,and yes she chucks the ashes on the garden i must admit the earth in her garden is wonderful

 

Best stuff for the garden is fire ash, your aunt is right, we used to put it on the pavement to melt the snow! I now put my own wood ash on the garden it is great.

[thefrenchman 10]

still do. only i dont let it go out.

[Lucifer 10]

Who remembers getting up and lighting the fire on a cold winters morning.

First clear the ashes and be careful taking them outside if it was windy or you got a face full.

Screw up the day befores Star into tight balls (broadsheet then) and save a double page to help draw the fire.

Place the paper in the grate and lay the sticks (we always had a boxfull ready) over the paper.

Place the coal on top, only small lumps first till it got going then larger ones.

Pull out the damper (always covered in soot) to help draw the flames and light the paper.

Then the tricky bit came, we used to stretch the double sheet across the front of the fire place sometimes aided with the coal shovel propped in front leaving just a small gap at the bottom to allow the air to be sucked in which fanned the flames.

Many a time has the draw of air been so great that the paper was sucked into the flames igniting it and would have to be quickly snatched back and screwed up before the lot went up.

 

Once the coal had been lovingly coaxed to flame it was time to wash off as your hands would be as black as the chimney breast.

 

Next was to get the kettle on and sit with a hot cup of tea admiring the flames dancing and the sticks crackling and that lovely glow of warmth that hit you in the face because you were sitting about 6 inches from it.

 

MAGIC !!!!

 

We used to throw the ashes back onto the fire and more than not it could be brought into life with a few sticks and a lot of blowing.

[brian1941 11]

Remember helping Mam by tightly rolling newspapers & tying them into a knot, saving on firewood. In that aweful 1947 winter, when the fire was poked the ashes were sorted, any lumps however small were put back onto the fire. In our house domestic hot water was heated in a boiler behind the fire, if you had no fire, hot water had to be boiled in the washing copper or on the one gas ring, which was connected to the gas tap by a rubber hose.

----------------

THOSE WERE THE DAYS AND COAL WAS A LUXURY FOR SOME AS

I REMEMBER, UNTIL WE HAD OUR TIN BATH WE USED A FLANNEL TO

WIPE OURSELF DOWN.

[rholt 10]

my grandfather John Henry Brown a retired miner lived on Catley Road Darnall, with his family.he kept his canary from down the pit when he retired,(used to detect gas). One early morning he went downstairs to light the fire, but noticed the canary was dead, in the bottom of its cage immediately raised the alarm and cleared the house Thank goodness, it was a major gas leak, if he had struck a match first it would have been a major disaster. The canary was in retirement, but possibly had saved all their lives.

[melthebell 863]

they STILL DO light the fire round these parts