Sheila

Yes, I mentioned the dolly-blue in an earlier post, Marelli! Magic, those little blue things in their cotton jackets...

As well as dolly blue, there was a biscuit coloured one for the creamy coloured net curtains.

I remember my friend's mum using the little bluebag to put on wasp stings.

I didn't mean old fashioned in a derogatory way as I wish I had somewhere I could have a pulley. I think it would save electricity by reducing time spent using the tumbler drier.
As a child I hated wash days because we couldn't get near the fire on cold days. All the wet washing was draped on the clothes horse around the fire and steam everywhere. And baked potatoes for tea because the washing had taken all day.
And it was always on a Monday wasn't it?

We lived in a tied house on a farm in the fifties and sixties and it had a wash house. Sadly our boiler had been taken out but our neighbour still had hers and produced the whitest sheets ever. It had a fire underneath it, designed to burn coal to heat the water. Oddly we used to give our neighbour our old shoes to burn as they gave the best heat apparently

I remember my Mum putting the washing through a mangle. It was clamped to the draining board which was wooden and full of germs no doubt! She progressed to a twin tub thankfully. We also had a pulley in the kitchen; I'm sure the drying clothes took on the aroma of whatever was cooking on the stove that day!
When DH and I first met, he was the proud owner of a Baby Burco in which he seemd to boil wash evrything from socks to handkerchiefs - I soon replaced it with an all singing, all dancing Indesit washing machine

I rather miss that 'washing' smell.......

And yes, it IS called a Sheila.

When my first child was born nearly 50 years ago I had a Baby Burco mainly for nappies which always had to be spotless.When nappy days were over I advertised it for sale along with other bits in the local paper. Some one rang and said he would buy it if we would deliver and gave us an address in N.Manchester. When we arrived it was a Butcher's shop and the owner explained it was for rendering the fat to make dripping.I was very pleased I wasn't a customer, but what the eye doesn't see....!

If there is nowhere in your kitchen for a pulley, have you considered the garage? I used to hang nappies and sheets and towels and other larger things in there, where they dried wonderfully.

Then about fifteen years ago, in a big storm, I was standing at the kitchen window watching the trees bend when the garage roof reared up in one piece and flew off towards me. It changed direction at the last minute (while I stood transfixed) and cartwheeled off into a neighbour's garden, destroying my conservatory on the way, but not touching the ground or the fence. The pulley has never been re-attached to the new roof.

We had one of these when I was a lot younger. My name is Sheila and I would have seen it as a compliment if I thought our 'pully' had been named after me!

My mum had a gas boiler for years and years. The sheets and towels were boiled and after being wrung out were so white and soft. Monday was wash day and the kitchen where the boiler was, was always steamy. My mum used to push the sheets down with a big wooden spoon.

But, to this day, I cannot bear to see washing hanging around the house. On a hidden radiator maybe, or in a spare bedroom (anyone else got a Lakeland Hangaway?)

Same here Ariadne.My tumble dryer gets lots of use.

In Yorkshire the drying pulley is called a creel - my MIL had a huge one in the kitchen and never seemed to have any problems with damp or smelly washing etc, but I would worry about that. My tumble dryer gets well-used too, though I'm saving it quite a lot of work now I've retired and can usually manage to get the washing dry outside.

My DD2 has one of the Lakeland tower airers, Ariadne and loves it.

What a frightening experience Elegran. Thank goodness it changed direction.

DD1 now sees the benefit of having a washing line in the garage, especially for bath sheets and bed linen. Sometimes, Mother's advice is listened to

I too remember everything you have all been saying about wash days years ago but did anyone else have a hand operated washing machine? It was a tub with a hinged lid and paddles which were attached to the lid. When the lid was lowered the paddles went into the washer and were operated by a handle which had to be turned first in one direction and then the other. It was considered a crime of the highest order to turn it in only one direction (easier option) as the clothes just got in a knot around the paddles. I think there was a mangle attached too.
We also had a gas iron which was attached to a gas pipe from the gas bottles. One up from flat irons !
Sometimes I see the washer and iron in museums but I think they must have been a bit of a rarity or put on the dump at the earliest opportunity as there do not seem many about.

It was a very good day when electricity finally came to our outpost in Teesdale !

I remember my auntie having a creel in her kitchen

seasider. I immediately thought of a lobster creel! What was the device your auntie had?