Mrs Richards’ story:
She was born in 12 New House Road, Esh Winning. When six months old the family moved to 5 West Terrace in Ushaw Moor, near the colliery.
The terraced houses had back yards, at the far end of which, were the toilets. These did not have water but were more or less a hole in the ground covered by a board seat, which had a circular hole. Every night, the night soil men came with their lorry and emptied the toilets.
All the cooking and the heating of the house was from the range in the kitchen. This was coal fired and had an oven at one side and hooks to hold a kettle at the other. The kettle would be filled with water and then swung over the flames to boil. They did have electric light. There was an electricity meter in one of the bedrooms. There were two bedrooms each with two beds.
The house did not have a bathroom. A tin bath was brought from the hook on the back yard wall and filled with water from the kettle. The bath was placed in front of the fire.
The washing machine was a square metal box, which was filled with hot water from the range. The lid of the washer had a handle attached inside to an agitator. When the handle was pulled backwards and forwards the water and the clothes were swished around inside the tub. It was very hard work. When the job was done the water could be emptied away through a tap in the bottom of the tub.
The floors were covered in linoleum with some small, hand made “proggy” mats. These were made of hessian sacking and strips of coloured cloth. The strips were pushed through holes in the hessian and could form patterns or even pictures.
The children played with tops and whips, skipping ropes, hop scotch and team games. From 5 to 15 years of age she attended Ushaw Moor County School. This now houses the Infants School. One of Mrs Richards’ favourite possessions is this piece of glass.
It is made from the bottom of a milk bottle. Mrs Richards’ mother used it to play hop scotch when she was a little girl. Mrs Richards used it too.