The ensuing pages follow the development of Domestic
Technology in the household from 1900 to the present day. Themes include
washing and cleaning, food preparation, sewing, leisure and gardening.
These fascinating and
illuminating stories highlight the many activities and often tedious and
arduous labour, that have characterised the lives of women, men and children,
and how developing technology affected their llives. The interviews relate to
washing, laundry and ironing, dress making, "Make do and Mend", to
food preparation, cooking and gardening, to cleaning, heating and lighting and
to leisure technology, such as the talking newspaper.
Each and every theme
explores the still vivid and expressive recollections of using domestic
appliances in the home. Women in particular recount the dreaded Monday wash
- carbolic soap, blueing agent and starch, red-raw hands and the
sight and smell or rows upon rows of bright white clean washing hanging on the
line.
Food preparation during the Second World War in particular
examines rationing and the often ingenious and innovative recipes for
cooking potato in 101 different ways. One lady recounts watching her mother
carrying out the loathed job of black leading the range and polishing its
many brass knobs, a task to this day she remembers vividly.
One gentleman recollects his
experiences as a gardener- he remembers the first time he tried to
concoct a homemade pesticide using cigarettes butts soaked in water, but
only to find out, after having killed all his plants, that he should have
watered it down significantly before spraying it on!
The ensuing pages follow the development of Domestic
Technology in the household from 1900 to the present day. Themes include
washing and cleaning, food preparation, sewing, leisure and gardening.
These fascinating and
illuminating stories highlight the many activities and often tedious and
arduous labour, that have characterised the lives of women, men and children,
and how developing technology affected their llives. The interviews relate to
washing, laundry and ironing, dress making, "Make do and Mend", to
food preparation, cooking and gardening, to cleaning, heating and lighting and
to leisure technology, such as the talking newspaper.
Each and every theme
explores the still vivid and expressive recollections of using domestic
appliances in the home. Women in particular recount the dreaded Monday wash
- carbolic soap, blueing agent and starch, red-raw hands and the
sight and smell or rows upon rows of bright white clean washing hanging on the
line. 
Food preparation during the Second World War in particular
examines rationing and the often ingenious and innovative recipes for
cooking potato in 101 different ways. One lady recounts watching her mother
carrying out the loathed job of black leading the range and polishing its
many brass knobs, a task to this day she remembers vividly. 
One gentleman recollects his
experiences as a gardener- he remembers the first time he tried to
concoct a homemade pesticide using cigarettes butts soaked in water, but
only to find out, after having killed all his plants, that he should have
watered it down significantly before spraying it on! 
