One of the most striking differences about the way people lived before the arrival of labour saving appliances and gadgets was their need to structure domestic life in a certain way in order to get everything done.

Nowadays we are all accustomed to doing the washing whenever we feel like it and whatever the weather, cooking meals for one person at a time if necessary, shopping for food a week or more ahead, enjoying entertainment in the form of TV programmes and films at any time of the day or night. The ways in which technology has altered our lifestyles are endless, and we tend to take all this for granted in our busy lives.

Many of the women we interviewed remembered a rather different approach to domestic organisation, whereby tradition and pragmatism effectively imposed a routine on housewives and dictated the pattern of their daily lives. Betty summarised the approach most succinctly..........

Do you have memories of this way of life? Why not visit the memory corner and share your memories with us?

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