ANNIE HURT

This person was the mother of Hilda Jackson, the Grandmother of Tony Jackson, and the Great Grandmother of Dean, Hayley and Lisa.

I regret that I have only two photos of her and have so little information about her. I hope that I can find more when I visit the archives establishment on Shoreham Street. ( It is closed now and doesn't reopen until late summer 2011)

She was born in 1893 as ANNIE ELIZABETH LEVESLEY and she married Thomas Hurt, my Grandfather.

My most vivid memories of her occurred when I was quite young walking up the back lane of Pomona Street. I would shout as I passed her house " Got any sweets, Grandma?" This was the late 1940's when rationing of food was still imposed on everyone. If she hadn't any she would give me money and sweet coupons that I would take to Hartleys on Ecclesall Road. They had a wide selection and my favourites were Swizzles and Mars bars.

In later life she made me laugh when she told me that when my mother was a young girl and living with them on Pomona Street they had to put a large piece of wood across the top bedroom stairs. It was the only way they could stop my Mum sleep-walking and going down stairs. Perhaps there was something in my mother's genes that got passed on to another member of our family. I'm sure the person knows what I mean.

Grandma Hurt suffered with her lungs and chest causing her life to be relatively short.

When I was young I too often had chest infections that caused me to have serious bouts of coughing. Grandma had a very effective remedy which she would make up for me. I have often used this remedy for our children and grandchildren.

It is made from equal parts of HONEY, VINEGAR and LEMON JUICE. ( freshly squeezed is best).

If a person's throat is sore through coughing so much, the liquid should be taken in small spoonfuls and allowed to linger in the back of the throat.

Life in the 1940's was very different, in some aspects, from today. For instance, few people had washing machines.

Weekly washing was done with these:

A DOLLY TUB. This was filled with hot water and soap powder.

Then a POSHER was used to agitate the clothes to be washed. After the clothes had been rinsed they would be put through a machine like this:

A MANGLE. It was one of these contraptions that fell on my father and did so much damage to his leg.

Cleaning your own body was also a lot different in those days. There was no such thing as a daily bath.

Friday night was bath-night and most families had one of these:

Yes, and they were stored like this - outside, hung on a wall. Every Friday the tin bath would be placed in front of the open fire in the living-room and filled with hot water that had been boiled on a gas ring. Then each member of the family would wash in the bath, one after the other, all in the same water.

My Grandma died at a fairly early age, the details of which have already been mentioned on her husband's Web page.