I remember cutting off the ends of the rolls of wallpaper, holding the skeins of wool while Mum wound it into balls also pulling down old woolens before washing it and rewinding to use We used to cut up old clothing into strips to make peg rugs - used a sack as the base, they were really cosy beside the bed instead of the cold lino floor. Also remember the ice on the inside of the windows in the winter, mum used to put our underwear and socks into the range so they were really cosy to put on in the morning and the oven shelves from the range were wrapped in pieces of old blankets and used to warm the beds (like the old warming pans).

Mum used to use some really strange medicines as well - onion syrup(yuk!), onions sliced and layered in a kilner jar with brown sugar, it was kept in the pantry and whenever we had a cold we were given a huge spoonfull - I hated it alnost as much as the cod liver oil!! I remember going into the chemist asn asking for a cough bottle, the chemist made it up himself, among the ingredients was syrup of squils and several other things.

Kate x