In the 70s we didn’t have much money . And I had one toy I loved . My action man . And my mum and nan made clothes for him and that was one of my presents . And they were of course priceless.
It got me too! I was so pleased I was allowed to touch her, this is not an original - she is a replica the museum have of the original in storage, so touching and to use a shoe would be a really great show of a love too!
Doesn't this make you feel so grateful today, inside bathrooms and washing machines. Wow those women and men knew what hard labour was. Thankyou so much Lucy for your time, xx .
I always think it must just have been relentless .. there's me having a freak out when the dog comes in with muddy paws and moaning about a load of washing I need to press a button to wash .. there's often an argument that "well these women didn't work it was their job" but often particularly in places like todays video they did - I mean there just can't have been enough hours in the day!
My Gramma"s Mother who ran a boarding house in Michigan she got a nick on her finger from an Electric clothes wringer got infected blood poisoning passed away from it a boarding house I can't fathom how hard she must have worked day in and day out They did. Early morning til Evening saw her obituary from 1924 online I cried description of her dying over the few days she suffered in a newspaper obituary
We must never forget what the brave working folk did for us by fighting for our current terms and conditions in employment. Thank you Lucy for this brilliant history lesson. I have many tools inherited from my grandfather that were made in the Black Country by people who lived in the conditions shown here.
Absolutely! I come from a family where I remember standing on picket lines in the 80s with my Dad, I am forever thankful for those who stood up and said "enough" and stuck with their convictions. Lovely to hear you still have the tools, they will last forever!
Therefor it is so cruel that big business-owners removed all the work to 'low-salary-countries' and left the workers here empty-handed, while they had fought for decent loans, housing, foods and education for their families. But now those 'poor' countries can earn some money, safe some, let the children learn and study and have better payed jobs. Do not romantisize 'hand-crafted' stuff, usually very expensive. But...that money is for the traders, the creators were/are very poor. I have seen that in India, Egypt, Indonesia. Elsewhere all over the world, the touristshops are filled with stuff from ......China, maybe really 'handmade', but most likely by machines.
I really enjoyed this. The houses are authentic, but my memories are that everything was ramshackle, spalled brickwork, crumbling mortar, flaked paint missing slates, huge slag heaps (from the copper works) mountainous coal tips, derelict buildings and bomb sites, cracked stone pavements and everything was soot-blackened. The smell of smoke from coal fires was particularly acrid on damp days and you could taste it. There were ‘parlour shops’ everywhere, and some were still around until the late 70’s here. All the front doors seemed to be painted brown or dark maroon-which always had a faded white bloom like the skin of a plum, and full of cracked and bubbled paint that I used to like pressing with my fingers. However grubby things were because of being an industrial Town, the doorstep and semicircle in front of it were washed everyday and the brass threshold and door knob were always polished. In the hot weather, there used to be a canvas striped curtain on a pole by the front door that used to be drawn across. I’m not sure why these were a thing, but assume it was to leave the front door open to let in air whilst affording privacy. It’s just a guess. My abiding memories are of always being cold, bitterly cold. When it was very cold, heavy overcoats were put on the bed give weight and extra warmth, along with hot water bottles, bed socks and a home knitted bed jacket. I don’t miss the cold and the grubbiness, but they were simpler times and have good memories. Cat wait for the next instalment!
Thank you so much for taking the time for writing this comment, because I absolutely sucked every word in and you don't know how privileged I feel for you to share this with not just me - but the other people who may come to the comments... because this WAS the reality. I was chatting with my Mom today and she was saying how they didn't have a fire for years and years and how my Grandad just found an old door and shoved in there to stop the draft and how it felt impossible to keep clean and warm! Honestly thank you - really do appreciate this comment x
Thank you for putting a lens of reality on the museum exhibits. Your memories were not much different than those of people here in New York City who lived in the tenements of the Lower East Side. The museum is pristine of course, in order to satisfy the requirements of the Health Department, but photos prominently displayed depict the crowded conditions and squalor, the working poor were forced to live under.
I wish Christmas was like that now, we seem to have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.I remember receiving a home made dolls house as a child, we were not a poor family but middle class, and I told Dad I wanted Santa Claus to bring me a dolls house. My lovely Dad was going to buy one, (he was not at all practical), but a colleague of his said that he would make me one, it turned out to be a lovely mock Tudor style house with six big rooms and electric lights run from a battery. He also made all the furniture, it was a lovely present, and I had it for many years, my mother gave it to a friend's daughter once I had my three sons. I believe it is still being played with almost 65 years later.My Dad was a GP and so was his colleague, who had learned his carpentery skills from his father in the Welsh valleys.
Like that as a well off person, not like that as a poor person who probably had health issues, was worked to death, inadequate education, no proper time off and living cheek by jowl with vermin.
This is so lovely, my Mom collects dollshouses and her favourites are the handmade ones - probably like the one similar to yours that she brings back to life and fixes them up for future generations to enjoy. When you receive something handmade it is far more memorable I think, would be interesting to hear what you Dad would think of having to be a GP today, must be a different world! x
@@throughlucyslens I had a wonderful Dad, he was always cheerful, and as children he would make up stories for us, he worked extremely hard, never complained. We were brought up in the Peak District and many of Dad's patients lived in outlying farms, he never missed a call, I have known him don his RAF greatcoat, Wellington boots thick socks, a spade. sacks and chains on his car wheels to visit a sick patient in deep snow, he would work every weekend and nights, and see patients at his surgery, no appointments, so there could be dozens waiting, but he always had time for them. He was a Geordie, very laid back. He also loved animals, and visiting farms a sheepdog would rush up to him tail wagging. I think he would be saddened and appalled to see how the GPs behave today, he always told me when I was studying to be a nurse, you have to see a patient, observe their demeanour, their gait, colour and examine them if necessary.He died in 2008, and I miss him every day, I was privileged to have him as a Dad.
You don't realise this, well you may do, but it don't half help me bring back memories watching these vids. Although wor born till 50s our life was just like that, the old tubs, mangle, coal fires, freezing winters, paper chain decorations, dad would work but you never seen him, we found out chritmas day he'd been making us toys in his shed all year bless him ❤ Thank you Lucy 😁
Same here my dad used to knock up toys with bits of wood and 6 inch nails at his funeral I said he was a member of the Fred Flintstone school of Carpentry it caused a laugh and lightened the mood.
Thanks Tom, this comment has really moved me. I guess it's actually the most unexpected - and loveliest aspect of what I'm doing .. I'm so happy it sparks memories for you. Handmade pressies are always the best and the ones you remember the most ❤️
May I ask, where would you get the paper? In the US, construction paper is around $8-10 a pack. I would assume it was always a bit pricey? I mean, I guess it’s nothing compared to people spending $8-10 on a single Christmas ornament. But for people who couldn’t even afford a $5 toy, it seems expensive. (Sorry, I am basing this off modern money. For reference, $10 today would be equivalent to ¢75 in 1950.)
My Nanna, born in 1875, lived in a house in Lincolnshire, very similar to the Anchor Maker's. Hers was slightly bigger. There were covered open ended passages between every 2 houses, so it had a 3rd bedroom over the back of it. (The neighbour's 3rd bedroom over the front part of the passage.) Her husband was a Salvation Army Captain. He was 20 years older than my Nanna. He died in 1945 and left my Nanna with 8 children to bring up. She had a range in the back room for hot water and she still used the oven even though there was a single story scullery leading off the back room with a barely used gas cooker. The toilet was in the back yard. There was also a wash house which my Nanna used right up until her death in 1965. (She came to our house every Saturday for her tea and to use our bath!) I remember that when the washing was finished, she added disinfectant to the water and used it to "sluice the passage." My Auntie lived in the house just the same for 15 years after Nanna died in 1965. In 1980, the landlord eventually converted the scullery to a bathroom. The back room was then made into a kitchen diner. I was only allowed into nanna's front room once. That was because she was recovering from a broken hip, so the family put her bed in there. Really enjoy your channel. Thank you xx
That was such an interesting piece of family history. Thanks for sharing. Although I am left to wonder what the connection is between the disinfectant and 'sluicing the passage' 🤔
@@Dutch_Gonneke Everyone used the back door in those days, so it was to clean the passage floor from dirty footprints. She would throw down buckets of hot water left over from her laundry onto the tiled floor and mopped it. She never wasted anything!
That sounds just like my Mother & Father in laws house (with the 3rd room over the passage). Made me smile about only going into the front room once! In my paternal Grandads front room you just were not allowed in .. until similarly to you it became his bedroom. I used to try and have a sneak and there wasn't much in there really but I guess it was precious! Thanks for sharing this, really lovely! x
Oh my goodness I so enjoyed this! I was born and bred in Staffordshire and Cheshire. My grandmother and granddad lived in a two up two down with 7 children! My mum and 6 brothers. I remember the parlour at the front of the house - never used but for special visitors! The living room was jam packed full with a huge settee and large dining room table etc. steps down into a long kitchen WITH the tin bath that I used when I went to visit! Then a back walk in pantry that was full of jars of vegetables my grandma had stored up. I can still ‘smell’ it! I’m 66 now and how things have changed - we are very fortunate - in some ways! Thankyou.
Thanks for sharing those lovely memories- it's amazing how they stick in your mind isn't it - particularly smells! Bet those jarred veggies were amazing too - my Nan used to make the most incredible picked shallots .. I've never been able to replicate them, they blew your head off (in a good way) x
@@throughlucyslensI have a line of jars of pickled shallots in the kitchen now. Hubby did them at the weekend. He makes lovely pickles. These will be ready in January. The Christmas shallots are ready now from a previous session. Also lined up from the weekend, jars of piccalilli. Another favourite of mine.
What a contrast of conditions, from the poor but hard working, to those more comfortable in life. The first part made me think of 'A Christmas Carol' while the wealthier conditions reminded me of how much impact technology has had on our lives and how our Christmas experience reflects that change. Thank you Lucy, this was beautifully put together.
Thank you Anne! I am chuffed to read your comment as that is exactly what I was hoping to convey in the video, you don't want it to be doom and gloom - but you want to show how starkly different people could be living roads away from one another - not dissimilar to today really!
Love the video from the U.S. my mother was raised in West Virgina in the early 1950's. They were poor coal miners but they never went with out food because they grew a big garden and canned for the winter.
Hi Tiffany, lovely to hear from you - I love all the canning and preparation to take you over winter in working communities of the past, they were so resourceful and thanks for sharing about your Mom x
My Grandma was born in Sheffield in 1892, and she used to share many memories with me how Christmas was when she was a child; she would have been a teenager in 1910. Thankyou Lucy, I love your nostalgic videos.
Thanks Gillian, it seems so long ago, but really many of us have relatives we remember who lived through these times - my own Dad used to say "he was lucky if he got an orange" .. and that was in the 1950s!
I’d say life is simpler for us today. Everything at the touch of a button. Appliances to do most things for you, but it’s at a horrible pace that’s too fast. Hence the stresses people feel today, it’s all rush rush rush. These houses and their furnishings are beautiful. My grandma’s house had an outside toilet we had to use, the toilet upstairs was for “best”. Best what I’ll never know 😂. That clog doll was disturbing, but I bet to the little girl who received it, it was magical. Thank you Lucy for an incredible video. Merry Christmas.
Thanks Dan! I agree about the pace of life, I suffer with my "nogin" shall we say and I do wonder sometimes if I am just not built for modern life! We got one of those ring doorbells and you can't even go out of the house in peace anymore!! haha. Love that she had a "best" toilet ... you NEVER went upstairs in my Nans house, EVER .. if you went up there you felt like the Queen ... you were either unwell or invited. When she was unwell and eventually had to live downstairs she would ask me to go up to get something and I would wonder .. is this a trap?
Apologies for the long comment but you touched on so many points from my dear dad's past on this one Lucy! Plus I know how much you love history. My dad was born in 1936, one of the youngest of 14 surviving children. I remember him telling me when it was his first turn as child to visit the pawn shop. His dad's one and only suit was pawned each Monday and taken out again every Friday pay day, to be worn at church on Sunday. He told me his feelings of embarrassment and dread as he took that first journey. Only to find most of his pals and classmates were also in the queue with their dad's suits too! My grandfather sadly passed away of TB after surviving 2 world wars in The Royal Navy. My granny was widowed with 14 children. You mentioned laying out the dead in the parlour. There was a group of widows in the area (granny being one of them) whose role it was to lay out the departed and prepare them for the undertaker, washing them, putting pennies on their eyes to close them etc. These sensitive tasks were strictly only allowed to be carried out by the widows if not the immediate family. It was deemed disrespectful and shameful for married or single woman to see a naked man's body except obviously a wife tending to her own husband. They also had a tin bath, Lordy that must have been a task with all those children. My dad caught a serious childhood illness, I can't remember which. So they sent him to stay with an aunt for fear of the others catching it. He came home for visit one rainy day while convalescing and there was water pouring down the outside of the kitchen window. He asked what it was and his younger sister haughtily replied. Oh, since you went WE'VE had a bathroom fitted'. He was so excited...... only to discover it was a broken gutter rail. They all lived in a 2 up 2 down terrace. I could tell you some tales Lucy 😂 Thanks for another lovely upload and the festive theme too x
This is so lovely, and an amazing example of why I love doing this SO MUCH - I believe my maternal great grandmother also used to go and lay out the bodies (also a widow) and I think it's actually a really lovely way to respect the deceased and their families, death was unavoidably a part of life for most people. Pawning of goods was such a cycle, I've often wondered about the people who would take all their blankets and warmth to be able to afford to eat for the week, I would have made a terrible pawnbroker .. I'd be telling people to take back the blankets and just repay the money .. like I always wonder how much money they could actually get for those things against a loan. I guess they relied on interest. A few of my uncles were sent away for childhood illnesses, my Dads brother who couldn't read or write had a wicked sense of humour and used to say "at least I can tie my shoelaces with my teeth" - something they apparently taught them at outdoor school when he had pneumonia to strengthen the lungs ! Thanks for sharing that, I really appreciate it and I am sure others reading the comments will too x
@ wow what a skill to have! A great come back too 🤭 to shut the siblings up. People I’ve come across who knew my family back then have always said the same thing. ‘Those children had nothing but they were the happiest kids in the street’. I only wish I’d got to meet my granny she was clearly a very strong woman and a great mother in spite of the circumstances x
@ my family didn’t have blankets they could pawn either. The kids beds were covered with ex army wool coats. My dad said they would fight each other for the sleeves and the pockets of said coats. They were the best bits because you could put your feet in them for warmth x
Thanks for sharing as always. The crepe paper streamers brought back vivid memories for me. As a child of the 1960's it used to be my job to cut the paper into narrow strips, and then roll two colours together. Mum would then hang and twist them. As my dad used to play merry **** if Mum made pin holes in the ceiling, she had to use sticky tape. Of course, because heat rises, it dried out the glue on the tape, and most mornings we would come downstairs to a room draped in streamers that had fallen during the night. I remember spending some time, every morning, clambering onto a dining chair to re-attach the streamers to the ceiling.
This has made me laugh! I like to decorate my home "old fashioned style" if there is such a thing and I spent hours cutting up crepe paper and making streamers - every night they fell down and I would be back up on the chair putting them back up .. then they fell down all in everyones Christmas dinner .. I think they call that "a living history experiment" .. and your comment has just proven it was accurate!! :)
@@throughlucyslens Lol! Old fashioned isn't always the way to go, it seems. I don't think I have the energy nowadays to keep up with streamer shenanigans. I can only imagine what yours looked like, having been bathed in gravy or custard.
Wonderful visual vignettes as usual, Lucy; love your potted histories!! I gasped at your mention of the Christmas1910 colliery explosion in Hulton, Lancashire, at Pretoria Pit. I was surprised not to have heard of it before, bcoz my favourite pastime for many years was researching/singing folksongs, esp from the north of England. To lose 344 men and boys in one day is horrific and must pretty much have destroyed the fabric of the town, not to mention so many families. I have now read that it was Britain's 3rd largest mining disaster and a Mining Historian has, in the last 10 years, uncovered both film and photographs of the sad sad day. Thanks again, Lucy. 🙏 RjB (Aust).
It's awful isn't it - I spent a lot of time reading testiments of the wives that said goodbye to their husbands on that morning and the one that really touched me was he brought home a hen for Christmas Day the night before, something they had never had before - and it never got eaten because of the grief. Just bl00dy awful! If you can't get anymore fascinating you research folksongs - so rich in history and better than newspapers for the masses - as you well know :)
Such a wonderful episode. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. AND I got to see Lucy's video on a huge tv... instead of on my tiny phone. My youngest son who has joined the Dutch Marines had a 2 week training at a US military base in Germany and bought an enormous tv because they were dirt cheap over there😅 I am in total awe... watching your videos like in my own private cinema 😂
I love Christmas too - love love love it ! Everything about it, I think in Northern Europe it's so dark and cold and miserable it's the light we need and I hold on to it so strongly! Love the sound of your new TV ... you can watch all the cosy Christmas specials on it now :)
I really loved this one Lucy incredible how everyone squeezed in. When I saw the bricks/tiles on the floor I thought how cold it must have been in winter for them😢😢 I would have been constantly moaning 😂😂
Honestly in the houses without a fire on I could feel the cold coming up through my legs! Bet it was glorious packed in around the fire though - I would love an open fire, there's no heat like it in winter!
I love getting a brew ready, a few chocolate biscuits then settling in front of my open coal fire to enjoy…this was a lovely one, Lucy. You never disappoint. Thank you. ❤
Wahhhh that's so lovely! Oh how I would love an open fire!! Sadly whoever modernised my lovely Edwardian terrace took it upon themselves to remove the chimneys ,.. I've always said if I ever own this house I will put them right back! :)
Lucy, I loved this. I'm an American who cant get enough of this kind of history. This was a real treat and my heart is enthralled that others enjoy and cherish history too. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for spending your time watching! Honestly when I started this channel I felt quite alone in that I was the only person I knew who truly loved the history of normal people - I am finding a community of like minded folk here and it's absolutely wonderful x
My Aunts and grandparents still lived in these type of houses in Birmingham, and l remember well the sights and sounds and smells! Those rag rugs in front of the range were dirty from the cooking and the old wet dog Peggy who always tried to lie there. The smell of the floor bucket with a dirty old mop that was swished over the kitchen floor at intervals. The wallpaper was old and faded and religious paintings in old dark frames crowded the walls ( the elite William Morris ‘Blackthorn’ wallpaper would never have been anywhere near these dwellings!) It was so hard to keep anything and anyone clean in those days and these museums are a far cry from the reality l remember !😂😂😂
You know I agree with you - one of the things that stands out in my mind at my Grandads house is my Mom always used to put a bag down for us to sit on the sofa .. I was a kid, I never really thought anything of it .. but one day I said innocently "Mommy why is the rug moving" .. and it was heaving with fleas .. from the old stinky dog "H" or "Haitch" and in the same way it wasn't clean at all, the blinking dog had hairs everywhere and stuck all over the kitchen as it was so old and greasy. Bless him he was an Edwardian and when my Nan died he didn't know the first thing about house keeping, everyone tried their best to keep the house clean but it was a losing battle!
Wonderful video! I was raised by my Grandmother, and she was raised during the great depression. She claimed to have an aunt who owned a candy shop and said every year at Christmas she gave all of them a bag (she had 13 brothers and sisters) and the got to go in and fill their bag to the brim. She remember that very fondly in her later years.
I love how things people take for granted now were an absolutely brilliant, memorable treat - it's the "smaller" things I always remember from my childhood too x
My Grandmothers parents must have been so well off, as I recall her telling me she received a doll made of celluloid for Christmas. She left it in front of the fire and it melted! I love your videos Lucy, they make me feel so grateful for everything we have today!
Oh gosh she must have been absolutely gutted!! A celluloid doll might have been a really special present, with mass production dollies like this did become cheaper - but still out of reach for some families. And yes, always makes me feel grateful too!
Another wonderfully evocative video of times past in England. Just exceptional work, Lucy. You have, as I and many others have said, a terrific channel. I learn so much from your work. Thank you.
We used to make these simple paper-garlands ourselves as kids. I had forgotten! Only a stove in the backroom, to cook on/in and to warm the room. No apart kitchen, a bedboard opposite the stove. The room in front was a shop. Toilets in a shed outside. Even some uptill the fifties.
Thanks for sharing you lovely memories! Did your family run the shop too? My dad lived in a house at one point where the front room was a small, they ran a small grocers x
This was a lovely video. My grandmother was born in Northhampton around 1900. Her father was a shoemaker, and they lived in a very similar house to the row houses shown here. She came to Toronto Ontario in 1911. She was a proud British lady. We celebrated the season with the traditions of her homeland. I loved it. I have visited your beautiful country twice. I was fascinated by the long history and charmed by the friendly people. I have subscribed, and I am looking forward to seeing your other videos. Thanks from Canada 🇨🇦 ❤️
Hi Diane, lovely to "meet" you from all the way in Canada! I have visited your homeland and actually felt very at home there - I found everyone was really friendly and warm and it actually reminded me a lot of here compared to other places I have visited. a LOT of people who live in England still dream of emigrating to Canada one day just like your Grandmother in 1900! x
Dear Lucy, I adore your work. I dare say, most of us, our backgrounds, would have been more akin to the material you present---not Downton Abbey, though we love that. It makes a difference in how we view life, it's hardships and pleasures. Merry Christmas.
Thank you so much - don't you worry I love a bit of Downton Abbey too! I think they just tell the stories really well and a good story can be transferred to everybody. Appreciate your lovely comment, I get so nervous before I post every video because I just want to get it "right" and not become a "doom fest" because lets face it life for a lot of working people was pretty miserable - but they had each other and appreciated the small things - which I admire greatly and try to do myself. x
Just amazing Lucy.👏👏Thank you for all your hard work. I remember the rag rugs when I was tiny… green walls with dark brown painted doors and the wood work in my Grans house… sooo dark! outside toilet, which must have also been at my Grans. The clog doll was heartbreaking, but some wee girls pride and joy. How much we take for granted now! Looking forward to your next video. Take care.
Thank you, I have often thought why everything was so dark .. but I suppose it hid dirt and grime which would have been a constant battle on pale woodwork - the dirt was literally in the air - if you had a peasouper come in you would have been scrubbing even harder for the next week x
Visited the Museum a few times but not recently, so it is good to see it again, especially with your running commentary. You make all of your videos so interesting. Yes lots of cholera around early in the 1900’s and lots of children died because of poor housing conditions. Hard times for all working class. Not heard the term tipper toilet. The cottages look cosy but just imagine large families trying to exist in them. Those quarries were freezing. I think I’d like to see little general stores around again, with local produce, greengrocers, haberdashers,etc. At one time all coffins came home prior to the funeral.. I’m glad that has ceased now. I love the fireplace and range in the two up two down. Ah the good old. Wash houses. It is said that 80% of all hysterectomies were caused by the dolly tubs and poshers Sorry if I’ve rambled a bit Lucy, but I’ve loved this tour and it brings back memories of grandmas and life lost. 😊
Never apologise! It's absolutely brilliant to hear it. That's really interesting what you said .. that constant pushing and pulling of the dolly would I imagine impact on a womens health .. never thought of that before!
Hark at you indeed, bold as brass! That gave me a good chuckle. My late mother in law was Dudley born and bred but moved to Australia in 1974. One of the best days I ever spent on our many trips to Shropshire (where she ended up after returning to England in the 1990s) was spent at the BCLM. I’ll always remember lying next to her legging through the tunnel on the canal boat. We visited as many National Trust properties as we could fit on each trip! I miss her and your videos remind me of her. Thank you.
This is so lovely - I still have my first legging certificate from 1991 - I am going to have to dig it out - I have done a big fancy signature on it as if to assert I am now a "legging expert" I love these old sayings, my Nan was full of them - we swear she made some of them up .. asking us if we had been "down Harry's drug hole" (the pub .. ) she was bonkers but brilliant x
This was a wonderful presentation of days gone by. It's important to remember and celebrate our relatives, wherever we live. Their ways of life and struggles and triumphant accomplishment as well. Depending on the culture and country, it can provide historical data for us to learn with.
Wow i just found your channel and love it and this reminds me of the Appalachian area here in the states where alot of these folks ended up..and alot of my ancestors came from this area of the uk and Ireland and i grew up poor we had 1930s poverty in the 80s and 90s and i grew up in semi rural Tx....and I'm not sure if you had green stamps in England but my best Christmas gift in 85 was a little desk and some candy and crayons and my mom and new dad ( step ) drove into town to cash in some green stamp books for a present..but my mom always told me your Christmas dinner which was always the best meal of the year and only time I could get seconds and thirds she tell me that dinner and some one to care enough to make it was a good enough present..my grandma and papa always cooked it.. but my mom always told me to remember what Christmas is and whoms it about..and my grandpa being a exceptional wood worker built alot of my toys and mom and dad and my aunt's and uncles would get little things from the 1$ store and thrift stores and i was happy and still am..and my gifts for my loved ones came from a 1$ store and a discount bin and the dinner I'm cooking isn't much but it's something and my gift to my family..i love the part in a Christmas carol where the 2 nd visitor is sprinkling water over poor people's foods and scrooge asks is there any particular blessing you put on the food and the visitor says yes my own and scrooge is like what kind of meal in particular a poor one and the visitors like especially a poor one and scrooge is like why a poor one and the visitors like because it needs it the most.. I've always loved that book and we watch the movie with George scott as scrooge every year..but im a bit of a history nerd and this video reminds me of some of my own childhood memories and my grandmas stories..my dad wasn't a miner but he had a job that made Al Bundy's seem like a well paid surgeon.. anyway very fascinating video and merry Christmas from Tx usa 😊
A very Merry Christmas to you - this was so interesting! I enjoyed every word .. we did have Green stamps here - They were called Green Shield stamps and you collected them in the Coop and other super markets to choose things out of a catalogue at a later date. I remember we had draws and draws of them - you needed a lot even to get a small thing!
I’m clearly going to have to visit the BCM to see these fantastic terraced houses. The penultimate one you visited is like the one in which I’ve lived for the last 30 years. Thanks for showing us around. I wish we could get back to Christmas’s of old. Whilst it’s deplorable that some families today are being forced to sell their children’s toys to be able to afford presents this year, there are a few lessons to learn about how sometimes a bit of frugality is, in fact, good for us.
We must live in a very similar home .. I think that's what's great about that house, it's so familiar to a lot of people, my house never had a toilet inside until the 1980s apparently and the plumbing is still in the garden should we ever want to install another .. you are right, these places do indeed make me assess what I have got and sometimes I turn up, having not the best day / time and it really helps me sort my head out!
First time viewer, this just popped up on my feed. How surprised I was to hear you refer to the Pretoria Pit disaster. I live Westhoughton, where the pit was located. We still remember all the men and boys lost on the 21st December 1910. A maroon is sounded at 7:50, there is a a short service at a memorial statue and a service later in the morning in our parish church. Earlier this year I went on one of the regular guided walks around the pit site.
Thanks for this, it's so lovely these people are still remembered every year. I am interested in mining history and trade unions and I see the Pretoria Pit disaster as part of the start of the workers starting to get fed up of working in danger and movements towards better, safer working conditions. I would love to go on a guided tour one day - I will make a note that you can :)
Thank you for this its so good to see how simple life was back then I was born in the 50's and we did't have a lot but more than most it was hard Labour for my parent's but we all did job's and went on the land to help but we did laugh more but today they have so much but seem so unhappy with there lot I love life it's great I think many who come from my generation now how great it is now have a Blessed Christmas .xxx
Thanks for this lovely comment Gail, I completely agree with you. There is a lot of pressure on people these days to have a lot of "stuff" I don't think social media helps which is ironic as I make content for You Tube but hopefully not encouraging people to buy stuff haha x
It was a pleasure to visit these houses with you Lucy. As I think I've mentioned before my dad's family were Wolverhampton people. My grandfather I think an aunt told me was a nail maker. They lived in a terrace house with a passage way between there terrace and the start of the next one on the right. The last time I saw the house, from the road was 2018. I went up to the Midlands with my sister & brother in law. Photos were taken😊.
Lovely the house is still there - these houses were certainly built to last! I want to make a video about nail makers - such a forgotten craft done by so many of our relatives in the Midlands!
This was fantastic Lucy. Such interesting history through time. I would hate seeing the floor tiles all dirty again once they had just been cleaned. Both my nans always washed down their front of house steps. A habbit I also picked up.😂 They both lived in maisonettes so didn't have a best room like their mothers would have. I remember as a young child christmases with my family drinking and singing. One of my nans always sang as she cleaned too. Opening all her windows during a storm. You can just smell it all. 💗
I am so thankful to have been born in 1950! My how the world has changed over the years! At least for me, the 1950s til recently have been the best of times in history! What’s ahead from here? I can only hope for a return to peace and prosperity for all! Happy New Year! 🎉
Thank you, it is! There is so much there and if you go once you can return for free as many times as you want for the next 12 months which I take full advantage of!
Greetings from the USA. The more things change, the more they stay the same! We are living theough similar societal inequities in 2024, are we not? It was interesting to learn about the Christmas stocking tradition in the UK. Many families here practice the same. I grew up with stockings that were always stuffed with an apple, an orange, a variety of nuts, a candy 🍬 cane and a small trinket. My Depression Era parents did too, as well as my grandmother who was born in the 1890s. I would presume my great grandparents enjoyed the same treats atba time when other presents were not an expectation. Thank you for sharing.
Hello. I agree with you entirely. While I am making these videos I often think about families I work with today in my "day job" who are in very similar situations in different surroundings.
Smashing video, pertinent to anyone from the industrial heartlands. A cracking read is Bill Naughton's ( playwright probably most notable for "Alfie") who was born in 1910 and describes his upbringing in Bolton , Lancashire in great detail, including Christmas. Superb. Its worth noting that Scrooge himself gives Bob Cratchit the day off, albeit reluctantly.
Thank you, I have made a note of that book - sounds right up my street! A good Christmas read too! Cheers for the recommendation, I really love getting my hands on anything like that! :)
This video made me think of my grandmother as a 10 year old girl, celebrating Christmas. I could almost smell it, as I think my childhood Christmas in my grandmother's house must have contained traditions from her childhood. Your video has provoked wonderful memories.😊
I'm so happy to hear this! My own Grandad was born in 1909 and it always used to blow my mind he was an Edwardian, he passed in the 1990s and his mind must have been blown with the things that had changed in this lifetime - but he too carried things from his own childhood that have in turn passed to me .. and aren't we lucky to have that? :)
It's very interesting to see not just the different houses but also the different ways in which the people lived and celebrated Christmas. It's very easy to compare how they lived then to our lives then, but I try to keep in mind that everyone's life, as well as scientific knowledge and advances was very different, too. My mother was brought up in a back-to-back (which I mentioned in a comment in your back-to-backs video). Although it was one of the "inside" ones, it was certainly bigger than the one you visited here, which was fortunate, given that there were four children plus parents (plus at least one whippet, possibly more, and a raven!). Those you showed here were extremely small and basic compared to where my family lived - almost made theirs seem like luxury in comparison!
A RAVEN? I need to know more!!! Corvids are my absolute favourite birds .. and a whippet was a great choice .. would keep the rats down and catch a rabbit if needed too. Yes, these Back to backs were really small and very basic and the people who lived in these particular ones really did have it very tough, unbelievably lived in until the 1970s though - the tenants loved them!
@@throughlucyslens The raven was a pet which I think Grandad had rescued from somewhere. It could talk (a lot more than just "Nevermore"!). But it was when my mum was young, and long before she joined the Land Army, so I didn't meet it. The whippets were because my grandad used to race them, and he won lots of gold cups and plates and other awards (which I understand that his son took and sold, but let's not go into that!). I would think that they would keep the rats down, yes, though rats were never mentioned in my hearing, and I've never seen one. And I'm trying to recall if my mum mentioned the dogs catching rabbits - she didn't, but it's possible because she did talk about them eating rabbit meat. They certainly always had a whippet even after Grandad stopped racing them.
I'm so glad this video popped up in my feed. Although I'm a Canadian, I'm deeply drawn to all things English, strangely the historical working class. This video was SO well done.
Hi Norman, I am exactly the same, I find normal lives so interesting, maybe you haave some English heritage in your DNA which draws you further? Thanks for your lovely comment x
Thank you Lucy for this nostalgic look back in time, you are so good at telling how these people lived and making me grateful for what we have now, the doll made from the clog sole really got to me and thinking how the child who received it would have loved it 😊❤
That doll right? Isn't she gorgeous .. I bet the children that visit the museum today absolutely don't believe she was played with let alone a precious gift!
I love your presentation style Lucy, you can almost smell the coal fires, feel the draughts and the damp. I've always wanted to go to this museum as I grew up going to St Fagan's regularly and love the way you can immerse yourself in history. My granddad was born in 1908, and it used to amaze me the amount of change he saw in his lifetime. He died in 1998, and I really wish I'd spent more time talking to him about
Thank you so much! That's really want I want to do, create a relaxing, atmospheric space here on YT. I wish I had spent more time speaking to my Grandparents too, they were quite choosey about what they shared though and I always wonder if that's because they preferred to forget the hard times and embrace the progress x
Been waiting for a new "through Lucy's lens" all week. I remember going to the black country museum with secondary school and doing some boot legging, nearly 40 years ago. This is on my bucket list for next year! Thanks Lucy ❤
OMG I will have to share it is a post but I found my legging certificate from the Black Country Museum from 1991 the other day - I must have thought it was very precious as it was in there with all my qualifications - I am officially a "legger" for life! Bet it's the same as yours .. I will take a photo of it ! x
Yes! A new Lucy video 🎉. Christmas back in time, joyful to watch. I’ve been to the Black Country museum several times taking school children on trips. Haven’t been for years. I’m now craving the smell of carbolic soap!
You love the smell too? I adore it!! It just smells so clean to me - and I think reminds me of being a small child. I've taken kids on trips there too - I miss the guided tour these days! The people that work there always made it such fun and memorable for them x
A very enjoyable video! I learned a lot from watching this and I would like to say that I esp. enjoyed your calm soothing voice and way of speaking. Lovely!
Very interesting history, thanks for sharing. I don't suppose I'll ever make it back across the pond, but if I do, I'd visit this town. We do have it easy compared to those who paved the way for us. I hope we are doing right for the next generations. Enjoyed your video, Cheers from Virginia, USA.
The clog doll I found so moving ❤️. I love the homemade decorations. Cosy but tough times for these folks from the past. Fascinating- again thank you for sharing. I learn so much from these videos. X
She's lovely isn't she? I was so pleased the character in the house let me touch her, she's not the original but the original is stored in the museums achieves, a clog would have been really precious as they could be patched up and reused for generations so to make one into a dolly would have been a really special gift indeed!
You are so welcome, thanks for coming with me - hope work wasn't too hectic! Everything always seems more of a struggle at this time of year and then I think about these people and tell myself to sort it out .. !
This was amazing! I loved every minute, thank you for recording this precious piece of history and sharing it with us! Im looking forward to your other videos, Im very happy to subscribe!😊
I think it's important for people to recognise some are living in similar hardships today. Unable to afford heating expenses, unable to access a fire place or wood. Unable to get important repairs for sanitation issues. Many are doing well. Not everyone is.
I do wonder without the pressure of gifts would things be more relaxing, on the other hand I do really enjoy giving though, I love to see peoples faces! I like to choose things they don't expect!
Brilliant ,Lucy. The way you speak about these wonderful places and traditions absorbs me in the ambiance. Just loved the comparisons of the houses. Another magnificent video. Thank you. Xx
Another fantastic, fascinating video. I'm sure nowadays many people think everyone lived in the likes of Downton Abbey. This video should be watched in schools. Thank you Lucy.
I am so delighted that you are sharing these historical videos with us. I just love this because it is so interesting and meaningful to me and I love the older days . in many ways. God bless you.
Thank you for taking us to the museum- somewhere where many of us are otherwise unable to reach. Your commentary is wonderful and much appreciated. I love your channel.
Gina, you are so so kind, thank you, happy holidays (I love that saying, we don't hear it much here!) and hopefully I'll be able to entertain you with a few more Christmas bits before the "big day" :)
Thanks Lucy I cannot get out much now but went to the museum a few years ago so I really enjoy your videos what a fantastic place it is and the attention to detail is excellent.
![Charles Dickens Home - [Room by Room Tour] of Dickens Museum London](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2htpOD8DI4M/mqdefault.jpg)
In the 70s we didn’t have much money . And I had one toy I loved . My action man . And my mum and nan made clothes for him and that was one of my presents . And they were of course priceless.
Absolutely priceless! handmade gifts are so full of love and heart - and probably better than the clothes he came with too!
@ Yes . Thanks Lucy . Keep up the nice videos ❤️
Such a sweet account!
@ thanks
My favorite home made toy was dolls made out of thread spools.
That doll made from an old shoe got to me. It summed up the whole deal, poverty and joy.
It got me too! I was so pleased I was allowed to touch her, this is not an original - she is a replica the museum have of the original in storage, so touching and to use a shoe would be a really great show of a love too!
Doesn't this make you feel so grateful today, inside bathrooms and washing machines.
Wow those women and men knew what hard labour was.
Thankyou so much Lucy for your time, xx
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Yes my Amsterdam social housing apartment feels like a mansion compared to what I just saw in this video...
I feel very fortunate!
I always think it must just have been relentless .. there's me having a freak out when the dog comes in with muddy paws and moaning about a load of washing I need to press a button to wash .. there's often an argument that "well these women didn't work it was their job" but often particularly in places like todays video they did - I mean there just can't have been enough hours in the day!
It certainly does make you feel grateful!
My Gramma"s Mother who ran a boarding house in Michigan she got a nick on her finger from an Electric clothes wringer got infected blood poisoning passed away from it a boarding house I can't fathom how hard she must have worked day in and day out They did. Early morning til Evening saw her obituary from 1924 online I cried description of her dying over the few days she suffered in a newspaper obituary
We must never forget what the brave working folk did for us by fighting for our current terms and conditions in employment.
Thank you Lucy for this brilliant history lesson. I have many tools inherited from my grandfather that were made in the Black Country by people who lived in the conditions shown here.
Absolutely! I come from a family where I remember standing on picket lines in the 80s with my Dad, I am forever thankful for those who stood up and said "enough" and stuck with their convictions. Lovely to hear you still have the tools, they will last forever!
The struggle of the working class for better wages, housing and rights continues much the same today.
Current terms and conditions are abysmal
Therefor it is so cruel that big business-owners removed all the work to 'low-salary-countries' and left the workers here empty-handed, while they had fought for decent loans, housing, foods and education for their families. But now those 'poor' countries can earn some money, safe some, let the children learn and study and have better payed jobs.
Do not romantisize 'hand-crafted' stuff, usually very expensive. But...that money is for the traders, the creators were/are very poor. I have seen that in India, Egypt, Indonesia. Elsewhere all over the world, the touristshops are filled with stuff from ......China, maybe really 'handmade', but most likely by machines.
I really enjoyed this. The houses are authentic, but my memories are that everything was ramshackle, spalled brickwork, crumbling mortar, flaked paint missing slates, huge slag heaps (from the copper works) mountainous coal tips, derelict buildings and bomb sites, cracked stone pavements and everything was soot-blackened. The smell of smoke from coal fires was particularly acrid on damp days and you could taste it.
There were ‘parlour shops’ everywhere, and some were still around until the late 70’s here.
All the front doors seemed to be painted brown or dark maroon-which always had a faded white bloom like the skin of a plum, and full of cracked and bubbled paint that I used to like pressing with my fingers.
However grubby things were because of being an industrial Town, the doorstep and semicircle in front of it were washed everyday and the brass threshold and door knob were always polished. In the hot weather, there used to be a canvas striped curtain on a pole by the front door that used to be drawn across. I’m not sure why these were a thing, but assume it was to leave the front door open to let in air whilst affording privacy. It’s just a guess.
My abiding memories are of always being cold, bitterly cold. When it was very cold, heavy overcoats were put on the bed give weight and extra warmth, along with hot water bottles, bed socks and a home knitted bed jacket.
I don’t miss the cold and the grubbiness, but they were simpler times and have good memories.
Cat wait for the next instalment!
Thank you so much for taking the time for writing this comment, because I absolutely sucked every word in and you don't know how privileged I feel for you to share this with not just me - but the other people who may come to the comments... because this WAS the reality. I was chatting with my Mom today and she was saying how they didn't have a fire for years and years and how my Grandad just found an old door and shoved in there to stop the draft and how it felt impossible to keep clean and warm! Honestly thank you - really do appreciate this comment x
This was very interesting, thank you 🙏 How easy our lives are today, though more complicated ! From one extreme to the other🤷🏻♀️
Wow, thanks for sharing such powerful memories.
Thank you for putting a lens of reality on the museum exhibits. Your memories were not much different than those of people here in New York City who lived in the tenements of the Lower East Side. The museum is pristine of course, in order to satisfy the requirements of the Health Department, but photos prominently displayed depict the crowded conditions and squalor, the working poor were forced to live under.
@@throughlucyslensIt’s truly a miracle that any survived through those conditions.
History AND Christmas from Lucy? This day just got a heck of a lot better ☺️
You are too kind - and I must say I love your user name! Makes me smile every time I see it .. XX :)
Totally agree!
We really are spoilt today. We wouldn't cope with the conditions at all. Thank you once again Lucy.
I know I would have found it hard for sure! I just think free time must have been barely heard of let alone expected!
@@throughlucyslens You would be knitting or mending.
I wish Christmas was like that now, we seem to have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.I remember receiving a home made dolls house as a child, we were not a poor family but middle class, and I told Dad I wanted Santa Claus to bring me a dolls house. My lovely Dad was going to buy one, (he was not at all practical), but a colleague of his said that he would make me one, it turned out to be a lovely mock Tudor style house with six big rooms and electric lights run from a battery. He also made all the furniture, it was a lovely present, and I had it for many years, my mother gave it to a friend's daughter once I had my three sons. I believe it is still being played with almost 65 years later.My Dad was a GP and so was his colleague, who had learned his carpentery skills from his father in the Welsh valleys.
Like that as a well off person, not like that as a poor person who probably had health issues, was worked to death, inadequate education, no proper time off and living cheek by jowl with vermin.
This is so lovely, my Mom collects dollshouses and her favourites are the handmade ones - probably like the one similar to yours that she brings back to life and fixes them up for future generations to enjoy. When you receive something handmade it is far more memorable I think, would be interesting to hear what you Dad would think of having to be a GP today, must be a different world! x
@@throughlucyslens I had a wonderful Dad, he was always cheerful, and as children he would make up stories for us, he worked extremely hard, never complained. We were brought up in the Peak District and many of Dad's patients lived in outlying farms, he never missed a call, I have known him don his RAF greatcoat, Wellington boots thick socks, a spade. sacks and chains on his car wheels to visit a sick patient in deep snow, he would work every weekend and nights, and see patients at his surgery, no appointments, so there could be dozens waiting, but he always had time for them. He was a Geordie, very laid back. He also loved animals, and visiting farms a sheepdog would rush up to him tail wagging. I think he would be saddened and appalled to see how the GPs behave today, he always told me when I was studying to be a nurse, you have to see a patient, observe their demeanour, their gait, colour and examine them if necessary.He died in 2008, and I miss him every day, I was privileged to have him as a Dad.
Aww, that's a lovely story!
You don't realise this, well you may do, but it don't half help me bring back memories watching these vids. Although wor born till 50s our life was just like that, the old tubs, mangle, coal fires, freezing winters, paper chain decorations, dad would work but you never seen him, we found out chritmas day he'd been making us toys in his shed all year bless him ❤
Thank you Lucy 😁
Same here my dad used to knock up toys with bits of wood and 6 inch nails at his funeral I said he was a member of the Fred Flintstone school of Carpentry it caused a laugh and lightened the mood.
Thanks Tom, this comment has really moved me. I guess it's actually the most unexpected - and loveliest aspect of what I'm doing .. I'm so happy it sparks memories for you. Handmade pressies are always the best and the ones you remember the most ❤️
Fred Flinstone carpentry!! Absolutely love this 😂
May I ask, where would you get the paper? In the US, construction paper is around $8-10 a pack. I would assume it was always a bit pricey? I mean, I guess it’s nothing compared to people spending $8-10 on a single Christmas ornament. But for people who couldn’t even afford a $5 toy, it seems expensive. (Sorry, I am basing this off modern money. For reference, $10 today would be equivalent to ¢75 in 1950.)
When people appreciated what little they had. thanks Lucy take care. 🎥👍
Absolutely, I used to think my Dad was telling tall tales about only getting an orange for Christmas - the naivety of youth!
My Nanna, born in 1875, lived in a house in Lincolnshire, very similar to the Anchor Maker's. Hers was slightly bigger. There were covered open ended passages between every 2 houses, so it had a 3rd bedroom over the back of it. (The neighbour's 3rd bedroom over the front part of the passage.) Her husband was a Salvation Army Captain. He was 20 years older than my Nanna. He died in 1945 and left my Nanna with 8 children to bring up. She had a range in the back room for hot water and she still used the oven even though there was a single story scullery leading off the back room with a barely used gas cooker. The toilet was in the back yard. There was also a wash house which my Nanna used right up until her death in 1965. (She came to our house every Saturday for her tea and to use our bath!) I remember that when the washing was finished, she added disinfectant to the water and used it to "sluice the passage." My Auntie lived in the house just the same for 15 years after Nanna died in 1965. In 1980, the landlord eventually converted the scullery to a bathroom. The back room was then made into a kitchen diner. I was only allowed into nanna's front room once. That was because she was recovering from a broken hip, so the family put her bed in there. Really enjoy your channel. Thank you xx
That was such an interesting piece of family history. Thanks for sharing. Although I am left to wonder what the connection is between the disinfectant and 'sluicing the passage' 🤔
@@Dutch_Gonneke Everyone used the back door in those days, so it was to clean the passage floor from dirty footprints. She would throw down buckets of hot water left over from her laundry onto the tiled floor and mopped it. She never wasted anything!
That sounds just like my Mother & Father in laws house (with the 3rd room over the passage). Made me smile about only going into the front room once! In my paternal Grandads front room you just were not allowed in .. until similarly to you it became his bedroom. I used to try and have a sneak and there wasn't much in there really but I guess it was precious! Thanks for sharing this, really lovely! x
You said it better than me ... my Mom still does something similar with Jeyes Fluid!
@@Dutch_Gonnekebed chamber pots or spilling the bucket to the outhouse. 😅 Who ever dropped it scrubbed it clean 😊
Oh my goodness I so enjoyed this! I was born and bred in Staffordshire and Cheshire. My grandmother and granddad lived in a two up two down with 7 children! My mum and 6 brothers. I remember the parlour at the front of the house - never used but for special visitors! The living room was jam packed full with a huge settee and large dining room table etc. steps down into a long kitchen WITH the tin bath that I used when I went to visit! Then a back walk in pantry that was full of jars of vegetables my grandma had stored up. I can still ‘smell’ it! I’m 66 now and how things have changed - we are very fortunate - in some ways! Thankyou.
Thanks for sharing those lovely memories- it's amazing how they stick in your mind isn't it - particularly smells! Bet those jarred veggies were amazing too - my Nan used to make the most incredible picked shallots .. I've never been able to replicate them, they blew your head off (in a good way) x
@@throughlucyslensI have a line of jars of pickled shallots in the kitchen now. Hubby did them at the weekend. He makes lovely pickles. These will be ready in January. The Christmas shallots are ready now from a previous session. Also lined up from the weekend, jars of piccalilli. Another favourite of mine.
My mouth is watering reading this!!! My sister will be so jealous .. she talks about nans pickles all the time.
@@throughlucyslens I hate the smell of boiling vinegar, but I put up with it because the end result is so nice.
What a contrast of conditions, from the poor but hard working, to those more comfortable in life. The first part made me think of 'A Christmas Carol' while the wealthier conditions reminded me of how much impact technology has had on our lives and how our Christmas experience reflects that change. Thank you Lucy, this was beautifully put together.
Thank you Anne! I am chuffed to read your comment as that is exactly what I was hoping to convey in the video, you don't want it to be doom and gloom - but you want to show how starkly different people could be living roads away from one another - not dissimilar to today really!
Love the video from the U.S. my mother was raised in West Virgina in the early 1950's. They were poor coal miners but they never went with out food because they grew a big garden and canned for the winter.
Hi Tiffany, lovely to hear from you - I love all the canning and preparation to take you over winter in working communities of the past, they were so resourceful and thanks for sharing about your Mom x
My Grandma was born in Sheffield in 1892, and she used to share many memories with me how Christmas was when she was a child; she would have been a teenager in 1910. Thankyou Lucy, I love your nostalgic videos.
Thanks Gillian, it seems so long ago, but really many of us have relatives we remember who lived through these times - my own Dad used to say "he was lucky if he got an orange" .. and that was in the 1950s!
My grandmother born 1892,born in gulham,grew up in Croydon. 😊
I’d say life is simpler for us today. Everything at the touch of a button. Appliances to do most things for you, but it’s at a horrible pace that’s too fast. Hence the stresses people feel today, it’s all rush rush rush.
These houses and their furnishings are beautiful. My grandma’s house had an outside toilet we had to use, the toilet upstairs was for “best”. Best what I’ll never know 😂.
That clog doll was disturbing, but I bet to the little girl who received it, it was magical.
Thank you Lucy for an incredible video. Merry Christmas.
Thanks Dan! I agree about the pace of life, I suffer with my "nogin" shall we say and I do wonder sometimes if I am just not built for modern life! We got one of those ring doorbells and you can't even go out of the house in peace anymore!! haha. Love that she had a "best" toilet ... you NEVER went upstairs in my Nans house, EVER .. if you went up there you felt like the Queen ... you were either unwell or invited. When she was unwell and eventually had to live downstairs she would ask me to go up to get something and I would wonder .. is this a trap?
Apologies for the long comment but you touched on so many points from my dear dad's past on this one Lucy! Plus I know how much you love history. My dad was born in 1936, one of the youngest of 14 surviving children. I remember him telling me when it was his first turn as child to visit the pawn shop. His dad's one and only suit was pawned each Monday and taken out again every Friday pay day, to be worn at church on Sunday. He told me his feelings of embarrassment and dread as he took that first journey. Only to find most of his pals and classmates were also in the queue with their dad's suits too! My grandfather sadly passed away of TB after surviving 2 world wars in The Royal Navy. My granny was widowed with 14 children. You mentioned laying out the dead in the parlour. There was a group of widows in the area (granny being one of them) whose role it was to lay out the departed and prepare them for the undertaker, washing them, putting pennies on their eyes to close them etc. These sensitive tasks were strictly only allowed to be carried out by the widows if not the immediate family. It was deemed disrespectful and shameful for married or single woman to see a naked man's body except obviously a wife tending to her own husband. They also had a tin bath, Lordy that must have been a task with all those children. My dad caught a serious childhood illness, I can't remember which. So they sent him to stay with an aunt for fear of the others catching it. He came home for visit one rainy day while convalescing and there was water pouring down the outside of the kitchen window. He asked what it was and his younger sister haughtily replied. Oh, since you went WE'VE had a bathroom fitted'. He was so excited...... only to discover it was a broken gutter rail. They all lived in a 2 up 2 down terrace. I could tell you some tales Lucy 😂 Thanks for another lovely upload and the festive theme too x
This is so lovely, and an amazing example of why I love doing this SO MUCH - I believe my maternal great grandmother also used to go and lay out the bodies (also a widow) and I think it's actually a really lovely way to respect the deceased and their families, death was unavoidably a part of life for most people. Pawning of goods was such a cycle, I've often wondered about the people who would take all their blankets and warmth to be able to afford to eat for the week, I would have made a terrible pawnbroker .. I'd be telling people to take back the blankets and just repay the money .. like I always wonder how much money they could actually get for those things against a loan. I guess they relied on interest. A few of my uncles were sent away for childhood illnesses, my Dads brother who couldn't read or write had a wicked sense of humour and used to say "at least I can tie my shoelaces with my teeth" - something they apparently taught them at outdoor school when he had pneumonia to strengthen the lungs ! Thanks for sharing that, I really appreciate it and I am sure others reading the comments will too x
@ wow what a skill to have! A great come back too 🤭 to shut the siblings up. People I’ve come across who knew my family back then have always said the same thing. ‘Those children had nothing but they were the happiest kids in the street’. I only wish I’d got to meet my granny she was clearly a very strong woman and a great mother in spite of the circumstances x
@ my family didn’t have blankets they could pawn either. The kids beds were covered with ex army wool coats. My dad said they would fight each other for the sleeves and the pockets of said coats. They were the best bits because you could put your feet in them for warmth x
Thanks for sharing as always. The crepe paper streamers brought back vivid memories for me. As a child of the 1960's it used to be my job to cut the paper into narrow strips, and then roll two colours together. Mum would then hang and twist them. As my dad used to play merry **** if Mum made pin holes in the ceiling, she had to use sticky tape. Of course, because heat rises, it dried out the glue on the tape, and most mornings we would come downstairs to a room draped in streamers that had fallen during the night. I remember spending some time, every morning, clambering onto a dining chair to re-attach the streamers to the ceiling.
This has made me laugh! I like to decorate my home "old fashioned style" if there is such a thing and I spent hours cutting up crepe paper and making streamers - every night they fell down and I would be back up on the chair putting them back up .. then they fell down all in everyones Christmas dinner .. I think they call that "a living history experiment" .. and your comment has just proven it was accurate!! :)
@@throughlucyslens Lol! Old fashioned isn't always the way to go, it seems. I don't think I have the energy nowadays to keep up with streamer shenanigans. I can only imagine what yours looked like, having been bathed in gravy or custard.
Yes and some of the red dye came off in the custard too ... 😂
@@throughlucyslens 🤣
We used to make paper chains in the 80s, it was great fun. Ooh, now I just want to make some to decorate my apartment
Wonderful visual vignettes as usual, Lucy; love your potted histories!! I gasped at your mention of the Christmas1910 colliery explosion in Hulton, Lancashire, at Pretoria Pit. I was surprised not to have heard of it before, bcoz my favourite pastime for many years was researching/singing folksongs, esp from the north of England. To lose 344 men and boys in one day is horrific and must pretty much have destroyed the fabric of the town, not to mention so many families. I have now read that it was Britain's 3rd largest mining disaster and a Mining Historian has, in the last 10 years, uncovered both film and photographs of the sad sad day. Thanks again, Lucy. 🙏 RjB (Aust).
It's awful isn't it - I spent a lot of time reading testiments of the wives that said goodbye to their husbands on that morning and the one that really touched me was he brought home a hen for Christmas Day the night before, something they had never had before - and it never got eaten because of the grief. Just bl00dy awful! If you can't get anymore fascinating you research folksongs - so rich in history and better than newspapers for the masses - as you well know :)
Such a wonderful episode. Christmas is my favorite time of the year.
AND I got to see Lucy's video on a huge tv... instead of on my tiny phone. My youngest son who has joined the Dutch Marines had a 2 week training at a US military base in Germany and bought an enormous tv because they were dirt cheap over there😅
I am in total awe... watching your videos like in my own private cinema 😂
I love Christmas too - love love love it ! Everything about it, I think in Northern Europe it's so dark and cold and miserable it's the light we need and I hold on to it so strongly! Love the sound of your new TV ... you can watch all the cosy Christmas specials on it now :)
I really loved this one Lucy incredible how everyone squeezed in. When I saw the bricks/tiles on the floor I thought how cold it must have been in winter for them😢😢 I would have been constantly moaning 😂😂
Honestly in the houses without a fire on I could feel the cold coming up through my legs! Bet it was glorious packed in around the fire though - I would love an open fire, there's no heat like it in winter!
@@throughlucyslens Not only the fire, but body heat helped a lot! The more people in a home, the warmer it gets. 😊
I love getting a brew ready, a few chocolate biscuits then settling in front of my open coal fire to enjoy…this was a lovely one, Lucy. You never disappoint. Thank you. ❤
That sounds amazing jay_leigh😊
Wahhhh that's so lovely! Oh how I would love an open fire!! Sadly whoever modernised my lovely Edwardian terrace took it upon themselves to remove the chimneys ,.. I've always said if I ever own this house I will put them right back! :)
It does!
Ooh! Bet that warms the room nicely - unlike my electric heating
Lucy, I loved this. I'm an American who cant get enough of this kind of history. This was a real treat and my heart is enthralled that others enjoy and cherish history too. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for spending your time watching! Honestly when I started this channel I felt quite alone in that I was the only person I knew who truly loved the history of normal people - I am finding a community of like minded folk here and it's absolutely wonderful x
My Aunts and grandparents still lived in these type of houses in Birmingham, and l remember well the sights and sounds and smells! Those rag rugs in front of the range were dirty from the cooking and the old wet dog Peggy who always tried to lie there. The smell of the floor bucket with a dirty old mop that was swished over the kitchen floor at intervals. The wallpaper was old and faded and religious paintings in old dark frames crowded the walls ( the elite William Morris ‘Blackthorn’ wallpaper would never have been anywhere near these dwellings!)
It was so hard to keep anything and anyone clean in those days and these museums are a far cry from the reality l remember !😂😂😂
You know I agree with you - one of the things that stands out in my mind at my Grandads house is my Mom always used to put a bag down for us to sit on the sofa .. I was a kid, I never really thought anything of it .. but one day I said innocently "Mommy why is the rug moving" .. and it was heaving with fleas .. from the old stinky dog "H" or "Haitch" and in the same way it wasn't clean at all, the blinking dog had hairs everywhere and stuck all over the kitchen as it was so old and greasy. Bless him he was an Edwardian and when my Nan died he didn't know the first thing about house keeping, everyone tried their best to keep the house clean but it was a losing battle!
Wonderful video! I was raised by my Grandmother, and she was raised during the great depression. She claimed to have an aunt who owned a candy shop and said every year at Christmas she gave all of them a bag (she had 13 brothers and sisters) and the got to go in and fill their bag to the brim. She remember that very fondly in her later years.
I love how things people take for granted now were an absolutely brilliant, memorable treat - it's the "smaller" things I always remember from my childhood too x
My Grandmothers parents must have been so well off, as I recall her telling me she received a doll made of celluloid for Christmas. She left it in front of the fire and it melted!
I love your videos Lucy, they make me feel so grateful for everything we have today!
Oh gosh she must have been absolutely gutted!! A celluloid doll might have been a really special present, with mass production dollies like this did become cheaper - but still out of reach for some families. And yes, always makes me feel grateful too!
Thanks my dad was born in 1911 and mom in 1913 iam last child out of 6 children s merry Christmas love Patricia curry Danville VA 🎄
Merry Christmas ❤️🎄
Another wonderfully evocative video of times past in England. Just exceptional work, Lucy. You have, as I and many others have said, a terrific channel. I learn so much from your work. Thank you.
Thank you, honestly! Means a lot, I am so passionate about it and the fact I get to share it with you all is a dream come true!
We used to make these simple paper-garlands ourselves as kids. I had forgotten!
Only a stove in the backroom, to cook on/in and to warm the room. No apart kitchen, a bedboard opposite the stove. The room in front was a shop. Toilets in a shed outside. Even some uptill the fifties.
Thanks for sharing you lovely memories! Did your family run the shop too? My dad lived in a house at one point where the front room was a small, they ran a small grocers x
This was a lovely video. My grandmother was born in Northhampton around 1900. Her father was a shoemaker, and they lived in a very similar house to the row houses shown here. She came to Toronto Ontario in 1911. She was a proud British lady. We celebrated the season with the traditions of her homeland. I loved it. I have visited your beautiful country twice. I was fascinated by the long history and charmed by the friendly people. I have subscribed, and I am looking forward to seeing your other videos. Thanks from Canada 🇨🇦 ❤️
Hi Diane, lovely to "meet" you from all the way in Canada! I have visited your homeland and actually felt very at home there - I found everyone was really friendly and warm and it actually reminded me a lot of here compared to other places I have visited. a LOT of people who live in England still dream of emigrating to Canada one day just like your Grandmother in 1900! x
Dear Lucy, I adore your work. I dare say, most of us, our backgrounds, would have been more akin to the material you present---not Downton Abbey, though we love that. It makes a difference in how we view life, it's hardships and pleasures. Merry Christmas.
Thank you so much - don't you worry I love a bit of Downton Abbey too! I think they just tell the stories really well and a good story can be transferred to everybody. Appreciate your lovely comment, I get so nervous before I post every video because I just want to get it "right" and not become a "doom fest" because lets face it life for a lot of working people was pretty miserable - but they had each other and appreciated the small things - which I admire greatly and try to do myself. x
I loved your video, I felt like I was there, these museums are so good to escape another time,
Thank you for coming with me - I am exactly the same! I would go every day if I could :)
Rag rugs also seem to be a common fixture, scant relief from the flagstones but better than nothing.
Just amazing Lucy.👏👏Thank you for all your hard work. I remember the rag rugs when I was tiny… green walls with dark brown painted doors and the wood work in my Grans house… sooo dark! outside toilet, which must have also been at my Grans. The clog doll was heartbreaking, but some wee girls pride and joy. How much we take for granted now! Looking forward to your next video. Take care.
Thank you, I have often thought why everything was so dark .. but I suppose it hid dirt and grime which would have been a constant battle on pale woodwork - the dirt was literally in the air - if you had a peasouper come in you would have been scrubbing even harder for the next week x
Visited the Museum a few times but not recently, so it is good to see it again, especially with your running commentary. You make all of your videos so interesting. Yes lots of cholera around early in the 1900’s and lots of children died because of poor housing conditions. Hard times for all working class. Not heard the term tipper toilet. The cottages look cosy but just imagine large families trying to exist in them. Those quarries were freezing. I think I’d like to see little general stores around again, with local produce, greengrocers, haberdashers,etc. At one time all coffins came home prior to the funeral.. I’m glad that has ceased now. I love the fireplace and range in the two up two down. Ah the good old. Wash houses. It is said that 80% of all hysterectomies were caused by the dolly tubs and poshers Sorry if I’ve rambled a bit Lucy, but I’ve loved this tour and it brings back memories of grandmas and life lost. 😊
Never apologise! It's absolutely brilliant to hear it. That's really interesting what you said .. that constant pushing and pulling of the dolly would I imagine impact on a womens health .. never thought of that before!
Lovely, interesting story of really not that long ago🎄!
Thank you! No absolutely not, my Grandfather was born in 1909 and I wonder how he felt living through so much change!
My maternal Granddad was born in April of 1910. This is so neat to see what life was like back then, thank you!
Very welcome! My paternal Grandad was 1909 and I always used to think he had seen so much in his life - it must have blown his mind really!
Hark at you indeed, bold as brass! That gave me a good chuckle. My late mother in law was Dudley born and bred but moved to Australia in 1974. One of the best days I ever spent on our many trips to Shropshire (where she ended up after returning to England in the 1990s) was spent at the BCLM. I’ll always remember lying next to her legging through the tunnel on the canal boat. We visited as many National Trust properties as we could fit on each trip! I miss her and your videos remind me of her. Thank you.
This is so lovely - I still have my first legging certificate from 1991 - I am going to have to dig it out - I have done a big fancy signature on it as if to assert I am now a "legging expert" I love these old sayings, my Nan was full of them - we swear she made some of them up .. asking us if we had been "down Harry's drug hole" (the pub .. ) she was bonkers but brilliant x
This was a wonderful presentation of days gone by. It's important to remember and celebrate our relatives, wherever we live. Their ways of life and struggles and triumphant accomplishment as well. Depending on the culture and country, it can provide historical data for us to learn with.
Absolutely I completely agree with you! I feel very privileged to be able to do this and share it x
Wow i just found your channel and love it and this reminds me of the Appalachian area here in the states where alot of these folks ended up..and alot of my ancestors came from this area of the uk and Ireland and i grew up poor we had 1930s poverty in the 80s and 90s and i grew up in semi rural Tx....and I'm not sure if you had green stamps in England but my best Christmas gift in 85 was a little desk and some candy and crayons and my mom and new dad ( step ) drove into town to cash in some green stamp books for a present..but my mom always told me your Christmas dinner which was always the best meal of the year and only time I could get seconds and thirds she tell me that dinner and some one to care enough to make it was a good enough present..my grandma and papa always cooked it.. but my mom always told me to remember what Christmas is and whoms it about..and my grandpa being a exceptional wood worker built alot of my toys and mom and dad and my aunt's and uncles would get little things from the 1$ store and thrift stores and i was happy and still am..and my gifts for my loved ones came from a 1$ store and a discount bin and the dinner I'm cooking isn't much but it's something and my gift to my family..i love the part in a Christmas carol where the 2 nd visitor is sprinkling water over poor people's foods and scrooge asks is there any particular blessing you put on the food and the visitor says yes my own and scrooge is like what kind of meal in particular a poor one and the visitors like especially a poor one and scrooge is like why a poor one and the visitors like because it needs it the most.. I've always loved that book and we watch the movie with George scott as scrooge every year..but im a bit of a history nerd and this video reminds me of some of my own childhood memories and my grandmas stories..my dad wasn't a miner but he had a job that made Al Bundy's seem like a well paid surgeon.. anyway very fascinating video and merry Christmas from Tx usa 😊
A very Merry Christmas to you - this was so interesting! I enjoyed every word .. we did have Green stamps here - They were called Green Shield stamps and you collected them in the Coop and other super markets to choose things out of a catalogue at a later date. I remember we had draws and draws of them - you needed a lot even to get a small thing!
I’m clearly going to have to visit the BCM to see these fantastic terraced houses. The penultimate one you visited is like the one in which I’ve lived for the last 30 years. Thanks for showing us around. I wish we could get back to Christmas’s of old. Whilst it’s deplorable that some families today are being forced to sell their children’s toys to be able to afford presents this year, there are a few lessons to learn about how sometimes a bit of frugality is, in fact, good for us.
We must live in a very similar home .. I think that's what's great about that house, it's so familiar to a lot of people, my house never had a toilet inside until the 1980s apparently and the plumbing is still in the garden should we ever want to install another .. you are right, these places do indeed make me assess what I have got and sometimes I turn up, having not the best day / time and it really helps me sort my head out!
First time viewer, this just popped up on my feed. How surprised I was to hear you refer to the Pretoria Pit disaster. I live Westhoughton, where the pit was located. We still remember all the men and boys lost on the 21st December 1910. A maroon is sounded at 7:50, there is a a short service at a memorial statue and a service later in the morning in our parish church.
Earlier this year I went on one of the regular guided walks around the pit site.
Thanks for this, it's so lovely these people are still remembered every year. I am interested in mining history and trade unions and I see the Pretoria Pit disaster as part of the start of the workers starting to get fed up of working in danger and movements towards better, safer working conditions. I would love to go on a guided tour one day - I will make a note that you can :)
When I see older infrastructure from the Black Country I mainly notice the absolutely beautiful brickwork everywhere 😮
It's amazing isn't it! I love it too - I also love roofs and chimney pots 😍
Thank you for this its so good to see how simple life was back then I was born in the 50's and we did't have a lot but more than most it was hard Labour for my parent's but we all did job's and went on the land to help but we did laugh more but today they have so much but seem so unhappy with there lot I love life it's great I think many who come from my generation now how great it is now have a Blessed Christmas .xxx
Thanks for this lovely comment Gail, I completely agree with you. There is a lot of pressure on people these days to have a lot of "stuff" I don't think social media helps which is ironic as I make content for You Tube but hopefully not encouraging people to buy stuff haha x
It was a pleasure to visit these houses with you Lucy. As I think I've mentioned before my dad's family were Wolverhampton people. My grandfather I think an aunt told me was a nail maker. They lived in a terrace house with a passage way between there terrace and the start of the next one on the right. The last time I saw the house, from the road was 2018. I went up to the Midlands with my sister & brother in law. Photos were taken😊.
Lovely the house is still there - these houses were certainly built to last! I want to make a video about nail makers - such a forgotten craft done by so many of our relatives in the Midlands!
This was fantastic Lucy. Such interesting history through time.
I would hate seeing the floor tiles all dirty again once they had just been cleaned. Both my nans always washed down their front of house steps. A habbit I also picked up.😂
They both lived in maisonettes so didn't have a best room like their mothers would have.
I remember as a young child christmases with my family drinking and singing. One of my nans always sang as she cleaned too. Opening all her windows during a storm.
You can just smell it all. 💗
From outdoor toilets to Japanese toilets. Now that's progress! Thank you for this wonderful Christmas gift. My toilet is now a prized posession.
Hahaha gosh I do love a Japanese toilet! Never get less excited about them and yes I agree we should be thankful for those ceramic thrones every day!
I am so thankful to have been born in 1950! My how the world has changed over the years! At least for me, the 1950s til recently have been the best of times in history! What’s ahead from here? I can only hope for a return to peace and prosperity for all!
Happy New Year! 🎉
This video was superb Lucy!
Thanks so much Deborah, I really enjoyed the research for this one too x
I can’t believe I missed this one! RUclips doesn’t always get it right!
Great video as always Lucy!❤️🇨🇦
Thank you! Yes it certainly shows me some curve balls too 😂 you found it eventually! ❤️
So happy I found your channel! I love British history, lit, social and women’s history.
I am glad you found it! Always lovely to hear from people who share my passions x
Lovely, informative video. The Black Country Museum looks like a great day out. ❤
Thank you, it is! There is so much there and if you go once you can return for free as many times as you want for the next 12 months which I take full advantage of!
@ ❤️
You really bring history alive
Thank you. That really means a lot ❤️
Greetings from the USA. The more things change, the more they stay the same! We are living theough similar societal inequities in 2024, are we not? It was interesting to learn about the Christmas stocking tradition in the UK. Many families here practice the same. I grew up with stockings that were always stuffed with an apple, an orange, a variety of nuts, a candy 🍬 cane and a small trinket. My Depression Era parents did too, as well as my grandmother who was born in the 1890s. I would presume my great grandparents enjoyed the same treats atba time when other presents were not an expectation. Thank you for sharing.
Hello. I agree with you entirely. While I am making these videos I often think about families I work with today in my "day job" who are in very similar situations in different surroundings.
Thoroughly enjoyed this excursion - thank you for letting us tag along!
You are so welcome! Thank you for spending your time coming with me ❤️
Great history about Christmas 🎄 aĺl brilliant and anazing always 🎉😊 enjoy your brilliant history vloggs always 🎉😊
Thanks Stephen, always lovely to hear from you, are you getting ready for Christmas? X
Yes have a happy Christmas 🎄 😊 and enjoy the Christmas 🎄 spirits always 😊
Smashing video, pertinent to anyone from the industrial heartlands. A cracking read is Bill Naughton's ( playwright probably most notable for "Alfie") who was born in 1910 and describes his upbringing in Bolton , Lancashire in great detail, including Christmas. Superb.
Its worth noting that Scrooge himself gives Bob Cratchit the day off, albeit reluctantly.
Thank you, I have made a note of that book - sounds right up my street! A good Christmas read too! Cheers for the recommendation, I really love getting my hands on anything like that! :)
This video made me think of my grandmother as a 10 year old girl, celebrating Christmas. I could almost smell it, as I think my childhood Christmas in my grandmother's house must have contained traditions from her childhood. Your video has provoked wonderful memories.😊
I'm so happy to hear this! My own Grandad was born in 1909 and it always used to blow my mind he was an Edwardian, he passed in the 1990s and his mind must have been blown with the things that had changed in this lifetime - but he too carried things from his own childhood that have in turn passed to me .. and aren't we lucky to have that? :)
It's very interesting to see not just the different houses but also the different ways in which the people lived and celebrated Christmas. It's very easy to compare how they lived then to our lives then, but I try to keep in mind that everyone's life, as well as scientific knowledge and advances was very different, too. My mother was brought up in a back-to-back (which I mentioned in a comment in your back-to-backs video). Although it was one of the "inside" ones, it was certainly bigger than the one you visited here, which was fortunate, given that there were four children plus parents (plus at least one whippet, possibly more, and a raven!). Those you showed here were extremely small and basic compared to where my family lived - almost made theirs seem like luxury in comparison!
A RAVEN? I need to know more!!! Corvids are my absolute favourite birds .. and a whippet was a great choice .. would keep the rats down and catch a rabbit if needed too. Yes, these Back to backs were really small and very basic and the people who lived in these particular ones really did have it very tough, unbelievably lived in until the 1970s though - the tenants loved them!
@@throughlucyslens The raven was a pet which I think Grandad had rescued from somewhere. It could talk (a lot more than just "Nevermore"!). But it was when my mum was young, and long before she joined the Land Army, so I didn't meet it. The whippets were because my grandad used to race them, and he won lots of gold cups and plates and other awards (which I understand that his son took and sold, but let's not go into that!). I would think that they would keep the rats down, yes, though rats were never mentioned in my hearing, and I've never seen one. And I'm trying to recall if my mum mentioned the dogs catching rabbits - she didn't, but it's possible because she did talk about them eating rabbit meat. They certainly always had a whippet even after Grandad stopped racing them.
I'm so glad this video popped up in my feed. Although I'm a Canadian, I'm deeply drawn to all things English, strangely the historical working class. This video was SO well done.
Hi Norman, I am exactly the same, I find normal lives so interesting, maybe you haave some English heritage in your DNA which draws you further? Thanks for your lovely comment x
Thank you Lucy for this nostalgic look back in time, you are so good at telling how these people lived and making me grateful for what we have now, the doll made from the clog sole really got to me and thinking how the child who received it would have loved it 😊❤
That doll right? Isn't she gorgeous .. I bet the children that visit the museum today absolutely don't believe she was played with let alone a precious gift!
I love your presentation style Lucy, you can almost smell the coal fires, feel the draughts and the damp. I've always wanted to go to this museum as I grew up going to St Fagan's regularly and love the way you can immerse yourself in history. My granddad was born in 1908, and it used to amaze me the amount of change he saw in his lifetime. He died in 1998, and I really wish I'd spent more time talking to him about
His life (I wish I could post without posting early 😂)
Thank you so much! That's really want I want to do, create a relaxing, atmospheric space here on YT. I wish I had spent more time speaking to my Grandparents too, they were quite choosey about what they shared though and I always wonder if that's because they preferred to forget the hard times and embrace the progress x
@ yes, I had an uncle who was captured by the Japanese in ww2, and very rarely mentioned anything to do with it x
I knew I was in for a treat and wasn't disappointed.
Oh thank you! I loved making this one, a time period I haven't covered very much but absolutely fascinating on the cusp of the "modern world" x
I have just subscribed to your channel. Thank you for sharing this video on social history of the 1910 era.
Thank you so much! I have another one coming out about a village in 1900 in the next few days if you enjoy this period like me :)
Been waiting for a new "through Lucy's lens" all week. I remember going to the black country museum with secondary school and doing some boot legging, nearly 40 years ago. This is on my bucket list for next year! Thanks Lucy ❤
OMG I will have to share it is a post but I found my legging certificate from the Black Country Museum from 1991 the other day - I must have thought it was very precious as it was in there with all my qualifications - I am officially a "legger" for life! Bet it's the same as yours .. I will take a photo of it ! x
@throughlucyslens unfortunately I don't know where mine is now. Look forward to seeing yours
This was so beautiful to watch and listen to. Thanks for creating it. 🎄
Thank you - I just wrote you a bit of an essay! haha .. but I will say thank you again here :)
@ You’re so welcome!! I just remembered my Mum used to talk about when she lived in a pre-fab in the 60s/70s. Only fond memories. ✨
I would have loved to have lived in one. Something about them I just adore!
A superb video as ever. Our favourite social history channel 😁
Wow, thank you so much, I am glad you enjoyed it - and what a compliment, amazing x
Brilliant Lucy! I LOVED it & thank you!
Thank YOU for watching x
Yes! A new Lucy video 🎉. Christmas back in time, joyful to watch. I’ve been to the Black Country museum several times taking school children on trips. Haven’t been for years. I’m now craving the smell of carbolic soap!
You love the smell too? I adore it!! It just smells so clean to me - and I think reminds me of being a small child. I've taken kids on trips there too - I miss the guided tour these days! The people that work there always made it such fun and memorable for them x
I loved this Lucy, thank you.
You are so welcome, thank you for spending your time coming with me x
Lovely trip back in time Merry Christmas 🎄 to you all !
Thank you! Happy Christmas ... I love this time of year :)
Love history and love your vloggs
Thank you so much, really means a lot x
A very enjoyable video! I learned a lot from watching this and I would like to say that I esp. enjoyed your calm soothing voice and way of speaking. Lovely!
Thank you so much, that's very kind of you to say! I love making these videos and it's really humbling people enjoy them too x
Thank you that was wonderful and down to earth.
Thanks for coming with me Anne, appreciated x
❤❤❤fantastic
Thank you :)
Very interesting history, thanks for sharing. I don't suppose I'll ever make it back across the pond, but if I do, I'd visit this town. We do have it easy compared to those who paved the way for us. I hope we are doing right for the next generations. Enjoyed your video, Cheers from Virginia, USA.
Hello! Hope you had a lovely holiday period and Happy New Year - and I do thank my lucky stars how easy I really have it even when things feel tough x
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS!
Very welcome, thank you for coming with me x
That was lovely, Lucy! Thank you for sharing. I enjoy your videos. Hugs, Sherry ❤🇨🇦
Hey Sherry, thanks for your lovely compliment - it is appreciated, thank you for spending your time watching x
I love your videos; thank you so much for all your work and care. Your Vermont friend 🍁
Thank you so much, gosh I would love to visit Vermont particularly at Christmas or fall - wonderful ! Thank you from your Brummie friend ❤️
Thank you for another interesting trip back to the past, thoroughly enjoyable.
You are very welcome! Thank you for spending your time for me watching ❤️
Hope you have a fantastic Christmas Lucy
Thanks Richard - a Happy Christmas to you too x
Love your videos. Thank you 😊
Very welcome, thank you for spending your time coming with me x
The clog doll I found so moving ❤️. I love the homemade decorations. Cosy but tough times for these folks from the past. Fascinating- again thank you for sharing. I learn so much from these videos. X
She's lovely isn't she? I was so pleased the character in the house let me touch her, she's not the original but the original is stored in the museums achieves, a clog would have been really precious as they could be patched up and reused for generations so to make one into a dolly would have been a really special gift indeed!
So excited to watch this after a busy day at work. Thank you for sharing these snapshots of history with us 😊
You are so welcome, thanks for coming with me - hope work wasn't too hectic! Everything always seems more of a struggle at this time of year and then I think about these people and tell myself to sort it out .. !
This was amazing! I loved every minute, thank you for recording this precious piece of history and sharing it with us! Im looking forward to your other videos, Im very happy to subscribe!😊
I'm so glad you enjoyed it: honestly I just love making these so much, I give them all my heart! Welcome ❤️
I think it's important for people to recognise some are living in similar hardships today.
Unable to afford heating expenses, unable to access a fire place or wood. Unable to get important repairs for sanitation issues.
Many are doing well. Not everyone is.
Absolutely, in my day job I community organisation that provides warmth and food to those in need so I feel this to my core x
@throughlucyslens ❤️ bless you.
Thank you I enjoyed the visit
Thank you for spending your time coming with me Darlene x
Loved this very interesting how they put family first not Christmas gifts!! In some ways they must of been alot happier ❤
I do wonder without the pressure of gifts would things be more relaxing, on the other hand I do really enjoy giving though, I love to see peoples faces! I like to choose things they don't expect!
Information always enlightening.
Thank you so much ❤️
Thank you so much!
Thank YOU for coming with me x
Brilliant ,Lucy. The way you speak about these wonderful places and traditions absorbs me in the ambiance. Just loved the comparisons of the houses. Another magnificent video. Thank you. Xx
Thank you, I absolutely loved making it - it was brilliant to explore a time I haven't really spoken about yet and I am hooked!
Ahh another pack of holidays with Lucy. Couldn't be better.🎉🎉❤
Thank you! It is an absolute pleasure making them to share with you x
Marvelous!
Many thanks :) X
Thank you Lucy! I always enjoy sitting down with a cup of tea and watching your videos.❤
Absolutely need to go and make myself a cup of tea now .. I think I have only had 3 today so far which for me is rations! x
Another fantastic, fascinating video.
I'm sure nowadays many people think everyone lived in the likes of Downton Abbey.
This video should be watched in schools.
Thank you Lucy.
Oh thank you Christine, that's lovely of you to say! ❤️
I am so delighted that you are sharing these historical videos with us. I just love this because it is so interesting and meaningful to me and I love the older days . in many ways. God bless you.
Thank you so much for taking your time to watch them and come with me - it's so inspiring. x
Thank you for taking us to the museum- somewhere where many of us are otherwise unable to reach. Your commentary is wonderful and much appreciated. I love your channel.
Thank you for taking your time to watch, it's so appreciated from me x
Happy Holidays, Lucy, and thank you!
Gina, you are so so kind, thank you, happy holidays (I love that saying, we don't hear it much here!) and hopefully I'll be able to entertain you with a few more Christmas bits before the "big day" :)
Nice so much information you explain well.
Thank you Caroline x
Thanks Lucy I cannot get out much now but went to the museum a few years ago so I really enjoy your videos what a fantastic place it is and the attention to detail is excellent.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to come with me Sabrina! x