Central heating - what a luxury!
I remember the old hall in Forest Hall now Woodside Crescent. A couple called Wilson lived there. There were some lovely old trees in the grounds. Among them were some huge horse chestnut trees, one of which overhung our back garden, a wonderful sight when covered with its pink candles. About 100 yards or so down the street and you were in the country with fields of waving wheat, barley and oats, hedgerows of hawthorn blossom, wild flowers, people out for a stroll on a summer’s evening. Now these fields are the Bellway Industrial Estate and the Meadway Estate.
Coming downstairs on a winter’s morning and having to rake out the fire before laying it and lighting it to warm up the house for the family getting up. Scraping the ice off the inside of the windows. CENTRAL HEATING – WHAT LUXURY! The coalman tipped the coal outside the back door because we were both at work and then we had to shovel it into the coalhouse, which was in the garage, when we got home. There was no fridge freezer, washing machine or fitted carpets, just lino and a carpet square for a few years after we moved into our first house. We had to save up for them.