Name a chore....

KatyK yes I remember the white stuff too, I used it to cover the grass stains on white pumps. What was it called? I think we got it from Woolworths

Wasn't it called Blanco?

Ironing the hankies :-)

Siding the table! I'm from Merseyside too. Being sent to the shops with a list. Especially winter of 1947 when I slid all the way in leather soled boots. When I came home I was sent again to do next doors shopping as she had 6 children. I also remember the note with ST'S on. H ad no idea what it meant. Being shouted at by my Dad for reading, I was deep into the story, and told to help Mum with washing up.

I was lucky there was only me and my brother who I looked after in school holidays as a mum worked part time. I was 6 years older Mum worked 10 to 3. There seemed to be lots of part time Mum jobs then.

Cleaning the bathroom (but not the loo, as we had a separate bathroom and loo). I loved doing it and putting all the shampoo bottles, etc back in a special arrangement.

Shelling peas into an old metal colander for my Nan . When it became so broken and jagged last year that it was a danger and I had to get rid I cried buckets!

GillyEB
That made me laugh...it's geyser.

I had to go shopping on a Saturday morning, several trips and lots of queuing in individual shops, Wasn't that keen on it but refusal wasn't an option.

I used to have to wash my father's used handkerchiefs by hand. I loved my dad but even now this makes me shudder. No rubber gloves. Urghhhhhhh!

When I first met my Yorkshire-bred in-laws, it was like a foreign language. I had no idea that 'siding the pots' meant putting away the dishes.

Seems cleaning the brass was a popular chore. I must admit I liked doing it.
I also helped with cooking but I think I asked to do that as I loved it.
I was an only child so mum probably wasn't that busy & I didn't do much around the house.

It might have been Blanco Sparkle . For some reason Melton or Mel something keep popping into my head!

I remember, aged 7 and feeling very grown up, being sent to the greengrocer for a pound of carrots and onions. Setting the tables from and early age and then helping clearing away and washing up when I was a bit older. I swept down the stairs not because it was my chore but because I wanted to help my Mum when she was busy cleaning. My brother was 3 years younger and never did much in the house and he continued like that for the rest of his life. I used to clean the brass with my Mum and held the skeins of wool while Mum wound it into balls. When I was a young teenager Dad and I used to clear away and wash up after Sunday lunch as Mum had done the cooking. As I young teenager I loved to chat to my Dad after we had finished dinner before we cleared away. Mum used to get so cross because we hadn't washed up as quickly as she thought we should.

I knew it grannyactivist❗️

I read somewhere that whatever hurts our parents cause, when we are parents ourselves we don’t repeat them. Then, further down the line, our children (who won’t have been upset as they had kind parents) are often harsher with their own children! It was an interesting read.

I remember that shoe whitener too! It was definitely ‘Mel’ something. In a tube with a sponge tip. Anyone remember the name as it’ll bug me now!

I was an only child until I was sixteen. I came home from school to an empty house from the age of nine, and there was usually a shopping list waiting for me. On Saturday mornings, I was the one who queued at the various co-ops. I also had to go for the paraffin regularly as we used paraffin heaters. I hated that! Some days I had to go to one of the local fish houses to ask (beg) for fish for the cat. I even went to the local shop in the evenings for my mother's cigarettes - even on dark winter evenings. My brother was born when I was sixteen, but was rarely asked to do anything! Then I was the chief childminder, to the extent that, having moved house when he was three months old, the new neighbours jumped to the conclusion that he was actually mine! ( I didn't know that until many years later). Looking back, I think my parents took advantage of me!

Google says Meltonian for the shoe stuff. Was it Meltonian Easy White or something?

I think siding the table is perhaps a northern thing, it's not something I say now though, it's clear the table. As someone else mentioned, going to the shop with a note and money wrapped inside.

Every hour or so my father would shout, ‘Tea flea!’ And it was my job to make a pot of tea. I never minded doing this as I always had a cup myself which kick started a lifelong romance with the magic beverage and panacea of all ills.

I remember the co-opy number - 73627

I've never heard of siding the table, but I have a friend who talks about 'bottoming a room'.
which I think means cleaning from top to bottom.

Another thing I hated doing was going out to the tripe van on Saturday at dinner time, it looked and smelt horrible, put me off the stuff for life!

I can remember so many of the things you all quote
And the rag & bone nan with horse & cart coming down our road
Remember my Dad taking me to the City of London to see the lamplighter going around to light the gas lights at twilight & those awful thick pea Souper fogs

I was expected to do most of the same things as others - loved some of them though, especially polishing an old cherry wood sideboard until it shone red. I even made jobs for myself as, if I had the money, I used to like to buy a 3d tin of 'dolls' lavender furniture polish from the door-to-door salesman and polish my dolls' house. I guess it was a little sample pot really. I also liked cleaning all the family's shoes and I was never expected to do that. Unfortunately DM had a short fuse and would re-do most things as they weren't done well enough for her. Because of that I have never re-done a job if someone is kind enough to do it for me! When washing up, cutlery had to be washed, dried and then polished on another dry cloth, and silver-polished twice a year. I was sent to the shops for a quarter of this or that but because I was so frightened of getting it wrong I invariably did! I'd go to the shops saying 'not Cheshire, Cheddar' and thoroughly confuse myself. Even if I asked for a note I didn't get one - I was told I had a memory and should use it. Strangely the only time I ever got out of helping was if I was reading, as that was educational. I'm sure that's why I still manage to completely lose myself in a book.

Oh, and about 8 years old going to the butcher's for steak for our neighbour's dog. We could never afford steak so I knew she must be very rich!

Laying the coal fire each morning before school.
Polishing Dad’s shoes (12 pairs)
Putting a new collar on Dad’s shirt each morning and putting his studs in
Taking turns with my brother and sister to do dishes each evening