Christina Hollis: Writing History—Wet Washing and Drying Days

It's been raining cats and dogs here in Gloucestershire for days. While the downpour setting has swung backwards and forwards from "car wash" to "drizzle" it has at least been mild. The winds, though blustery, have been nothing compared to the terrible hurricanes and typhoons suffered in other parts of the world. I love letting the washing dry on a line strung across the kitchen garden, but there's been none of that this week.

My first few weeks back at university have been busy. I've been deciding on modules for this semester and the next, along with my ideas for my dissertation. One of the reasons I signed up for this course in Creative and Critical Writing  was because I found researching Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol fascinating. I wanted to find out more. Where better to do that than in a university? It  has zillions of books, and a huge archive.

I'm working on the effect technology had on women's lives during the twentieth century—specifically, the way it made household chores easier.

Find out more at
mybook.to/BristolWomen

Until mid-December 1930, the wives of miners in the Forest of Dean didn't have one wash-day a week. They had at least five days of hauling water, and heating it on the stove in order to scrub their husband's work clothes. Men came home filthy at the end of their shift at the pit. After stripping off his boots and dirty clothes outside the back door, a man would soak in a tin bath in front of the fire in order to get clean.

Meanwhile, his wife had the mammoth task of getting his clothes clean and dry as fast as possible. That wasn't easy at a time when Forest villages had no electricity supply. There wasn't much money about in those days, so when it came to clothes the general rule was "one on, one in the wash". During the summer, drying clothes outside on a washing line was easy—until it rained. Then, and during the winter, it was a case of living with steaming wet washing draped over clothes horses and fireguards all around the house.

On Saturday, 20th December 1930, Christmas came early for some of those Forest of Dean wives. After months of anticipation, Cannop Colliery opened some state-of-the-art pit head baths. 

Instead of walking home filthy, men stripped off their wet clothes as soon as they reached the surface. They showered in comfort, then dressed in everyday clothes for their walk home. They left their sodden workwear to dry overnight in the bathhouse's specially-designed heated cabinets. From that day on, the women's drudgery of doing laundry after every shift down the mine became a memory. Washday became a task done once a week, usually on a Monday.

Not to be thrown out with the bath water...

In the days before my family bought a washing machine, that was the routine in our rural Somerset home, too.  It was an all-day job. Water was heated in an electric boiler.  Shirt and blouse collars and cuffs were scrubbed before being worked up and down in soapy water. 

Then the washing was rinsed, hauled out of the water, wrung, then put through the mangle (mind those fingers!) 

Even as a tiny child I was involved in every stage. I used to love blowing soap bubbles between my cupped hands. I wasn't so keen on getting wet cuffs, though. Gran would roll up my sleeves but somehow they either slid down again, or the water would run up my arms!

The best things about washing day before automation was the sound and sight of fresh washing cracking and dancing in March winds, or the fragrance of Fairy Snow and Sunlight soap on a hot June morning.

Do you have any memories of wash-day?

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Happy Holidays!

My Alma Mater—Francis Close Hall at UoG

Next month I'll be returning for my second year as a mature student at the University of Gloucestershire. The terms whizzed by and the holidays passed even faster. I've gained such a lot from the experience, and had so much fun, I think everyone should try it!

I've already passed modules in Creative Studies, Genre Fiction and Phase One of the project that will become my dissertation. This coming semester I'm signed up for Research Methods. Then in the New Year I'll be studying the teaching of creative writing and starting an independent project. 

My independent project will link back to the Research Methods module. I live in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire. The area has a rich industrial past, and the local people are proud of their background. The Dean Heritage Museum is an important resource for historians and writers. It's only a few miles from my house, so I'll be a constant visitor once the academic year begins. 

Find out more at mybook.to/BristolWomen

Building on the work I did for my current release, the non-fiction book Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol, my projects will centre on the big changes in home life over the past one hundred years. I'm trying to gather as much information as I can in advance. This is where you come in! 

Do you have any memories of the long school holidays in the days before mobile phones and laptops? Over on my blog, I'm recalling the endless sunny days and the feasts of homegrown food. What did you and your friends get up to when you were let off the educational leash for weeks on end? 

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: A Learning Experience

Beautiful, isn't it? Pic via Pixabay

I can't believe how quickly my first term at university is passing. It's flying by. I assumed it would be only my writing that saw the benefit of a Masters course at the University of Gloucestershire. Instead, it's proving to be invaluable in all sorts of ways. 

My navigating, driving, parking, and socialising skills are all improving in leaps and bounds. I can now find my way around Cheltenham pretty well (both on foot and by car), I've learned the best lanes to be in during rush hour (because there's so much traffic you can't always see the lane markings). I always used to go shopping very early, so there was plenty of room to park. My university schedule means that's no longer an option. I've had to get used to reversing into the very last parking space in a packed car park (driving a tiny car helped with that one!).  Workshopping as part of a group of ten isn't half as bad as I thought it would be, now I've got used to everyone.

I'd recommend further education to everyone. You're never too old to learn something new!

Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written more than twenty novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or gardening.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Of Blind Dates and Rearranged Fixtures...

The Perfect Blind Date...

It's been quite a week. On Monday, OH and I appeared on BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Then on Tuesday, the spotlight swung right away from us, as Son No. 1's much delayed visit to his prospective university went ahead at the third attempt. 

During the first week of April, I got an email from the team at our local radio station, BBC Radio Gloucestershire. They were planning a feature on blind dates. That's how I met my husband, and I'd included the detail in my LinkedIn Profile. A researcher picked up on it, and they contacted me. 

Led to this...

We were asked to get to the studio before 11am. It's near Gloucester Royal Hospital—a journey I've been making every couple of months for the past ten years to take our son for consultants' appointments. The journey is always a nightmare, so we set off at 9.45am to make sure we wouldn't be late. Wouldn't you know it? The traffic was so light, we arrived just after twenty past ten. That was a whole forty minutes early for our interview. Talk about looking keen!

Luckily, the studios of the BBC turned out to be a mini version of St Mark's Square in Venice—the place was full of  interesting people. Two guests came and went during our self-imposed wait, and both were fascinating.  Darren had been invited to talk about the difficulty disabled people face when trying to get tickets for, and decent access to, live music events. Stuart was an historian, working on the history of businesses in the area of Cheltenham around the Bath Road known as the Suffolks and Tivoli.  

While we chatted the waiting time flew by, and then we were led into Anna King's studio to take part in the live broadcast. I've often listened to Anna's morning programme, so appearing on it was a real treat.  Here's the link to the show. Anna has a great taste in music, and all the features are interesting. The blind date section starts at 2:10 on the slider. The Vox Pops and emails about people's romantic experiences are really worth hearing. Most were funny, but it was lovely to hear that Barbara from Cheltenham was married to her blind date for sixty happy years, and they had a large family together. 

Now Our Son's Heading Off To This!

Our own happy family is getting to the stage where the children are spreading their wings. On Tuesday, I took Son No. 1 to view the University of Gloucestershire's computing division. He's got his heart set on going there, but our first two attempts to visit the place were jinxed. Along with everyone else, we were snowed in on the original date of the University Open Day. A revised date was set...and we were snowed in on that day, too! This week we made it, at the third attempt. We had a good look round the campus and halls of residence, and we were impressed. Our son was pretty convinced it was the right place before we went. Now he's certain. That's good news for him, but it's bittersweet news for us. It doesn't seem like five minutes ago we were waiting for him to be born. That happy event happened in Gloucester too, so it's obviously a lucky place for our family.

Christina's next book, Women’s Lives In Bristol 1850-1950 will be published by Pen and Sword Books early next year. As well as her local history work, Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written eighteen contemporary novels, sold nearly three million books, and her books have been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or beekeeping.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Her current release, Heart Of A Hostage, is published by The Wild Rose Press and available at myBook.to/HeartOfAHostage  worldwide.

A Brand New World by Michelle Styles

On the first of October, I delivered my daughter to university as it happens it is the same university where I spent my third year and met my husband.  My son had gone two years previously but I discovered that sending daughters to university is a whole other ballgame.  The relationship is different. My daughter at least was far more around. My son was often at work or on the computer.

Anyway, I also quickly discovered that it is a brand new world. Many of the buildings remain the same but the methods of communication are so different. In many ways, the entire experience has changed.

It is a world of texts,  emails and slides from lectures being put online. It is a world where all students are expected to have access to a computer. The university does provide some but most students have their laptops. Rather congregating in a lounge to watch television, my children are able to access iplayer and can watch the various programmes at their convenience.  Best of all for me is skype which enables me to have real time video conversations with them. I am able to see their rooms with the posters.  It amused me no end that both ended with variations of the Keep Calm Poster. My son’s reads Keep Calm and Carry On. My daughter’s Keep Calm and Eat A Cupcake. The sentiments reflect their personalities. And it does my heart good to see their faces. Back twenty five years ago, I was lucky to get letters and the occasional phone call after I had found the change for the public telephone. There was no such thing as phones in the rooms or mobiles. Personal computers were something the college owned etc. Email was just starting and intra campus. It was truly a different world. When I found out last Friday that my latest manuscript was accepted, all it took was a single email to my daughter and she was on skype, ready to celebrate.

Some things do, however, remain the same.  I fully anticipate in time she will discover the joys of late night conversations over mugs of hot tea, afternoon naps when you have no lectures  as well the dreaded all nighter when the computer has inexplicitly eaten your essay and the whole  wonderful world of higher education and stretching her mind. Already my daughter has learnt that if you set your alarm clock, you do have to turn the alarm on. Also that if you are making cheese on toast, it is helpful to turn the grill on. (We have an Aga which is always on and so she has never experienced an electric cooker).  And milk does go off if left for a week. She also learnt that Freshers’ week was full of lots of people trying desperately hard to be social while really missing home. She discovered that drinking takes money and decided that cake, chocolate and romance novels were more important to her than booze.

It is a brave new world out there but some things are timeless.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romance for Harlequin Historical. Her latest book To Marry A Matchmaker was released in the UK in July 2011 and in Australia in September 2011. To learn more about Michelle's books, visit her website www.michellestyles.co.uk