Going out on the train was regular thing as we didn’t have a car, only the rich people like a doctor had cars. We would walk to the station and get the train into Ormskirk on Saturday for the market. The steam train would come all the way from Preston on it's way to Liverpool. All the carriages had separate compartments off a main corridor. We had to ride in the guards van because the twins pram would not fit down the corridor. This was right at the back of the train and meant a long walk along the platform when we got off at Ormskirk. In the van was a cage with all the post bags in it, there were baskets with either chickens or pigeons in and bikes from some of the other passengers too. In one corner were big steel churns which mum said were for carrying milk. The guard would wave his green flag when we were all safe and blow his whistle for the driver to go. In the compartments the seating was plush and there was a rack above your heads to put hats and cases. I remember the pictures in frames that told of all the places you could visit on the train.
The market was a magical place with colourful stalls selling all sorts. Mum would buy material for dress making, cotton and something called bias binding that I never knew what it was for but loved the name. There was china stalls from the potteries with men selling full stacks of dishes and plates. Local farmers would bring in their own produce to sell. We always got local new potatoes that smelt of lovely fresh earth and tasted wonderful covered in melted butter. There was the cheese stall with huge big crumbly Lancashire cheeses, it smelt like sour milk I though as a child but that smell brings back so many memories now. There was even a stall with a hand coffee grinder, he had lots of different coffees , all different shades. The pram was really handy to do the shopping because of the big wire tray underneath to carry it all home.After doing the shopping we would call into Hales Chip shop in Burscough street and buy fish and chips to take to grandma Harts in Hants Lane. This chip shop is still there today run by the same family.
Grand dad was the caretaker and janitor for the children’s hospital in Hants lane and they had a house as part of the wages for the job. The house was right on the front of the hospital car park and was self contained and detached. The front door of the house was right onto the street and it had a big glass fan light over the door. It was arched and had glass in segments to let in the light for the long hall way that ran right to the kitchen. There were two doors of the hall on opposite sides, on the left was the door to the front room and on the right was the door to the living room. In the living room was where the table for eating was and the television. She would make us welcome with a pot of tea, bread and butter would be made to go with the fish and chips. We would stay all afternoon and watch her telly as we didn’t have one. It was wonderful to see the wrestling and then either Robin Hood or the Lone Ranger before it was time to go home.
In grandma Harts kitchen were things that we didn’t have at home. Over the sink was the water softener, Ormskirk was a very hard water area and if you didn’t have a softener the kettle would get furred up with lime scale. It had to be charged up regularly with salt. There was no such thing as a fridge in this kitchen. In the pantry all the shelves were made of marble and there was a meat safe with wire mesh sides this was where the meat was stored to stop flies getting to it. The milk was put into a bucket of cold water to stop it turning sour.
On the top shelf was the ginger beer plant bubbling away, I was never allowed to drink this as it was alcoholic ginger beer. The kitchen table was a big heavy one in the centre of the room with drawers on both sides and a storage platform under the drawers. The hot water was heated by the back boiler in the black leaded range in the living room which was always lit summer and winter. Grandma Hart baked in the big ovens which were attached to the fire too. I seem to have a picture of my grandma stood six feet tall with her back to the range and a tartan skirt down past her knees. She had a pinafore with a bib on it and she had the back of her skirt lifted to let the heat get to the back of her legs. Mum said she would end up with "corned beef legs" from standing too close too the fire.
There was a wooden clothes maiden which hung from pulleys on the ceiling and could be lowered down or pulled up out of the way when it was not in use. This was very useful on wet days at to air the newly dried washing or on wet days to dry the washing. At the side of the range were two black slate shelves and on these shelves were two big fish tanks. The water in the tanks was heated by the range as well. I watched the tropical fish for hours, Grandma would have a little box net floating in the tank with loads of baby fish in them, she bred guppies, mollies and swordtails and supplied them to the local pet shop. She had lights hanging over the tanks too to make the plants grow. I learnt a lot that is so useful to me today.
My uncle Ellis is only 8 or nine years older than me and he was then a teenager. In the sitting room he would play his records. I can remember Lonnie Donegan and Bill Haley being played too loud one day and Grand dad telling him to turn down the awful racket. Joe Brown and the Bruvvers was another that I remember well.
In the back yard Grand dad Hart had built an aviary and was breeding budgies. I loved seeing all the different colours he had, greens, blues, yellows and white ones. He let me see the eggs and chicks in the nest boxes and how the mum birds would feed the babies from their own beaks with seed they had eaten. I would stand for hours engrossed at all the life in the aviary.
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