Spare a thought for all the housewives at that time. What a job it must have been keeping your home and children clean.Vacuum-cleaners weren't exactly 2 a penny. Carpet sweepers, at best, were all they had to clean rugs and floors with and they couldn't have been much help in the constant battle against soot. No, it was good old-fashioned elbow grease, carbolic soap and scrubbing brushes that were the order of the day. Keeping children clean and tidy must also have been a nightmare. Washing days were at least 2 days long. Washing machines when I was a child were hand driven and the 'poss-tub' and 'poss-stick' (sometimes called a dolly) were common place. I remember being allowed, as a child to get into the tub and 'poss' with my feet. I thought it was great fun. My mother probably just thought she would save getting the bath out for me later. If washing was a labour of love, then getting the washing dried was even more so! It was almost impossible to dry washing outdoors. Not because of the weather but because of the soot in the air. I remember sitting down to tea in the sitting room/ kitchen and not knowing who I was sharing the table with at times, as there would be a double bed sheet hanging on the line that stretched from one side of the room to the other at all times. The sheet reached down to the table, completely blocking the view. Yet just look at some of the class photos being exhibited here on this site. How well turned out the children were. They were a credit to the hard working mothers of the era. Adam, you say you would like the pits back. You say your grandads would go down the pits again if they could. I'm sure the camaraderie in the pits was second to none and worth returning for but how would your grandmothers like the pits back?