Aye Working

If two words could describe the women in The Stair the words would be Aye working.

Never mind Stephen Covey's management books of the past twenty years-the women in The Stair could have shown him a trick or two; they had to deploy wonderful management skills, ingenuity, stamina, resilience and character in raising their families; running their households; making ends meet with very little money; getting value for money at The Store (St Cuthbert's Co-op) and armed with few time saving aids.

There wouldn't have been a great deal of variation in their work throughout the course of the year, but the winter was probably the busiest of the four seasons and the summer, perhaps the easiest. Breakfast might have to be made for their husbands before they headed off to work-certainly Dougal Swanson was provided with a cooked breakfast of bacon and egg each morning. The younger children would have to be raised from bed and dressed for school.

In the dark months of December, January and February the day might begin with the fire ashes being cleared out although to keep costs down, the fire might not be lit until much later in the day. At 6/2 three children, Anne, Iain and I would need to be given breakfast-if it was toast and tea it was something which we were soon taking responsibility for. And from the age of seven or eight we were encouraged to do a fry up of sorts on a Sunday morning.If two words could describe most of the women in The Stair the words would be aye working.

Washings were time consuming without a washing machine-doing a washing by hand followed by putting clothes through the wringer was killer work, even before being hung up to dry on the washing green in the warmer months. In the winter, clothes needed to be dried inside-no mean feat in a small flat without central heating. Whilst back in the 1960s we had far fewer clothes and there was perhaps a lot less washing done, imagine what life was like for each household which averaged five in size, never mind the large Blades family-talk about Sysiphus!  It must have been like a Chinese Laundry-washing and drying on an industrial scale!

An overcast day, so no washing hung out today!

Some families used the washing green, others didn't. Mrs Hanlon, Mrs Swanson and Mrs Hoffmann regularly hung their washing out to dry-no doubt some interesting conversations took place there. I believe there was a rota for each Stair but because some families didn't use the washing green, there was an arrangement which allowed the regulars all week access to The Stair's allocated section. Helen Blades didn't use the washing green-when Fiona Blades, Anne Duncan (Hoffmann) and I met up recently we concluded the reason for this might have been that it would have been so time consuming having to go down three floors with great piles of washing and then back up-not to mention dashing in and out if the weather changed.

Thereafter, housework needed to be undertaken and lunch made for those at home during the week. Messages of course had to be bought-without fridges this often meant visits to the shops on a daily basis. And come the evening, tea or dinner needed to be prepared. Not to mention taking one's share to clean The Stair. It was only into the evening that women might be able to put their feet up and relax in front of the box.

As we got older Anne, Iain and I shared some of the burden, particularly after Mrs Anne Hoffmann went out to work in the Civil Service after my parents divorced. Between the three of us we tidied the house, made the fire, did the messages and washed, dried and put away the dishes-we took a certain pride in having the place looking ship-shape for our mother arriving back home at tea-time. Iain has always taken a particular pride in being house-pwoud-even today if you call in to see him he's likely to be wearing his pinny which of course is kept spotless! In some ways, these were happy days for us at 6/2 with a good and much more relaxed atmosphere at home as the three of us were getting older too.

Peter, Anne and Iain Hoffmann circa summer 1970

One observation or reflection on the 1960s was the amount of stereotyping-whilst men had to be seen to go out to do economic work, women did all of the repetitive household chores-most men would rather be seen dead than be seen hanging out the washing-as one might guess this was another example of Ken Hoffmann being different-he was happy to be seen on the washing green-he didn't need to prove his macho-ism! I seemed to recall Mr Bowman 4/6 also hung up the washing too-he was a very fit bloke who used to play football for an amateur team and would even be seen going out running-unheard of for the time-whereas today whether I arrive in Edinburgh early in the morning or very late at night the streets are dotted with joggers, the majority of whom are women-such a radical cultural change from the 1960s-perhaps the housework burden is at last being shared? Or not!

Never Had It So Good?

(Daily Mirror cartoon)

In the 1950s the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, told the electorate  that they had never had it so good. His comments will have been partly based on the progress made in implementing the Beveridge report and tackling the five evils of want; ignorance; disease; squalor; and idleness. Clearly the young families who moved into the newly built 6 Oxgangs Avenue from 1958 were direct beneficiaries of what men had gone to war for and the new vision of a country fit for them to live in afterwards.

Generally the families at number 6 (always referred to by us as The Stair)  lived in harmony. Yes, there was occasional friction, but it was very mild and occasional - all the families were good neighbours. The culture was a happy one which probably reflected the optimism of the 1960s. 

Compared to the housing which had existed a decade before the new housing schemes were great places to live and bring up young families - modern flats; indoor loos; open coal fires. Children played safely. There were formal playgrounds, sports pitches and tennis courts; adventures were on the near doorstep to Redford Burn, the army polo field and Braidburn Valley. 

(Braid-Burn Valley looking NW toward open air theatre) MJ Richards Licenced for reuse Creative Commons Licence

There was Dr Motley's surgery and Mr Russell the dentist. There was a new school with the beautiful title of Hunters Tryst set in lovely spacious grounds that had large playgrounds, its own small wood and large sports pitches.

It was a period of stability. 

Families were generally happy with mums and dads, despite the daily grind, enjoying the novelty of parenthood. Women were the home-makers - men were the breadwinners - access to employment was relatively easy. No one was well off as each household would be described as working class e.g. no-one owned a car, however people weren't desperately poor even if Family Allowance made the difference between eating or not. 

The Stair has reflected the changing decades. If the 1970s were about strife, then some of the new inhabitants were not as neighbourly. The 1980s of Thatcher led to families buying their own houses. The 1990s were a period of growth and better wages and no doubt those now at number 6 will have enjoyed foreign holidays and car ownership. The Noughties and the impact of the recession could be seen when I paid a visit last month to Oxgangs, where The Stair was looking a little neglected.

As mentioned Dougal (6/1) worked as a shop assistant at Aitkenhead's Grocery shop and then as a stock-keeper at Brown Brothers Engineering Company. As for my father Ken - well my mother Anne gave up counting at thirty the number of jobs that he had been in - assistant cinema manager; stock clerk; lorry driver for Bain's delivering meat to butchers shops in Edinburgh and the Borders; long distance driver for John Bryce; he had however also been a Chief Officer in the merchant navy, training at the renowned Edinburgh company Ben Line - his qualification was probably the equivalent of a degree in physics or maths, but those were before the days of NVQs, so he found he could not use transferable management skills to gain better employment. The other issue was that being an alcoholic made it difficult for him to hold down a job for any length of time. 

Ben Cruachan 1946

Mr Stewart (6/3) was a policeman and like many others in this line of work he kept a complete distance from any other neighbour in The Stair. 

George Hogg (6/4) was a joiner. He was part of a cooperative of skilled tradesmen who built their own houses toward Oxgangs Green. In later years Eric Smith (6/5) worked as a general helper at Marks and Spencer which was a secure job. Charles Blades (6/6) worked for many years at Ferranti's where he was a Personal Assistant to Basil de Ferranti. 

He regularly accompanied him to meetings in London. Charles had initially trained as a doctor, but late on in the course dropped out. Like my father Ken he was an alcoholic which prevented him reaching his full potential and also blighting others' lives too. Dougal, Ken and Charles were clearly bright individuals - Charles' father Daniel was Lord Blades, the respected judge and Solicitor General for Scotland. 

Charlie Hanlon (6/7) worked for many years at the Uniroyal Rubber Mill which superseded the North British Company - a secure job for many years. He worked shifts - sometimes Hilda would hang out the top floor sitting room window and chastise the kids for being too loud and 'keeping my Charlie awake when he's on the night-shift'. I liked the way he brought home a 'Friday Treat' of chocolate bars for Michael, Boo-Boo, Colin and Alan - if you'll forgive the pun, it was a very sweet thing to do.

Workers leaving rubber mill at Fountainbridge after a shift (Edinburgh Evening News)

Mr Duffy was a general labourer and scaffy in later years; previously he may have worked elsewhere but that change may have been brought on when he perhaps lost his driving licence?

Comment From Will Hoffmann: Interesting as usual but it would perhaps be better served as the very first blog entry as it sort of sets the scene and introduces the 'characters'? 

Response: 'Thanks for dipping your toe in the water Will. I'll have to come up with a small reward as you're the first person to comment.Did you recognise old Fountainbridge - 007's old haunt and close to your beloved Zizi's? It's a useful comment because it's forced me to articulate what was only in my 'mind's eye'! I think you're right - it could have been used as an initial blog, but equally, given the motivation and impetus for the blog is a valid approach too. Early posts do need to set the context and the characters. However, I don't want to follow an academic or chronological approach, although some of it will be the latter. Instead I want to go for something which is more free flowing, whilst having a certain shape in mind. I thought Shell-Shocked for example is a very powerful piece which allowed me to present two main characters, Fiona and Peter (me) in a situation interfacing with an old man who was an interesting character. Rather than describing us, it gave me the opportunity to show our behaviour allowing you to form an opinion of us and our personalities and also an important aspect of day to day life at the time. Some posts will occur to me by accident, others will flow from one post to another e.g. meals, crockery and Buchan's Pottery! There are endless little diversions that could be followed. I've devoted a post to 6/1, The Swansons - clearly I intend to work my way through each family all the way to 6/8, The Duffy's, but I want to intersperse these posts with stories and events that will hopefully be of interest and over a period of time allow readers to see the characters evolve, grow and develop in 1960s Edinburgh-a bit like a TV soap opera!' 

The Gap in the Curtain

Polygon Press 2012 edition

Living at Oxgangs is quite clear in my memory and vivid in my mind; as the cliché goes, it seems only like yesterday; however it is actually forty years since I lived there and of course some of this blog goes back fifty years ago-half a century.Because it remains in one's mind's eye and the houses remain, in a strange way, one thinks that world still exists-that one only need step through the gap in the curtain and the families and that day to day life continues to exist and that one can pick up and revert to that former way of life. However, the reality is quite different; it's later than one thinks, when one reflects on the number of mums and dads and others who headed up each household who are now dead. My father Ken Hoffmann; Molly and Dougal Swanson; Mr and Mrs Stewart; Helen and Charles Blades; and Charlie Hanlon are all individuals who I'm aware of.

In wanting to capture a flavour of that time this is certainly my story, but it may be interesting to see where the story goes especially if others contribute their stories-their memories and also to comment on the daily blogs. It’s my interpretation of life at 6 Oxgangs Avenue, the day to day, month to month, season to season and year to year life seen through the eyes of a child, a boy and then a youth, but reinterpreted through the prism of a man of fifty six years of age. 

I know from the afore-mentioned occasional exchanges between my mother, sister and brother that we will spark off one another recalling things from the past that we had either forgotten or thought we had forgotten or be given a different perspective or a surprising twist, sometimes quite different from how I had perhaps seen or viewed an individual or an event.