Blast from the Past: Twin tub

Like many children of the 1970s, the twin tub washing machine was one of the few household gadgets we owned - OK, we had a carpet sweeper, but that hardly counts as it was about effective as a glass hammer.

Prior to the twin tub’s arrival I remember my mother boiling clothes in a big pot on the cooker, then scrubbing them on a washboard before finally feeding them through the mangle.

When the Servis twin tub arrived it was like we’d simultaneously won the pools and been given 100 free Green Shield stamps. By today’s standards, it was an unlovely, big hulk of a thing which had to be moved into the middle of the kitchen so it was closer to the sink and could be hooked up precariously to the taps, but to us it was the height of sophistication.

Wash day, usually a Saturday, was an all-day, labour-intensive performance, which required all hands on deck.

The top-loading twin tub would take centre stage as my mother fed the washer a load of laundry with a good sprinkling of Daz. As it washed and whirred it would manoeuvre itself further and further away from the sink, the hoses holding on to the taps for dear life. A soapy residue would invariably spill out from its undercarriage. The real fun happened when the sopping wet washed clothes were transferred over to the spinner bit using a giant pair of evil-looking wooden laundry tongs. Then the beast was turned on and the whole house shook as if the Red Arrows were overhead. It was all worth it though.