‘THE STAIRCASE IS LIKE THE ONE IN OUR OLD HOUSE!’
FORMER nurse Sue Gibbs, of Meir Heath, lived in nearby Lucas Street until she was 16, when her family were rehoused by the council as their home was set to be demolished. Sue, who is now aged 61, was the oldest of six children and worked at Middleport Pottery with her mother. She said: “I was filmed talking about my family’s bedtime routines.
“We didn’t have blankets on our beds. We used coats that people had given us, with a rolled up coat for a pillow as well.
“There were six children and our parents in a two-bed terrace. My youngest sister shared with my mum and dad and the other five of us were in one room - three girls in a double bed and two boys in bunk beds. “We had a tin bath in the back yard and we would have a bath every Sunday ‘whether we needed one or not’. The water was boiled in the twin tub machine to fill up the bath and then it was carried through to the room with the fire.
“My dad, who was a builder, went first and we all had to sit behind the sofa so we didn’t see him. I was the oldest so I went next, then all my siblings and my mum last – but sometimes she didn’t bother.
“My mum was quite poorly at one time so because I was the oldest I was always having time off school to help look after the family.
“If I look back now it must have been really difficult, but we didn’t know any different. We never felt as if we were poor because everyone was the same. “It was a good childhood with lots of friends to play with, and the streets were safe. We were always playing out, with our skipping ropes across the street. I had a friend who lived in one of the houses that have now been restored.
“You think you have forgotten things but it all comes back to you when you see it – the old staircase is exactly like the one in our house. I feel really proud to see it all.
“You don’t think that anything that anything you have done is important but now it’s history, even though it was that long ago in the grand scheme of things. My mum would have loved to visit this exhibition and see our lifestyle remembered.”