Do You Remember A Posser?

[Caran]

Just watching Greg Wallace on making M & S Christmas cakes. They use a posser. I remember my mother using a posser in a dollytub doing the weekly wash.

[Mamyalynne]

Absolutely, Gran had one - I think Grandad made hers and the wooden clothes prop too.

[Mamyalynne]

Hers had legs on like this, some just looked like big plungers.

http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/results?ObjectType=dolly+posser

[Caran]

Old habits die hard. I remember mums first washing machine. You did your whites first in it then washed the coloureds in the same water. I still wash the whites first in my automatic washer then do coloureds. There is no logical reason for this apart from as I say, old habits etc.

[Mamyalynne]

I did the same when I had a twin tub, as you say a habit.

[shoota]

Me Mam used to accuse me of being 'as leet geen as a possers yed'.
But she always smiled when she said it...

[Mamyalynne]

Said with affection eh?

[Caran]

Je ne comprendez pas
shoota!!

[shoota]

Aye, she were the best Mam I've ever had.

[shoota]

She was implying I was quite successful with the ladies Caran, I think it had something to do with the motion of the posser...

[Caran]

Never thought of that shoota! Thank you.

[gness]

There’s an image I could do without!

[ferlew]

Mam had the old gas boiler and a posser. She also used the wooden one with legs, known as a 'dolly peg' to us.

[aelmpvw]

ta for the pointer regarding the Christmas present to my Doris . . .

[gness]

Make sure it's disguised well when you wrap it, Ael. Don't want Doris knowing what it is and spoiling a wonderful surprise..x

[aelmpvw]

if my fortunes improve i might even put a bow on it

[Jackdaw33]

My grandmother had one, the poss tub was known as a copper. My mother didn't; all the laundry was done in the big stone kitchen sink with the aid of a washboard and scrubbing brush. It took all day Monday to do the washing. The house reeked of soapy water. She got her first machine in 1955, a primitive affair with a mangle attached which could be swung out over the sink. She thought it was the bee's knees. No wonder very few married women went out to work; housework was a full-time job in the 50s.

[gness]

Do you not still have that bow you saved from 1972?

[THECORBYLOON]

SHOOTAH, this suggests your mum was saying you were a bit thick.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/yorkshire-words-week-1915673%3famp

'Regarding “as leet gi’en as a posser I’ t’ y’ed”. A posser was a washday tool used in a dolly-tub. There were two designs: one like a three-legged stool with a T-bar handle rising from the seat and the other a long broom handle with a copper bell- shaped head. The thin sheet copper was pierced with small holes, to allow the hot soapy water to slosh through. This ‘bell’ was re-enforced by a similarly pierced copper cone. A person who was “As light given as a posser in the head” was thought to have much of the substance missing, a head full of holes. A parallel term “’Ee’s no’but ninepence to t’ shillin’” had similar connotations.'

[gness]

Corby, have you forgotten that Shoota's armed?.. :-)

[Apc2604]

We still use the wooden clothes prop beautifully made by my father in law in the late 50s. It stays outside in all weathers. You can adjust the height by using a plug on a chain and a series or drilled holes.