Keeping clean around Blue Town’s littered streets and cramped houses was not easy in the 1900s. Several houses used the one cold tap in the shared courtyard and hot waters was an undreamed of luxury. Those with stone built coppers in the sculleries fared better. It meant they could eke out the meagre housekeeping by taking in waashing. Their customers were the officers wives and famiies who lived in the rather grand houses in Naval and Regency Terraces

It was a pay brought home and earn a few pennies from officers wives who lived in Naval and Regency Terraces.

It was a thankless task. All the fine linens and heavy woollens had to be mangled then dried in the cramped yards or be left steaming around the fires in tiny kitchens. In the grate were three or four flat irons being heated up in readiness for the mountains of ironing.

Living in this constantly damp atmosphere did little to help children with weak chests. Bronchitis, croup, whooping cough and pneumonia was often the result.

So it was something of a mixed blessing when The Minerva Steam Laundry was set up in the town. It created jobs for the women and the work was easier. Also there was a collection and delivery service and contracts from the Islands hotels, pubs and boarding houses.

T^his photograph prove ided by Ron Windley of Thames Avenue, Sheerness shows Jack Tully and Bill Tress waiting for an incoming train at the Dockyard railway station. Dirty washing was exchanged for clean on a daily basis.

Ron probably has the best collection of old photographs than anyone else in Sheppey. His many albums are on show at the Blue Town Heritage Centre and include the men and women from every section of the Dockyard. A selection will feature in Colin Harvey’s animated DVD’s which are a faithful record of life in Sheppey, but Memory Lane has had a sneak preview to share with our readers.