Learning about life long ago

We had a lovely surprise today.

One of the lovely grannies from our class came in to tell us about life long ago.

It was really really interesting.  We heard about life in school and at home when Eileen was a little girl.  We think it would have been very strange to have no electricity or indoor toilet (although she was lucky enough to have had both).  Life long ago sounded very busy.  Eileen had to help her mum milk the cows, bake and pick potatoes and vegetables for her dinner every day after school.  In the evening she had lots of fun with her family, playing cards and board games like Scrabble and Monopoly.

Eileen's school doesn't sound much like ours.  The children had to bring in sods of turf so that the stove could heat the classroom (we are so lucky to have nice warm radiators in our class).  It was a small 2 teacher school and they had no whiteboard or indoor toilets (how would we manage without?)

The thing that surprised us most was the fact that there were no supermarkets, just small shops and a travelling shop that came once a week, and sold tea, flour, sugar and SWEETS!  Everything else they could get at home: meat, potatoes and vegetables from their farm, and tarts, bread and biscuits from their own kitchen.  Ice cream was a real treat (for after first communion and other really big occasions), since they had no freezer or even fridge in her home.

We really enjoyed Eileen's visit, and we learned such a lot about life when granny was a child.

Thank you so much Eileen for your wonderful visit.  Come visit us again any time.