Over a period of time, my father installed a basic hot water system in the back kitchen and slope, which, by this time, had been converted into a combined bathroom and kitchen.

The water was heated by a cast iron boiler at the rear of the kitchen fire which was connected to a hot water tank in a corner cupboard in the kitchen cum bathroom.

This was a unique arrangement since the bath was positioned at the far end of the kitchen and covered by a wooden work surface when not in use.

Eventually, with the aid of Arthur Sharp, a Londoner who was a builder by trade, who lived next door at number 24, my father built a ‘proper’ kitchen and separate bathroom and toilet.

As time went on, the glass internal surface of the boiler began to deteriorate, until the water took on a light brown colour which was caused by rust, then, one evening, when sitting in the back kitchen, I heard a hissing sound, which gradually grew louder and cumulated into a thin jet of water and steam which came from a small hole in the back boiler, through the fire and onto the carpet.

By the time the hot water system was installed, the pithead baths at Ogilvie Colliery had been constructed, but prior to that, as with most other households in the village, my father came home black from work and had to bathe in a small galvanised tub in front of the fire in the back kitchen.

On one occasion when my Auntie Olwen was visiting, my brother and I were quarrelling and I recall her knocking her walking stick on the kitchen floor and telling us that my father would have heard it underground and knew that we were being naughty. I waited in trepidation for him to come home, but obviously he knew nothing about it.

Initially, the only means of cooking was by an oven and hotplate which was located to the right of the grate in the back kitchen but eventually, after the upgrading of the electricity supply, a combined electric cooker and oven was purchased. This unit worked very well for over 30 years without having to change any of the oven elements or rings.

The washing of clothes etc., was initially undertaken by hand with a washing board, then by an electric boiler with hand actuator and hand operated mangle and then by a proper washing machine.

Cleaning was all by hand, duster and sweeping brush and I recall a couple of salesmen arriving at the house with a cheap electric vacuum cleaner, in response to their newspaper advertisement. They demonstrated the small underpowered unit by pointing it towards the ceiling, and when they placed a clean handkerchief over the suction pipe and it stayed white. However, they also had with them a more powerful and expensive unit which, after undertaking the same test, the handkerchief displayed a very black circle.

This was no surprise, since the house was heated by open coal fires and my father was a heavy smoker. The more expensive cleaner was bought.

Our first television was bought in 1954, the year after the Queen’s Coronation, and was of Bush manufacture with a 12 inch black and white screen.