70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
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Hoover Crystal Glasses
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12th October 1948
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70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
And souvenir ashtrays complete with keyplate signature.
And souvenir ashtrays complete with keyplate signature.
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
Methew and Darren get to grips with fixing Darrens 70 yr old fridge, testing the stats n heater
Methew and Darren get to grips with fixing Darrens 70 yr old fridge, testing the stats n heater
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
And more tea ..
And more tea ..
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
From the first Hoover washing machine in 1948 to one of the last...
From the first Hoover washing machine in 1948 to one of the last...
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
I hope we have been able to showed you the fun, laughter and commeraderie that we had celebrating &0yrs of Hoover Washing Machine...
I hope we have been able to showed you the fun, laughter and commeraderie that we had celebrating &0yrs of Hoover Washing Machine...
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
Until Next Time !!
Until Next Time !!
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
A huge thanks to Alistair for his total hospitality and to all who get stuck in collecting, fixing, mending and moving stuff around and for your unending dedication and friendship - more days to come and new and old future friendships to be had …..
A huge thanks to Alistair for his total hospitality and to all who get stuck in collecting, fixing, mending and moving stuff around and for your unending dedication and friendship - more days to come and new and old future friendships to be had …..
Great tribute and celebration!
In a Facebook group about Leeuwarden, there were memories shared about these Hoover single tubs. Many women would rent them for a day every week. They were delivered in the morning and picked up later in the afternoon. Some neighbours sometimes would rent together to minimise the cost. It was the first step away from doing all laundry by hand.
In a Facebook group about Leeuwarden, there were memories shared about these Hoover single tubs. Many women would rent them for a day every week. They were delivered in the morning and picked up later in the afternoon. Some neighbours sometimes would rent together to minimise the cost. It was the first step away from doing all laundry by hand.
Good times
Firstly, thanks to Mike not only for taking the time to give such a great narrative of a wonderful weekend, but he also must take the credit for most of the set up of the weekend - planning the celebration, arranging for the machines and making sure everything was in apple pie order so that we could enjoy the weekend.
And thanks to everyone who came along not just to to share their enthusasiam for the machines and their knowledge but also the fun and laughs as well - its all in the pictures and its seems to get better every time.
So here's to the next time
Firstly, thanks to Mike not only for taking the time to give such a great narrative of a wonderful weekend, but he also must take the credit for most of the set up of the weekend - planning the celebration, arranging for the machines and making sure everything was in apple pie order so that we could enjoy the weekend.
And thanks to everyone who came along not just to to share their enthusasiam for the machines and their knowledge but also the fun and laughs as well - its all in the pictures and its seems to get better every time.
So here's to the next time
Hoover 0307
It is hard to over estimate the influence the effect of this simple little machine. Wringer style washing machines had certainly existed long before WW2 in the UK but they were both large and expensive. During the 1920s and 1930s there was a huge increase in home ownership but a great many of these homes had small kitchens (typically around 9ft x 7ft) which made accommodating a machine difficult. And it was more easily possible employ a maid or a "daily" to help out.
But in post war, cash strapped Britain the situation had changed. Not only were dailys had to get (and good ones even harder) but the housewife had changed too. A great many of them had jobs during the war which took them out of the house and widely broadened their horizons and the durdgery and sheer boredom of housework must have seemed more of a prison sentance than a life as women were expected to return to the domestic life. Hoover had been a trail blazer before WW2 in one aspect of domestic drudgery - the vacuum cleaner not so much of the large models (700/800/150/26 style series) but in the lower cost but just as efficient smaller Junior cleaner - the number of these which still appear each week on ebay is a testamanet not only to their longevity but also their popularity - "Hoover" is a verb in UK English for a reason.
And so, just after WW2, along they come with a simple washing machine, relatively simple and certainly smaller than the competition, but also more affordable - not only creating the aspiration but making it achievable - either for those who wanted to buy outright or to buy "on-time". And also with a name of quality, carried over from the vacuum cleaners. And it would fit right in to those small, middle class British kitchens - exactly the market they were aiming for - with no trouble at all.
It was an established design (and I have heard two stories of how "Charles Colston "discovered" it but my belief is that it was in the mid 1930s rather than post war)and I have no doubt that Hoover (as did others) would have received considerable financial support from the government to build in Wales (and also the previous year in Scotland where they made the motors) and thus provide employment (and they were, apparently, a good employer) for workers where the old industries were starting to decline.
Their established sales force of salesmen and demonstraters swung into action alongside an extensive marketing campaign not just to create a niche market, but grab a major sector of it. This little machine was the foundation of all that came after including 30+ years of Hoovermatics sold all over the world. Yes, they had their limitations, particularly with tangling, but they had the name and they had the market and it was a much higer margin product than the automatics that came after.
So let's tip our hat to this simple little machine, and the vision and drive of Charles Colston to see just how perfect it was for the market at the time
Al
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvxWv03tiEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N5DEOYlZAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdtaLMjQdEI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jd6iSDSnR8
It is hard to over estimate the influence the effect of this simple little machine. Wringer style washing machines had certainly existed long before WW2 in the UK but they were both large and expensive. During the 1920s and 1930s there was a huge increase in home ownership but a great many of these homes had small kitchens (typically around 9ft x 7ft) which made accommodating a machine difficult. And it was more easily possible employ a maid or a "daily" to help out.
But in post war, cash strapped Britain the situation had changed. Not only were dailys had to get (and good ones even harder) but the housewife had changed too. A great many of them had jobs during the war which took them out of the house and widely broadened their horizons and the durdgery and sheer boredom of housework must have seemed more of a prison sentance than a life as women were expected to return to the domestic life. Hoover had been a trail blazer before WW2 in one aspect of domestic drudgery - the vacuum cleaner not so much of the large models (700/800/150/26 style series) but in the lower cost but just as efficient smaller Junior cleaner - the number of these which still appear each week on ebay is a testamanet not only to their longevity but also their popularity - "Hoover" is a verb in UK English for a reason.
And so, just after WW2, along they come with a simple washing machine, relatively simple and certainly smaller than the competition, but also more affordable - not only creating the aspiration but making it achievable - either for those who wanted to buy outright or to buy "on-time". And also with a name of quality, carried over from the vacuum cleaners. And it would fit right in to those small, middle class British kitchens - exactly the market they were aiming for - with no trouble at all.
It was an established design (and I have heard two stories of how "Charles Colston "discovered" it but my belief is that it was in the mid 1930s rather than post war)and I have no doubt that Hoover (as did others) would have received considerable financial support from the government to build in Wales (and also the previous year in Scotland where they made the motors) and thus provide employment (and they were, apparently, a good employer) for workers where the old industries were starting to decline.
Their established sales force of salesmen and demonstraters swung into action alongside an extensive marketing campaign not just to create a niche market, but grab a major sector of it. This little machine was the foundation of all that came after including 30+ years of Hoovermatics sold all over the world. Yes, they had their limitations, particularly with tangling, but they had the name and they had the market and it was a much higer margin product than the automatics that came after.
So let's tip our hat to this simple little machine, and the vision and drive of Charles Colston to see just how perfect it was for the market at the time
Al
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvxWv03tiEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N5DEOYlZAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdtaLMjQdEI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jd6iSDSnR8
optima
Well-known member
70th
The Last ever Machine to come off the production line in Merthyr Tydfil was a Candy Smart Washer/Dryer.
The Last ever Machine to come off the production line in Merthyr Tydfil was a Candy Smart Washer/Dryer.
Hoover 70 th
Morning Craig, well didn't expect you to spoil the party lol.
Yes that may be true, The Nextra was certainly the last produced by production, the one you mentioned was only by assembly from European parts !!
You had good results from your Nextra didn't you ??
Morning Craig, well didn't expect you to spoil the party lol.
Yes that may be true, The Nextra was certainly the last produced by production, the one you mentioned was only by assembly from European parts !!
You had good results from your Nextra didn't you ??
Hoover 70 th
Morning Craig, well didn't expect you to spoil the party lol.
Yes that may be true, The Nextra was certainly the last produced by production, the one you mentioned was only by assembly from European parts !!
You had good results from your Nextra didn't you ??
Morning Craig, well didn't expect you to spoil the party lol.
Yes that may be true, The Nextra was certainly the last produced by production, the one you mentioned was only by assembly from European parts !!
You had good results from your Nextra didn't you ??
keymatic3203
Well-known member
Wonderful thread, thank you Mike.
so much to say, but I think as a work friend put it when I showed the photo's, "You all look so happy" Well we were. And with this exceptional record, anytime we can relive the celebration and bring a extra smile to a normal day.
Also I think it's the proof that it's not what appliances/information we may have individually, but the sharing it with friends new and long standing that yields such rewards.
Thank you Al for the fantastic welcome and beautiful food, a real treat.
Already looking forward to next time, though it will mean getting that 3203 back together lol.
Mathew
so much to say, but I think as a work friend put it when I showed the photo's, "You all look so happy" Well we were. And with this exceptional record, anytime we can relive the celebration and bring a extra smile to a normal day.
Also I think it's the proof that it's not what appliances/information we may have individually, but the sharing it with friends new and long standing that yields such rewards.
Thank you Al for the fantastic welcome and beautiful food, a real treat.
Already looking forward to next time, though it will mean getting that 3203 back together lol.
Mathew
Wonderful thread, Mike. Thank you very much for all you do setting up these events and for taking the time to document the celebration. It's fantastic for all to see and for us to look back on.
A big thank you to Al for throwing open his home and welcoming everyone and providing delicious home-cooked meals and never-ending drinks and refreshments all weekend long! It's great to spend time with such a lovely group of like-minded friends. Missing you guys already!
A big thank you to Al for throwing open his home and welcoming everyone and providing delicious home-cooked meals and never-ending drinks and refreshments all weekend long! It's great to spend time with such a lovely group of like-minded friends. Missing you guys already!
What VacBear58 said!
While across the pond in USA American middle class and above housewives were moving on from wringer to fully automatic washing machines, her sisters in UK were still largely doing the weekly chore by hand. That is unless there was a wash house/steamy near (and they chose to go), and or could afford (and find) someone to come in and do the work.
Post war building boom in USA produced suburbs with blocks upon blocks of modern new housing, all equipped and or at least capable of having installed modern automatic washing machines and perhaps dryers. This wasn't always so in UK.
Hoover's post war advertising and marketing was brilliant as well.
While soap/cleaner product makers still largely focused their attention on Her Indoors (two tarts in the the kitchen and so forth), Hoover aimed their guns at His Nibbs as well. After all the husband was often breadwinner and thus would have to pay (directly or indirectly) for any new large appliance. Hoover also relied upon sentiment. A man would have to be a brute and cad to see his wife continue to suffer on wash day.
Ironically final icing on cake; that getting his wife "modern" laundry equipment meant household economy in that things once sent out (shirts, bed/table linen) could now be done at home trapped Madame into doing *more* laundry than she did previously.
post was last edited: 10/20/2018-21:56]
While across the pond in USA American middle class and above housewives were moving on from wringer to fully automatic washing machines, her sisters in UK were still largely doing the weekly chore by hand. That is unless there was a wash house/steamy near (and they chose to go), and or could afford (and find) someone to come in and do the work.
Post war building boom in USA produced suburbs with blocks upon blocks of modern new housing, all equipped and or at least capable of having installed modern automatic washing machines and perhaps dryers. This wasn't always so in UK.
Hoover's post war advertising and marketing was brilliant as well.
While soap/cleaner product makers still largely focused their attention on Her Indoors (two tarts in the the kitchen and so forth), Hoover aimed their guns at His Nibbs as well. After all the husband was often breadwinner and thus would have to pay (directly or indirectly) for any new large appliance. Hoover also relied upon sentiment. A man would have to be a brute and cad to see his wife continue to suffer on wash day.
Ironically final icing on cake; that getting his wife "modern" laundry equipment meant household economy in that things once sent out (shirts, bed/table linen) could now be done at home trapped Madame into doing *more* laundry than she did previously.
post was last edited: 10/20/2018-21:56]
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
Thanks John, yes as you know were always up for a celebration, and yes your right it is important to celebrate, the fact that the companies changed hands and don't is a shame !!
Look forward to catching up again soon !!
Cheers Greg, all good fun and here for the line of history, hope you can make it over sometime to see and use for yourself, feels good to have got this far and now able to use it all, but then they are vintage and always one or two need tinkering with ha ha...
Thanks John, yes as you know were always up for a celebration, and yes your right it is important to celebrate, the fact that the companies changed hands and don't is a shame !!
Look forward to catching up again soon !!
Cheers Greg, all good fun and here for the line of history, hope you can make it over sometime to see and use for yourself, feels good to have got this far and now able to use it all, but then they are vintage and always one or two need tinkering with ha ha...
70th Anniversary of Hoover UK Washing Machines, 12/10/1948
Hello Louis, thanks and yes its hard to realise in our lifetimes that the rentals did happen, my local repair shop still going, Frank senior says he soon realised there was a call for "drop off and rent by the day" washers, so he got a garage and filled it with Hoovermatics and wringers and two small vans, Hoover where popular because they were light to move around, he said it started the business for them...
Hello Louis, thanks and yes its hard to realise in our lifetimes that the rentals did happen, my local repair shop still going, Frank senior says he soon realised there was a call for "drop off and rent by the day" washers, so he got a garage and filled it with Hoovermatics and wringers and two small vans, Hoover where popular because they were light to move around, he said it started the business for them...
