What is poverty? | 1960s UK | 1960s Nottingham | St Ann's | Documentary Report | 1969

[@juliehubbard9752]

I was born and brought up in this kind of poverty. As a child, I had no idea how much my mother struggled to feed five children. We had no electric, no gas, hardly any food and had to burn whatever we could on the open fire to keep warm. We often had coats on the bed in winter. I remember not being able to go to school because I didn’t have any shoes. Even in winter, I had only plimsoles…. One summer I had to wear Wellington boots without socks! Oddly enough, I had no idea we were poor, I think we just thought that everyone lived that way. I’ll never forget going to a friends house on the way home from school…..they had all the basics, light, warmth, food. I honestly couldn’t believe it. That was the first time I knew we were poor, I was 11. I was very lucky to have a fantastic teacher, Mr Taylor. He saw potential in me and championed me right the way through school and helped me to get a grant to go to university (first one in the family)and persuaded my mother to let me go. I flourished and qualified and had a great professional life. Once I was established, I helped my mother and siblings wherever I could. Mum ended up living with us after we built a granny flat for her on the end of our house. A number of years later at 92 and a half she passed away. My mother was my best friend, and it was a privilege to look after her in her latter years. I wouldn’t say they were happy days by any stretch of the imagination, but despite the poverty, there was certainly a sense of community, loyalty and friendships that lasted a lifetime. We had nothing, but in some ways we had had everything.

[@sandyno1089]

My life , born the year ww2 ended , was just like this. Everything was rationed, we were starving by Friday when the money was gone, freezing in the winter. It makes my blood boil that kids these days blame my generation for the state of the world .👿

[@janetmalcolm6191]

​@@sandyno1089They think they are badly off in many ways today. They should look back at history and not that far back either! People had very little before WW2 and not that much after it.

[@sandyno1089]

@@janetmalcolm6191 Exactly. Teenagers walk around the house in January in shorts , tee shirts and flip flops, on the mobile, lights blaring , tvs on, and blame us boomers for global warming.

[@markmiller5577]

Smoking and alcohol were normalised.....to see you off before your time

[@janetmalcolm6191]

​@@markmiller5577Well they were a crutch as well. Men worked hard for little pay. So beer and ciggies were looked upon as a small little luxury but as you say were killing people off early at the same time.

[@Knappa22]

What a dignified woman. No dramatics just stoicism. I hope things improved for her and her family.

[@Ghhyuttgg]

Indeed, and compare her to the foul mouthed chavs we have today

[@fanfeck2844]

No entitlement

[@libraiis]

Bet the bank it did not and only got worse as she aged.

[@Knappa22]

@@libraiis we just don’t know that. My grandparents lived like this, but they were then put in social council housing. They made sure their children got a good education (poor families had county scholarship for grammar school) and they all got good jobs. They were then able to help their parents in their old age, paying their energy bills, rates, even holidays etc.

[@elainekerslake6865]

Many of the residents moved to the new Clifton estate and retired after working at John Players , Raleigh , Boots factories and many others.. All closed down now.

[@keef78]

What a lovely manner this lady has, I loved hearing her speak.

[@charlesedwards4160]

Agreed. She had a lovely smile too. In fact I'd go as far as saying she was indeed a very good looking lady.

[@FN_FAL_4_ever]

Humility and dignity can bring out the best in a human being. She's proof of that.

[@josearqco]

Me too!!!

[@josearqco]

@@charlesedwards4160 She is indeed!!

[@garypautard1069]

I was thinking that although coming from a humble background she expressed herself clearly ,something we do not see today with our slang and Estuary speak.

[@redcropuk]

Proof that class has nothing to do with money .. this woman was someone to admire

[@GEricG]

That's absolutely right.

[@churchofgod4016]

Yes, her callused and bleeding fingertips prove classism is an awesome thing. Chains are to be admired.

[@redcropuk]

@@churchofgod4016 Idiot

[@AustralianLeprechaun]

Wow that's ignorant

[@Elle_Gowing]

There was no welfare and this woman had no choice. Piecework was exploitation, the equivalent of sweatshop work. The employer paid no overheads and passed them onto those who took home the work. This generation came after WWII and some were children during the war. They grew up tough and self-reliant.

[@MrMcCawber]

I was 11 when my family moved out of a house like that in 1955 - no electricity, no bathroom, one cold tap, outside shared loo and dry rot you could smell before you entered. Get behind with rent and you risked broken legs. I regularly went hungry, especially once I grew old enough to realise the terrible cost to my parents of sending me to granny's for a meal. They were never allowed to forget her 'charity.' But at least when my baby sister arrived, it got us a place on the council house waiting list, and we moved a year later. My Mum spent the first week wandering around the house in tears at the sheer luxury of it all. She had never known a house with a garden. Dad and I weren't the greatest gardeners, but within a year we were enjoying our own vegetables. Ten years later we moved out of an area which, once beautiful, had degenerated into another problem housing estate, courtesy of people for whom new houses had proved to be pearls before swine. The lady in this film reminds me of my Mum, even in appearance. Quiet (unless roused - oh dear!) dignified and never ever with idle hands. And with standards - even when alone after Dad died, she never had a meal without setting the table. When I visited her in my 50s, I still wasn't allowed to rise from the table without permission. "Don't forget your scarf again!" she'd call out as I left. I'd once gone out on a winter's day without it - 40 years earlier!

[@churchofgod4016]

What a beautiful recount. Thank you. True that the luxuries that bring some, like your wonderful Mother, to tears are just pearls before the herd. I lived in places like that. Whole areas become labelled, their troubles attributed to the swine. But sometimes you find genuine diamonds in the rough, the real people.

[@fahedal-ajmi4015]

I never imagined that level of poverty existed in Britain in the 60s when Britain was still waging wars of colonialists illusion.

[@MrMcCawber]

@@fahedal-ajmi4015 You need to appreciate that as many British people were as abused by their own governments as were colonials... My father - like a million others - returned from WW2 to find that the "land fit for heroes" was as illusory as that promised in the first conflict. His living gone, his 'reserved occupation' taken by another. I was born disabled, before the NHS. My Dad - a cabinet-maker - returned to find my my Mum had been forced to sell/pawn his tools to pay for my treatment. By the time he had recovered his trade, it was already history. The world was ill-divided then. It still is. But the PR spin is better.

[@fahedal-ajmi4015]

@@MrMcCawber I appreciate the difficulties of your personal experience, but consequents British governments intervention caused untold pains and damage to score of nations at times they could have taken better care of their own people.

[@cabbagetv2883]

@@fahedal-ajmi4015 several countries were initially grateful of colonialiam , wealth was brought to those countries , industrialism , and military protection from hostile neighbouring countries

[@beatlebrian4404]

Most people have a very missguided view of the 60s you know Carnaby Street, Twiggy, hippies, free sex, lots of drugs, haveing a great time, but that was for a few thousand,at most, mainly in London, what we see here is the real life of the working class, but for all they endured, they were a very special People.

[@robertdiamond2830]

100% correct.

[@maximhollandnederlandthene7640]

The hippie lifestyle were the ones who did want to run from their reality isn't it !?

[@stidesheaven1972]

And yet, there are "anti-racist" organisations nowadays paid hefty sums to demonise such decent salt of the earth people.

[@Leshaun2002]

@@stidesheaven1972 That doesn't make sense, what do you mean?

[@s.wright6945]

Not if you watch 50s 60s kitchen sink drama. It's pretty obvious that era wasn't one big party.

[@ZsiZsiSzabad]

Such a dignified, classy, lovely woman. Her family must be so proud of her ❤️

[@janicebone6191]

I remember my late Grandfather saying that Education was the way out. He ran away from home at 14, he earned moneyvto buy 2nd hand boots...to big of course. So he could go to school...he left his boots at school. If he'd worn them home,they'd have been pawned. He left home after a row about "getting a job" ....he knew that if he did it was the end for him. He ran away and joined the army. He survived WW1, came out in the 1920s..he'd learnt languages,and got certificates for nursing. He was a State Registered Nurse( as it used to be) He so wanted to be a Dr....but it cost money to train. .He escaped he used to say. He insisted i did homework...would sit with me as i did. Used to teach me French....was so proud i went to Dental School. He died in 1973...

[@ejkalegal3145]

Must have been quite difficult being a male nurse back in those days.

[@M_SC]

What an impressive man

[@M_SC]

@@ejkalegal3145no, it wasn’t. Not at the jobs they hired them to do.

[@julienielsen3746]

You are so blessed to have a Grandfather like him.

[@ENGLISHISBEST]

Bless, times were hard for many. Lots of folk just had to make do with little.

[@robertdiamond2830]

This woman has my total and absolute respect. She has pride and modesty and gets on with what is a very hard life.

[@ExploreDerbyshire]

I grew up in a damp house with mold Today we are much better off I pray these governments we’ve had lately don’t take us back to the poverty line Seems that’s what they want

[@ashotofmercury]

​@@ExploreDerbyshire I think they already have to be honest - massive increase in food banks, mould in social housing. 😔

[@nigelbeaumont1109]

This Lady is a one of a kind… they like her don’t exist anymore.

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

Gets on with it? You think that is admirable, rather than the working class uniting to _end poverty_ ?

[@olwens1368]

The attitude- 'I could give MY children a meal if they came home' (and not deprive someone more needy of free school meals)-and that her husband would rather work for less income than on 'relief'. I remember people like that when I was growing up- and old people who wouldn't ask for help because they could 'manage'.

[@stidesheaven1972]

That was the same attitude my West of Ireland mother had.

[@Basauri48970]

@Jack W Indeed. The amount of unclaimed benefits is around 16 billion annually, which dwarves the estimated 3 billion in possible benefit fraud. But that doesn't rile up right wing newspapers readers, neither pushes them to vote for parties with punitive measures against the poor (whilst turning a blind eye to tax evasion from our betters), so it's never mentioned anywhere. The demonisation of the poor and their characterisation as "chavs" has been so successful in this country, from comedy to fly on the wall documentary series or sensationalised articles, that at this point I cannot see it can be reversed. Divide and conquer, same old.

[@iggle6448]

What I think is tragic about that is the fact that, as now, pay was simply not enough. Whilst the bosses and shareholders made greater and greater profits. This lady and her husband didn't question that gross unfairness and that they were being exploited shamelessly. (I'm not anything like a socialist - I just want societies to be fair, decent and able to provide people with the means to reach their potential.)

[@Basauri48970]

@@iggle6448 You don't have to excuse yourself for being a decent human being with an ingrained sense of fairness and a natural rejection for social and economic injustice.

[@iggle6448]

@@Basauri48970 What a kind comment, thank you! Long before social/economic justice was a thing, I once asked a self-made £multi-millionaire what he thought was the most important principle in sustainable social and community life. He was a trustee of the large non-profit org of which I was ceo. He simply said "fairness". Which is why he was giving his time and resources to what we were doing. His sincerity and simplicity has always been deeply inspirational to me.

[@kerryjones1508]

What a lovely gentle and thoughtful lady. I hope she had a good life.

[@colin5064]

I'm sure this LADY gave her children good moral values also to be proud of. Salt of the earth worth her weight in gold

[@letitiakearney2423]

@@colin5064 She could still be alive as she is probably in her late seventies or eighties now.

[@sjpinke9665]

@@letitiakearney2423 I hope she is and keeping well.

[@rheinhartsilvento2576]

@@letitiakearney2423 Pretty much the youngest she could be is about 85. The program aired in 1969, she looks let's say about 35, which would put her birthdate at around 1935.

[@blueeyedsoulman]

@@rheinhartsilvento2576 Without proper diet and vitamins I'm afraid the average lifespan was probably quite low.

[@bigears5809]

A very well composed video. The lady interviewed is a gem. Humble thoughtful,well spoken with no sense of self entitlement.

[@saxav88]

Agree. Notice how she says her husband would rather work than being on the dole, even if it meant being on less money. In the 70's and before it was shameful to be on the 'dole' if you could avoid it. Personal pride and self respect has been lost.

[@kevinhughes720]

Unless she was an actor!

[@grobbler1]

@@saxav88 Very true. The rise of 'reality' tv has a lot to do with how people think now. Playing the system is openly boasted about as if it was an achievement and it is then passed to the next generation. Britain has been broken for a long time now.

[@dax8753]

Not a professional victim like everyone is now

[@hughneek12]

I am 70, and have lived through the sixties. Working people then had an acceptance of hardship and poverty, just as their foreparents did, and were a stronger breed, but today its all me, me, me, poor me and selfishness abounds. Take a look at this lady as she speaks and you will see a refined woman of strong character. The salt of the earth.

[@mattede8744]

Those bastard politicians should be forced to watch these old documentaries to see what these fine British people went through just to get by. They kept Britain going.

[@lat1419]

As one who was living in St Ann's when this was made, and actually knew Ken Coates, can I just say it was nice to have my winter heating allowance removed by millionaires Starner and Reeves? I'm sure the weak lungs I got from an unfortunate dose of tuberculosis caught in St Ann's will creak through another unheated winter.

[@davidclarke1429]

Well said , they have no inclination of what people went through to survive, and look what where left with.🇫🇴🇬🇧

[@jonm7272]

These are the "good old days" that the brexshit zealots keep harking on about. Deludedtwats.

[@mus139]

The Politicians were even worse back in Victorian times.

[@mattede8744]

@@mike.p.1400 Ain't that the truth

[@mahesletchumanan5143]

What a dignified woman!! Poverty does not mean lack of breeding, dignity or self pride.... this lady is prove of that. I sincerely hope her family and many like her have worked themselves out of that life.

[@oceansunset6147]

In the 1960s my mother and father married at 16 yrs and 17 yrs. Both were in an apprenticeship. When my mother caught with me at 17 yrs she gave up her apprenticeship to look after and stay at home with me. My father still on an apprenticeship wage. There were no types of benefits to support a family like this. We lived in a rented flat on the edge of the city which they found difficult to heat so damp accumulated on the bedroomed walls. We travelled everywhere by bus. By the time my mother was 23yrs she had 3 children. By the time I was 18yrs old we lived in a 4 bedroomed detached house with a beautiful garden in a well sought after country village. My father owned a nice car and my mother had her own little car. My mother stayed at home while we were growing up. My parents are now in their 70s and are still together. The biggest gift of my life was that my mother never went to work, was always there for us, cared for us and always made our home welcoming and clean …. despite their early hardships.

[@janetmalcolm6191]

Many got better off as life progressed. Doesn't seem so much like that now. If you got a break things could improve. Doom and gloom today.

[@mark2781]

Love this! 😊 💚

[@janetmalcolm6191]

​@Mack-w7zWe are all here to learn and by the time we are older most of us have. Gone through the good and the bad including choices. If only we knew as much when young as we do when older! Everyone would do things differently quite possibly. As long as we have learned things by the time we get older is the most important. Young people make mistakes.

[@ArthurLockwood-e8c]

Glad for them. Wish my wife was like that. Married. Young me to 🤧😥

[@PS_ItsMe]

What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing. I'm so glad to hear how you had a wonderful mother growing up ❤

[@flori5548]

It’s very interesting to listen to her articulation. Despite her being very poor and probably not having enjoyed a great education, she thinks before she speaks and gives very good answers. No comparison to poor (and often even rich) people today.

[@simpaticaism]

They had poverty but the teachers of the day knew their jobs and taught well.

[@phillipecook3227]

Today anyone would believe she'd had elocution lessons. Incredible.

[@sirhumphreyappleby8399]

@@phillipecook3227 It's incredible isn't it. I read as a child and my parents spoke to me and told me that if I was going to speak I should do so properly, and am, to reverse a phrase of Orwell's, upper lower middle class. Just for speaking relatively normally by the standards of a few years ago, and using a few polysyllables, I get no end of stick.

[@richardchurch9709]

She was very serious throughout the interview but every now and then there was a hint of a gorgeous smile brewing, high cheek bones and a delicious overbite.

[@helenahusky2787]

That was the first thing I noticed !

[@windsorSJ]

I was a young kid growing up in the 60's on merseyside. We were 3 kids and 2 adults. My Dad was a coalman and used to carry sacks of coal on his back. My Mum would knit jumpers, hats, scarves and gloves for neighbours to make some extra money. Then mid 60's my parents got divorced so my Mum was single with 3 kids. She took a job with school meals to make money so that she could always be home when we finished school. My Dad gave her £1.50 a week for us 3 kids, not each, in total. He paid that every week tlll we left school and he never increased it. My Mum remarried in the mid 60's to a bus driver and had another 2 kids (twins). Things got even tougher. 2 adults and 5 kids in a 3 bedroomed terrace house. Don't forget the 60's was also time of peak union power and quite often my stepfather had to go out on strike with minimal money sometimes none at all. When I think back now we must have been poor but i never thought of myself as poor. I knew people who had it worse than us.

[@fabolvaskarika7940]

Thank you for sharing your story. I always fascinated by people experience. I wish I could be a time traveller and see the life of our ancestors. Being a fly on the wall, or just a ghost who can’t be seen but I would be there just to observe... I’m glad that you didn’t feel poor yourself. Wealth is not just money and I’m so glad that I had a big family and lots of friends that I never felt that anything missing from my childhood...

[@fabolvaskarika7940]

@@ababble1245 How old are you darling that can ask such a dumb question? 🤔 Anyway... Happy new year 🥳

[@pintofkimberley]

@@ababble1245 it's from the days when birth control was almost unheard off. Though if you're skint, you'll have very few pleasures in life, so a little bit of intimacy works wonders.

[@fabolvaskarika7940]

@@ababble1245 No, but I didn’t want to be too offensive and gave benefit of the doubt that maybe your tender age the reason why you ask such an ignorant question. Also got good education and learned etiquette and much more. Not always use it, because someone straight up @sshole then I give them their own medicine. 😉 @pintofkimberley answered in a very nice and understandable manner, so hope we could contribute to your education. Your welcome 🤓

[@fabolvaskarika7940]

@@ababble1245 You gaslight yourself. I won’t try to convince you that I’m not a boomer. You can think whatever you want, it doesn’t make it true or mean anything. You only exposed your poor education. With the same logic as you say that if someone can’t afford kids, then don’t have it, I say if you can’t understand things then don’t form an opinion and STFU!

[@Kiwibloke2025]

People today don't realize how well off we are in comparison

[@whatamalike]

I can assure you that people said the exact same when watching this in 1969 comparing it to the years of the great depression. Poverty isn't just eternally defined by one era or generation; it changes. Not being able to afford the rent on your Pye 13 inch TV from Radio Rentals has been replaced by not being able to afford the interest payments on your second hand telly from cash converters. Same issues, different set of clothes.

[@whatamalike]

@Richard Devonshire Bullshit. If you live in a society (pre or post mod cons) where you are towing to make a decent existence for you and your family (in work or not) while your neighbor pulls up in a brand new car, then the notion of materialistic elements being branded as disingenuous goes straight out the window. So to make the comparison I made in my previous comment is completely fair because I provided the context to back it up. You just basically said "Well if theyve got food and a roof over their heads they should think themselves lucky!" which is a dickensian argument and one grounded in greed.

[@samjones6258]

Don't be so stupid....standards are higher now as they should be. It's like you're accusing anyone today who lives above the minimal poverty line of Victoria England of not really being poor! That's nonsense as poverty is relative.

[@joyceproudlock1426]

Well of eh. Tell that to those who need the food banks

[@robbielawson4828]

I don't think people back then spent half their net income on a mortgage or rent? They probably didn't spend a further 10% on council tax. They got to claim a state pension at 60 & 65 The country wasn't an overpopulated foreign owned mess, crippled by trillions of pounds of public & private debt. Never mind old sport, Lord Sugar thinks you can't be poor if you've a telly and a microwave.

[@farouqomaro598]

Such calm and articulate personality that woman. Wish everything went well for her. We still have many poor people like her, only the TV stations don't interview them, they prefer the noisy ones.

[@iggle6448]

All too true. The media beatifies the most extreme specimens and can't give them enough air time (cf. the Markle Debacle)

[@pjgreen1786]

My mother was like that...as a single mom raising three children, she’d rather work and go to night school than accept welfare. She rose up in the ranks of her job starting out as a computer programmer then designer working for the military industrial complex. When she retired she was making a six figure income. Very smart woman.

[@midnightmoon9511]

Amazing woman your mother, what a queen

[@churchofgod4016]

What a great lady. Those with real drive can never be kept prisoner to adverse circumstances.

[@pim1234]

My dad had only a few years of school but was a born trader, borowed a bit of money of his sister for buying his first car. DIed on his 86st a millionair. I am so proud of him !

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

So u never saw her?

[@colinwright9290]

The woman is a hero. I salute you my dear. A common thread amongst folk in the midst of this lifestyle is we never considered ourselves as poor. We just got on with life.

[@Andy-wx4wx]

What a great comment, totally agree...

[@shaneo5436]

I wish we were as well spoken as back in the day.

[@andiemorgan961]

Rather a gross generalisation. Don't forget the producers of this documentary would not pick a person who could not articulate themselves clearly.

[@shaneo5436]

@@andiemorgan961 I think it's a generalisation with merit and nothing more. Along with spelling and handwriting I think it's very hard to deny.

[@fanfeck2844]

@@andiemorgan961 so you’ve asked the producer? Or are you just presumptive

[@TheKonga88]

If you want to speak like this lady, then do it, rather than following the dumb masses.. LMMFAO

[@stellayates4227]

@@andiemorgan961 I look back on my grandmother's letters and her grammar and handwriting are of a high standard based on a general not exceptional education. Today on social media many people cannot even write a full sentence in the correct grammatical tense.

[@theSam91]

I challenge anyone to watch that interview with the mother and not feel sadness. Can you even imagine having your child suffer with respiratory infections because you can't afford to keep two coal fires burning 24/7 in order to stop the furniture going green with mold? And yet she never once complained that anyone should come and help her. What happened to this world I wonder.

[@volvos60bloke]

Coming back to the UK after Brexit and Covid19.

[@AtticusBleep]

volvos60bloke You have got to be a bot.

[@GEricG]

@Richard Devonshire well that woman's economic difficulties certainly wasn't the fault of immigrants.

[@whatamalike]

@@GEricG Exactly, and this clearly demonstrates that the real enemies are the bosses and the political establishment at large (regardless of party). NOT polish fruit pickers!

[@whatamalike]

@Richard Devonshire what about em? You implying Brits don't do this as well?

[@bigman3130]

Watching older videos from England, I always notice how well spoken and articulate people are with their words.

[@selinaoakley3613]

Thank goodness these times were documented. Utmost respect to that lady. Dignity & pride personified.

[@24bellers20]

I lived through it. One fire when you had coal. Winters were soul destroying. I say this now whilst laid against a central heating radiator scanning youtube. Hard life eh?

[@justmadeit2]

Sounds bad. My mum was born in 1942 and said they were poor growing up in the north of England. Winter's must have been tough then, heck I complain now when I come down stairs on the morning and my kitchen is freezing, but I can turn the central heating on. My biggest problem is a battle for decades with depression and issues, the winter makes that worse.

[@truthmerchant1]

I remember ice on the inside of the bedroom window. Sleeping with hat and gloves on. And trekking down the yard to the outside toilet in the snow. I never got used to the cold.

[@libraiis]

One fire and you counted every bit of coal you put on it.. Just a few bits a day. It was that or be freezing by mid week because you had none left so no fire. We had a paraffin heater ( damned awful things,smell bad and so unsafe) but that was not affordable either. Working poor is what most did back then even though they would not admit it or even say it. Ask them back then and they would say that ;working poor was someone else and not them. They got by on low expectations out of life. That was the key to survival. Still is.

[@colin5064]

@@libraiis So true and well said

[@nickbarton3191]

@@truthmerchant1 Me 2, was just about to make the same comment. And going to school in shorts in the winter. Newspaper in the shoes to dry them out. That was in the north east. Dad got a much better job in the south and we moved, then life was much improved.

[@John-ob7dh]

Brings back memories.married in 64 .flat outside loo, no bathroom .Me showered at work .Her got bus to bathroom at her mums.Baby bathed in the sink .But i worked 2 jobs when i was on nights( Delivering in a van for a local shop when i got up from night shift ) so we did not have to worry . Always worked never on the dole. Never had much , never knew anyone who actually owned a house.Paid £4.50 a week rent for a empty flat with no bathroomand outside loo.BUT back then the council would give you a 100 % mortgage. Borrowed £70 for legal fees got a 2 up 2 down immac terrace house for £3000 ..Mortgage was £18 a month ( same money as the flat ) . It took me A year to pay a relo back that £70 borrowed money .Jeez those were the day .i am 80 .

[@janetmalcolm6191]

My mother now passed 2 years ago st 94 sold her furniture to get the house they had rented all throughout the war years. It was buy it or leave. They scraped everything together they could. It was not easy even back then! The council told her have children and then come back for help. She said you should get the house before children or where you going to put them?

[@John-ob7dh]

@janetmalcolm6191 yes for ordinary working folk to buy a house way back then was unusual.When we bought in 1966 I did not know anyone who was buying or owned a house.Even rarer in the 50s .

[@janetmalcolm6191]

​@@John-ob7dhYes the only people who owned owned houses outright even if they were falling down! No buy to let mortgages. Council property was a godsend if you could get it. Same as today. Pity they stopped building. They build a bit but just unaffordable ones.

[@paulware4701]

What I remember growing up: indoor plumbing was one cold tap in the kitchen; toilet was outside and was a tub that the council came and emptied once a week; electricity was one socket per room downstairs, one socket period upstairs; black mould on walls; a kitchen that we pretty much lived in because it meant only heating one room; kitchen walls that ran with condensation (my dad bought vinyl wall paper and had to - literally - nail it to the wall); being cold in the winter (no upstairs heating of any kind) because our house was exposed on top of a hill and caught all the elements. What else I remember: being a happy child at home, and never resenting my dad for working all the hours God sent, meaning that I hardly ever saw him; my mum always being there because she didn't have a "career" but devoted her life to bringing up her children. That was the 1960s, not the 1940s.

[@paulwalker9014]

I remember sitting on the draining board with my feet in the kitchen sink being washed clean by my mum. We had no fridge, the phone was a shared 'party line', and you could hear the neighbours poking their fire in our semi-detached house.

[@winneywinneywinney]

I just realised I’m living in the 60s then minus the plug sockets and bathroom issues.

[@churchofgod4016]

Amazing. Vivefying. These accounts I am reading... Thank you, all of you...

[@sandrapicton8961]

Thank you for this, lump in my throat. God bless you.

[@HassanPoyo]

I was born into a family which earns minimum wage. Working on getting my way out of the poverty and council flats. Currently in Medical school and hopefully this will be the start of my future life in the middle class. Wish me luck guys :)

[@HassanPoyo]

@Blue Toile working towards moving to the states :) thanks for the good wishes, its motivated me to work towards studying harder so I can practise medicine there instead of the UK, I believe it’ll provide me with greater opportunities to excel in my career. Will update this post over the years if I get a notification haha

[@josephbrate2245]

BEST wishes from Joe and Shelia Birmingham, Alabama

[@lunallena5594]

Create a budget, live strictly within it and remember that having money in your pocket and your investments is a million times better than blowing it on stuff you'd need to upgrade later. Buy what you can afford now so you can afford to live later! I'm in Miami and I know plenty of flashy people who don't save their hard earned money because Yolo!

[@HassanPoyo]

@@lunallena5594 good advice, thank you

[@ladydiva295]

Good luck luv! ❤

[@leefisher816]

Born 1970 here - i lived in Bulwell, about 4 miles from St. Ann’s and it was proper run down even in the 1980’s when we sometimes made it to that part of town. Bulwell had some demolitions in the 70’s that looked very much like what is shown here. My mum worked piece rate - Dad being a miner, and mum turning her time to most at home work - anything from the piece rate work from the lace industry, to making toys, to sending mailers. Man times have changed. You forget but these clips bring memories back - we always had food on the table - but many of our friends did not, and they would often ask if they could ‘stay for tea’. I remember now some of the clothing people wore - nothing like today - tatty, homely - knitted by nan. Coal fires, smoking in every room, with that nicotine stained look of artex ceilings now in my mind. Some of my friends homes only had wallpaper in the living room. Poverty has changed. It felt like people had nothing back then, now some think they are in poverty because their iPhone is a couple of years old.. Above all - I am struck by how much ‘better off’ the poorest in society are compared to this clip - health is better - but her vocabulary and language, given her background, certainly is of a higher standard than today!

[@kathrynfoot2208]

What a lovely lady Mrs Smith . I wonder how her and her family’s lives changed over the years since this. Hopefully for the better. Wonder if she is still with us.

[@EvoGoody]

They're watching Netflix right now.

[@ACDZ123]

Yes she could be around 80ish now if still here

[@heathstjohn6775]

The Swinging Sixties: it was just for a few, in a relatively little space. It's mostly an LP cover.

[@FromtheHerts81]

Yes, things like the Austin Powers movies are really a fantasy.

[@stellalewis9855]

Can't say I agree, my auntie was a mod and had a whale of a time living in a terrace house , I shared her bed as a toddler at my grandma's and she used to walk home from town with her friend it was a happy time

[@lam5hunhu1]

what does LP stand for ?

[@FromtheHerts81]

@@lam5hunhu1 Long Playing record. Back then album art meant much more, because it covered the wider area of a record cover, not a postage-stamp-size thumbnail on iTunes.

[@heathstjohn6775]

@@lam5hunhu1 "Long player". 33 1/3 rpm. Thanks for the interest.

[@msives]

This is heartbreaking listening to her.

[@comealongcomealong4480]

About the damp behind the timber panelling, and the furniture turning green, and her boy's bronchitis and ear infections - Yes

[@fabolvaskarika7940]

@@comealongcomealong4480 And She was actually a very bright person. Talked very articulated about the situation. Sorry. English is not my native language...

[@robertmorley9149]

this made me cry

[@sjpinke9665]

@@robertmorley9149 Big softie x

[@388Caroline]

@@robertmorley9149 Me too 🥺

[@normanbates569]

Poverty is a shifting concept. I remember the condemned houses of the 1940's. My mother did not taste chicken until I was 3 years old. I should hope even the poorest are not as poor as my family was.

[@rosemarygriffin2184]

Gosh, this brought back a lot of memories. I grew up in the 60's coal fire in the living room only, drafty windows, with gaps you had to plug up with old newspaper in the winter, to stop the snow coming in. Damp beds, we didn't even have duvets back then, you'd put your coat on your bed for extra warmth. No washing machine, wash by hand, and wring the water out with an old mangle, damp quarry tiles on the kitchen floor, no running hot water, very little food, the list is endless, I could go on for ever!

[@naguerea]

the story of my youth.

[@cristinamorenolamin3217]

Yes and if it was up to Kier Starmer the UK would be back to those days and the ilegals would all be housed in warm hotels. Makes my blood boil.

[@eddie12454]

I look back at those days with great fondness. I had loving parents who told me what was right and what was wrong and to have only what I could afford. Some people these days should heed these wise words.

[@maggieoakley9020]

My friends went to school with cardboard in their shoes unbelievable but true that was 1963/64.

[@elaine58100]

Me too, I remember it well. Or I had second hand shoes that didn't fit particularly well. Everything was second hand. My mum used to go on the second hand stalls on the market to get me kitted out. I use to dread going to school in case someone who's parents were better off said that what I was wearing had probably been theirs. Happy Days :)

[@wendyboothman294]

And the misery is returning for the families, disabled, sick and unemployed along with many self employed.

[@wendyboothman294]

@@billy1680 and most of Britain thanks to thatcher and now the tories and liberals brought it back. And round it goes

[@Ghhyuttgg]

@@elaine58100 As much as possible everything in my house is second hand, including the kids clothes - but that's due to wanting to reduce waste in society and nothing to do with poverty. I appreciate there is a great deal of difference between choosing to do it and having to...

[@lindakeyes9353]

In the 70's we put cardboard in the holes in our pumps!

[@jemmajames6719]

This was the reality of the everyday working class. Just money for the very basics, surrounded by bomb buildings.My grandparents didn’t have a bathroom until they were given a council bungalow in the late seventies when their house was classed as a slum and demolished.Most of what they owned was second hand and had been with them their entire lives. My Nana hated the couple of pieces of furniture she had, ugly Victorian she called it and it was. They had nothing, but was thankful for the little they had and couldn’t believe the luxury of the bungalow, ie bathroom and toilet, heating, and hot water. They scrimped on everything managing to save on their pension to pay for their funerals and to leave a few pounds to their three surviving children and nine grandchildren. They went without a lot to leave us all a little something.

[@LMB222]

She's poor, yet she won't seek a regular job.

[@jemmajames6719]

LMB222 Its that easy is it?

[@comealongcomealong4480]

@ Jemma James. Thank you for the insights. It sounds as if you spent time with your grandmother and got to know her well. Happy that their memories and lives are being honoured here by you.

[@whatamalike]

@@LMB222 You do not know of this woman's circumstances so stop pretending you do. The reality is that the lowest earners have ALWAYS been taken for a ride by self proclaimed 'captains of industry' and the sooner the majority of folk realize this, the sooner we can actually try and address these problems before the establishment crack down on us proles! The only time working class people in Britain ever had any major say in the running of their workplace and life prospects was via Trade union membership and activity. But, of course, striking miners and dockers would be considered "holding the country to ransom" all because they wanted a fairer crack of the whip. What subversive, destructive forces...not.

[@thelasttimelord7550]

@@whatamalike agreed

[@jpayne8078]

Born in 62 in The East End of London. Five of us in a one bedroom shared house, so my dad turned the lounge into an extra bedroom for me and my siblings.Our only living area was a kitchen diner, we did have our own inside bath and toilet. We were poor and I just wasn't aware of it because everyone I knew was in similar situations or worse. My dad was obsessed with keeping the damp down because one of my siblings suffered from winter bronchitis. We had no central heating, so it was stinky parafin heaters and an electric bar plug in fire that kept the rooms warm in winter. Looking back, my parents did an amazing job with having so little money . We were never hungry, but lived on a very limited carb rich diet. We wore second hand clothes ,but having a father who was ex army, they were ironed with in an inch of their lives, and our shoes were always polished army style every night . We were never scruffy unless playing out in the street. My dad had a saying, "To be poor is unfortunate, to look poor is unnecessary ."

[@roserose4030]

Hi

[@ashotofmercury]

That closing quote is brilliant! 🙏🏻

[@PaulWallis]

The phenomenon of the hard working poor is still very real. This is why a liveable minimum wage is vital - with accompanying laws about adequate shifts. Incredible that many of our politicians still argue against it.

[@jamie74gemini87]

What a bloody trooper! Also known as a regular working person from the 60s just doing what she needs to to make ends meet.

[@only1utdanditsleeds]

What a proud woman. Such strength

[@richarddavies233]

Penalised for being hard working and working class. Nothing has changed.

[@djb1317]

We are just lucky that we got blue labour instead of labour

[@stidesheaven1972]

Exactly. All of these "anti-racist" organisations are doing the same thing now to ordinary working class people.

[@RaferJeffersonIII]

These people were profiting from their privilege, as they do today. They need to do more for others who had ancestors 400 years ago who were treated worse. The only way the middle and upper class can keep the cash, is if they deny its about money and try to make these people the privileged too. Nice trick, guys.

[@Kringlebeast]

Except today we actually vote for the punishment.

[@jimmykray9583]

Yep nothing has changed

[@tarquin12]

This lady is wonderfully articulate and anxious to make the best of her situation for the good of her family; no anger at her lot, just frustration that others could be better off by drawing "assistance". It is heartbreaking that she regards it as normal that her son "suffers terribly" from bronchitis and recurrent respiratory infections because of the appalling damp. Many of the current generation have little idea what deprivations people faced in almost all aspects of their lives on a daily basis. Huge respect to that former generation. I really hope that things eventually improved for this woman.

[@davedixon2068]

I joined the RAF in 1969, my wage, after 2 years training, was going to be 13 pounds 17 shillings and 6 pence 13.75 in decimal. I was still 15 at that time, I had asked my dad if that was good money before I applied to join, he replied that it was more than he was earning, (he was a builder) so it was a good idea to join. I served 25 years.

[@peterherrington3300]

Pride and dignity encapsulated

[@thedolphin5428]

What a sensible analysis by the opening speaker. As true today as it was then.

[@jeanettegriffin772]

This is why my parents got out of England We had 5 children and very decimated for having 5 children. Not only by society, but family too. I called it the bowls of England. They immigrate in 1967, to California, and never looked back! My dad was a very hard worker. I just lost him last month. He gave us a wonderful life. The woman in this video was very humble. She reminds me of my mom!

[@paulcolville5972]

All moms are humble, it's what they do, bringing up families selflessly, it's in their DNA, they are the undervalued underappreciated heroes of the universe actually!

[@jeanettegriffin772]

@@paulcolville5972 thank you for the kind words. My mom is in hospice. My parents were together 63 years. Their bond was beyond words. And to think this is where I came from. It mind blowing!

[@peterbothwell9005]

Many British families also immigrated to Australia and Canada in those days. They also built far better lives and security for themselves by doing so. Following British entry into the EU and living standards improving that immigration dropped dramatically. Then when Britain went through one or two economic down turns leading to large unemployment many men were able to go work in Germany, Spain and France and send money home thereby avoiding immigration to Australia and Canada or even the USA. However, now we have left the EU we won’t have that opportunity in the next economic downturn and recession which due to the present covid-19 pandemic and the billions of pounds it’s costing us is not far away. Therefore, I guess immigration to Australia, Canada and the USA will be on the up again? However, it’s more difficult these days to immigrate to those countries then in the 1960s and 1970s. Those countries will also need take care of jobs for their own citizens because of what covid-19 has done to their economy. We will be reliant on Social Security. How tragic.

[@keithashley6298]

That poor woman, so dignified and well spoken, doing her best who deserved much better.

[@mercuryrising4323]

We lived in the Meadows an equally deprived area close to St Anns in Nottingham and to supplement income my father made a machine operated by hand with a handle which meant separating the lace was made easier and quicker and the income was welcome in a family of 6 children. We took it in turns turning the handle very fast. Looking back my father was very clever in inventing such a machine at that time as the lady in the video is using her hand and separating the famous Nottingham lace row by row which would have taken her hours whilst my fathers machine could separate about 20 rows in one go in a matter of 20 minutes. Those were the days. My parents have passed a long time ago but those days were so tough growing up but surprisingly happy. Those lace separating days stay with me and my siblings and we thank our parents in instilling the need to educate ourselves to escape that poverty. We are all professional now but those memories will stay with us forever and I am proud that my past made me who I am today.

[@mercuryrising4323]

@@lolakauffmann Hi yes it comes in a big sheet like a double bed sheet with a hundred rows of lace which need to be separated line by line. My fathers invention managed to separate the lace easily. He was ahead of his time but caught in poverty but we were happy.

[@HolyFreakinDragonSlayer]

Simpler times ❤ that lady is such a hard working Mother. So much respect to that generation

[@chriscarr9171]

We grew up with very little in those days. We were grateful for what we had and didn't expect the government to pay for everything. Our parents worked hard and somehow we grew up in a very happy way.

[@pipfox7834]

Many also left England for a better life elsewhere...

[@cyngaethlestan8859]

Note how both the lady and the gentleman use the terms 'relief' and 'assistance.' - A nice little video thank you for uploading this.

[@olosongs]

Hard times for strong souls 🔥

[@churchofgod4016]

And this is classism that tragically defines every so-called democracy and "free" nation. Free. From what or for who?

[@phillipecook3227]

I wonder how they got on, the couple and their children? Hope life became kinder. The researcher suggests it's one of the first discoveries of the "working poor".

[@lina-zz9kk]

amazing i was born in 53 and grew up in v comfortable middle class suburban london i thought everyone lived like we did and had no clue about the world that was why my life has been such a train wreck i was a spoilt brat who felt entitled to everything i wanted. it has effected every facet of my life. i married a lady from the far east whom lived in poverty and worked her way out of unimaginable conditions .

[@Auto_Funk]

Wouldn't the UK would be a far better place if poor people these days were like her?? She seems like a brilliant woman to me.

[@erwin4501]

Quite humbling.

[@churchviewwishart8873]

My mother would have been her age around that time and in similar circumstances.... it was known as the respectable poor.

[@Auto_Funk]

@@churchviewwishart8873 very respectable it seems...! I’m on a vintage Nottingham Yourube journey now... Next stop, the Players factory... Worth a watch!

[@robertdiamond2830]

This lady had values and pride, we live in a different world today.

[@allnamesaretaken]

It was her generation that started to stand up when things became worse, if you don't stand up and speak up, nothing improves. Looking down your snout on social media improves nothing.

[@control4230]

I got goose bumps when she said her husband would sooner take a job for £10 a week than go on the Dole. I remember my mum saying almost the exact same thing about my dad in the early 80's. My dad was ashamed to be out of work.

[@Leggy-p4l]

I was a child of the early sixties this is so true of the life back then. A two up two down rented house with no bathroom and a outside toilet shared with next door. Harsh times for some but compensated by love and being cared for, but not for every child, as today. This article brings back so many memories and as I sit typing this it brings tears to my eyes.

[@robandys6109]

Lewis Hamilton should watch this to show how we didn’t have a privileged upbringing like him

[@FromtheHerts81]

Too bloody right!

[@14rnr]

My Niece went to the same School as him, she said he was a prick back then too.

[@jeeves6490]

Who's we?

[@maxfitnesstraining1585]

Its a great video, but its not like everybody in the UK was living on the breadline in the 1960's is it? My parents don't stop going on about how good things were in those days!

[@uptonmanor]

And what was that out white privileged?

[@denisebarnes3522]

In 1969 I lived in a condemned house in Doncaster with my infant son.The gas cooker was roped off by the gas board as extremely dangerous.I had no hot water system or bathroom,& an outside lavatory.Thanks to a good,free education & social progress I am grateful that I went on to live a prosperous life.

[@jimbojohnson7360]

Social progress and workers rights, brought about by unions.

[@DavidSmith-dc6ue]

A wonderful lady, I lived and still live in Middlesbrough and remember the housing stock as being very poor but we got by. Perhaps we had a better quality of life then and were able to appreciate what little we had. It seems in 2021 the good things in life are taken for granted. Stay safe everyone.

[@cabbagetv2883]

Her name was jean morriss , she died about a year after this filmed . My gran knew her , dont know how but

[@mnilsson2704]

My dad got 9 pounds a week in 1963 and my mum was at home with me and two sisters. She started to work in 1966 in order to give us to have a decent standard of living. Wonderful parents. We have climbed through education and good jobs. My sister was a nurse, midwife and soon to be vicar. My middle sister works hard and I am a phd candidate in Sweden. We were lucky . Others not so.

[@paulwalker9014]

You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.

[@pintopunteruksmallford1035]

This lady reminds me of my mum. Grew up in the Meadows, met my dad from Arnold. We moved to Australia in the 70s and had a good upbringing but my mum never felt at home there. We had opportunities that the working class in England have never had, even today. It's like take this and stay out of trouble. We are back here in the UK, because a part of us never left. You can't determine where you come from, only where you belong.

[@pintopunteruksmallford1035]

@@gofigure_1 Australia is a great place to live if you like the heat, and sitting in traffic for a couple of hours a day. I liked neither. Never liked Cricket or Rugby so no great loss.

[@IamRobotMonkey]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[@fabolvaskarika7940]

They? Exactly who?

[@koont666]

Nothing has changed exactly 👍

[@dinaworkman306]

Dont talk to bish

[@jeperstone]

Are you kidding me?! 🤣 Poverty today means not having the latest iPhone. Thanks for the laughter 😄

[@koont666]

@@jeperstone I agree but in general nothing changes the poor kept poor the rich getting richer ,was the point .

[@lioncrunch]

I’m 70, and I can seriously empathy with this video. Poverty today, can’t afford internet or Netflix? Food banks are extremely busy, of course they are, when it’s free, there’s always a demand, that’s not saying there isn’t a genuine need, except it’s abused. You see the line up, and a lot of the “customers” are smoking, and have a can of beer in their hand.

[@karistone1297]

Very true. Our children particularly don't know poverty, and I'm a single mother of two teens. We have a small three bedroom house, a fairly reliable car and never go without food or electricity. We are very blessed.

[@naguerea]

smoking, 20 cigs now cost 14 quid for 20, I have been told.and you can pay more.

[@call_in_sick]

Absolute drivel.

[@NigelHyphenJones]

This context of this film is a little deceptive. When this film was made (circa 1968) this area of Nottingham was still in the process of slum clearance, hence the demolished houses / fires etc. The houses shown do not exist today, replaced by ‘new town’ style dwellings. Here is a brief history of the area: Here, all the houses were pre-Public Health Act terraced houses, on a gridiron plan arranged around courts of ten houses. These were later demolished under slum clearance legislation of the 1960s. The St.Anns estate was a town within a town; the local constabulary refused to enter St Ann's estate, so policing was managed by the residents relying on 'family affiliation'. It was an area of hard work and low pay that culturally was separate from Nottingham. It was also an area of 10,000 houses where only 9% had an inside toilet, and 50% had no hot water system - many of the yards had shared toilets and open sewers leading to endemic dysentery and cholera. Infant mortality was three times the national average. Clearances of houses such as these started in 1930, but because of the war 'New Town' continued until 1970. The houses were flattened and the residents dispersed.

[@roberthaworth8991]

Jesus, that is horrific.

[@ZadenZane]

My grandparents during the time they were both together (both alive) never owned their own house, never had colour television, never had a car (apparently they did when I was really little, but I don't remember that). They never had a washing machine or a dryer (except a spin dryer) or central heating or a freezer any bigger than the icebox in a fridge. But I never saw them as "poor" and they certainly weren't miserable. I loved staying in their house better than anyone else's.

[@andybrownson4127]

Remember the outside bog and no bath, the electric meter took shillings.

[@libraiis]

That was when you had any to feed it. Tin bath that hung on a nail in the yard.Brought it in Friday nights and heated the water in pans on the gas stove. Every one use the same water and just added some fresh to heat it up.

[@andybrownson4127]

@@libraiis Yep, sounds familiar. One winter we even contemplated eating my pet rabbit. Can't say any of this makes me feel nostalgic.

[@beakytwitch7905]

And the phone - press button A,. Then when they answer press button B...

[@rosemarygriffin2184]

Yes, so would the gas meter, and it would always run out while cooking on the stove!

[@robertdiamond2830]

our electric meter also took washers and my mother used to make sure that i as a child was at home when the meter was emptied and all the washers fell out the money box. It just meant we did not get as much back as a rebate - these meters were always fixed against us. All of this a very long time ago.

[@paperchain1239]

These people would be horrified to see the food and stuff thrown out at our dumps. Outrageous

[@murtithinker7660]

I know. And the number of toys a kid of a new working class family who have just made dozens of working class family friends receives on a birthday.

[@MANCHESTERMAN01]

@K90_ 2019 No here come the realists, go outside and look around.

[@McIntyreBible]

paperchain 123 That is so true! People today are so spoiled!

[@jennytaylor3324]

Yes, modern people generally don't know true poverty. Our standard of living is higher than ever, but our landfill sites are fuller than ever. Supermarkets should be flogged for what they throw away.

[@paperchain1239]

@@jennytaylor3324 Absolutely. I once worked in a supermarket and I had to just look the other way. Terrible. waste

[@McIntyreBible]

This was the economic situation of much of the country when I was born!

[@veganman2945]

Heading back that way thanks to 40 years of neo-liberalism.

[@chunkygroove9038]

I found this video incredibly moving. That woman's strength & fortitude was something to behold. I hope she was able to lift herself out of her situation, but statistics would tell us it probably didn't happen.

[@dannydougin3925]

I just can't imagine living like that. The lady is so composed and well spoken. True beauty. I was raised with anything I wanted and feel bad that not everyone had that or at least the very least they needed. I hope things improved for her into the 1970's.

[@jimbojohnson7360]

Make sure you vote to reflect that attitude bro

[@anthonymitchell8893]

@@jimbojohnson7360 im getting very cynical labour tories 2 different cheeks if the same backside why dont labour come out and back the strikers bunch of cop outs big up mick lynch a proper working class hero

[@SuperSledgePsycho]

@@anthonymitchell8893 Ultimately, they're all snakes but voter apathy benefits nobody especially with the current farce of a government we have. If you're not going to vote for a Labour rep in your area, at least vote for one in a party based on their voting history, policy, ideals and what have you, that you feel would benefit the generation after you the most. I don't vote for myself these days, I vote for my two kids.

[@JAWS-dn8fm]

@@jimbojohnson7360 Whoever you vote for makes no difference. Its just the illusion of choice.

[@royjordan5763]

Grew up in the neighbouring area of Sneinton. Don't want to go on too much because I would sound a boring old fart but a lot of younger people really haven't a clue what times were like. The guy in the video with the glasses if I'm correct is Ken Coates who went on to be an M.E.P. and wrote lots of books on social deprivation and was a leading light in the Labour Party in the 70's and 80's.

[@strider6056]

It's striking just how different the conduct and demeanour of poor people was in those days compared to today.

[@michaelt3308]

Agreed, NO entitlement that we see today!

[@loriar1027]

I would disagree. Many poor people today work just as hard for just as little compensation and with very little hope of improving their situation. All while the very rich continue to suck the government teat through tax cuts and business subsidies.

[@voice.of.reason]

Society has gone down the toilet, not got better

[@michaelt3308]

@@voice.of.reason ABSOLUTELY

[@aminahsyeda6252]

@@michaelt3308 poor people aren’t entitled. You might feel that way because now they have a voice and they are using it🤔

[@jordiegundersen1465]

Sad situation..They are so honest and innocent...

[@prp3231]

Being materially poor hasn't robbed these people of their dignity and self respect. Bless them all. ❤

[@jameshogan6142]

@@prp3231 Salt of the earth. Wish this generation possessed some of their attributes.

[@KathrynG-p8e]

Got nothing but has everything.......pride, clean,well dressed, polite.These days people will take money and have no morals and they are rough, badly dressed, drag there children up.I wonder if this lady is still alive.

[@Virginie-a]

I am glad i am not the only 1 thinking alike👍

[@angelafalconer102]

Totally agree with you, but it's interesting when she said that people on the dole or assistance were still getting more than her husband working, no change there, then, government has learnt nothing

[@ForceFreeTrainergirl06]

When I was born, my parents were living in a downstairs flat with one bedroom, a tiny kitchen, no hot water, no bathroom, a parlour and a sitting room. The place was in fact condemned to be knocked down and remained that way for many years. I slept in my parents room and our baths were in a tin bath in front of the fire on a Friday. I got the water first, then mum, and poor Dad got the water at the end. They heated the water in a gas fired copper and then it was transferred via a bucket to fill the bath. The place was very damp and my Dad was forever decorating to try to combat it. When I was 7 which was the 60s they moved into the upstairs flat which was bigger and had two floors.There was a bathroom but they still had no hot running water and again, the copper was used to heat water and transfer it to the bath. My father worked in a factory and they struggled because mum could not work due to illness, but I don't remember having to go without food or clothing. My mother was a master money manipulator and she had little savings accounts all over the place in the post office, the coop etc and in those days, people took out insurance policies on a short term basis that yielded an amount when they came to term. That amount usually was used to buy furniture or something else needed. I think it was due to mum being able to save and move money around that helped us manage.

[@TheAstroWitchLux]

Your mum was very intelligent. That's an amazing story ♥️

[@b500l]

not much change then, some people on benefits 'earning' more than someone who works full time

[@darrenalway4687]

Put wages up then

[@IsabellsNannyRuby]

Was thinking the same! Nothing learned

[@leemclaughlin3927]

@@darrenalway4687 exactly-if benefits pays more than wages then the wages are shit not the benefits being good

[@darrenalway4687]

@Sarah JLA Saran Jesus Christ we are in the middle of a Pandemic and the acconomy is wreck where are all these jobs then

[@pattyhansen7563]

@@darrenalway4687 as soon as wages are 'put up', by gov't force, employers LAY OFF, or reduce hours. Happened here in USA. As soon as the gov't instituted ObamaCare, most big employers like Walmart just kicked all employees down to 32-36 hours a week. Then workers weren't considered 'full time' & didn't qualify for benefits. Recently, when everyone was pushing for a $15 minimum wage - small employers just let staff go. They will get rid of 1-2 staff members & stretch the hours over the remaining employees. This is what my daughters have experienced at the small hardware store they work at. He can not afford to raise the pay, so he just lets someone go. So then you have MORE people without health benefits & MORE people unemployed & the few remaining ones working paying for Medicaid & Unemployment. Not a good strategy.

[@Slarti]

There are still desperately poor people on the UK. There are just fewer of them and they are perhaps less visible now.

[@imposs-up1hg]

@Richard Devonshire There were race riots in Nottingham in the 50s. You're writing bollocks.

[@GEricG]

Probably senior citizens.

[@soniabonner3795]

There are very poor people all over the world suffering.

[@budte]

My father had the wicked stepmother who made him wear secondhand ladies boots to school. He tried to tell the other kids they were airman's flying boots. His grandmother heard of this and bought him a pair of shoes which his stepmother promptly returned saying they did not accept charity. He had to leave his home for school in the morning wearing women's boots, secretly go to his gran's and put his shoes on then go to school and return the same way to change back into women's boots before going home. As soon as he was old enough he got the hell out of there by joining the army.

[@pattyhansen7563]

I didn't have any wicked stepmothers & I am sorry to hear of your father's plight as a little man. That is a degrading thing to do to a little boy - out of 'pride'...but what about his father??? didn't he have a word to say about it? I grew up rural poor in USA. I remember having a pair of Mickey Mouse rubber boots for winter that leaked, in elementary school. My mother would put bread bags on my feet like socks first & then put my foot in the boot. But I was not the only one, so I guess I didn't think it was odd. We were actually slightly better off than some of my classmates - one who ate paste to survive (I think) & others that were suffering from physical abuse & actual neglect. In middle school i had friends that had no running water or power & this was in the late 80s & 90s. One girl had a hose stuck up thru the floor of her trailer for their 'faucet'. But her mother really had bad judgement with men & money handling which kept them stuck in poverty. Whereas my parents were like the lady in the video - working hard, & scrimping but still not having much.

[@samrowbotham8914]

“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.” Nelson Mandela

[@abidoshaker]

Such a dignified woman, sad to think that there are still many families in Britain experiencing poverty today…especially with the cost of living crisis.

[@Stuffit657]

I lived in St.Ann's at the time this was made, I was four years old at the time

[@christophertaylor1708]

I lived in the south in a new council house on a small estate. None the less we were still always short of money. We have five of us kids in the family and as someone else mentioned a sugar sandwich was a treat. Sometimes we had to hide when the provident man can to collect his five shillings (25p) because mum could not afford to pay it. We even found a washer that was the correct size to fit the electric meter so that we could have electricity for lighting. The down side to this was that we got the rebate in washers. One of my jobs as a young lad was to clean out the boiler and prepare it ready for heating water for the day. I used to do this before I went out to do my morning paper round so was up around five in the morning. Imagine kids doing that today.

[@andrewjames9996]

My dad used to find things that were made of tin and cut out tin circles to put them in meter. The electricity board went ape all the time and had to pay the bill eventually.

[@tinytonymaloney7832]

I thought that earning more on state handouts than actually going to work to earn less was a modern thing. Been down the route where I couldn't afford to put petrol in the car to drive 30miles to work but couldn't afford not to go to work. Its a horrible situation, I'm glad I worked my way out of it, some poor souls never do. Used to not eat so my child and missus could. This video certainly makes you think how lucky some of us are.

[@pattyhansen7563]

hubby & I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary & at our party we were talking about the very situation you mentioned & we were laughing about it. it wasn't funny or fun at the time tho! My husband had a day (one that we can remember) where he actually had to call in to work because he needed gas & couldn't make the 45 min drive to work as we had NO $$$ for enough gas. We also lived several winters pouring in 5 gallons of diesel fuel every day to heat our home because we could never scrape together enough for a minimum fuel delivery. I would get up in the morning & groan, cuz the 'heat was out' again. But we worked really hard - him at his job & me at home trying to be as frugal as possible because we wanted me to be home with our kids. Around that time we learned that the avg. person collected welfare benefits, their pay equalled out to $21 an hour - about the same as my husband's wage & he was just about literally killing himself - regularly working 14 hour days with a 45 min drive both ways. he would joke that we should get divorced & have me file for benefits. LOL. Luckily, we live in the country - we could hunt, fish, garden, pick berries...no one went hungry, but I sure got sick of venison for a time!

[@FishpondsLady]

I was born in the 1970s, so after this. I was incredibly lucky to be born into a family where my parents both worked as educators in the public sector and I wanted for nothing. My late partner, my John, was born in 1959 in Glasgow. He told me about growing up in a tenement - in one room - his parents, himself and later his sister. One room, and there was a communal bathroom along the hall. His parents both worked (his mother is still with us and told me) - his father was a steel worker, and his mother went back to work as an accounts clerk a week after he was born, and the grandmother came to care for him. Two parents in work, and they could afford one room. Please, let us not get back to that.

[@AlbertusVanSchalkwyk]

Reminds me of a 30 year old Duvet I got from my mother. It is so thermally insulated I can't sleep under it in 12C weather, it is too hot. Guess back then without heating it would have been a life saver.

[@Mod-rw9cw]

I remember during the miners strike in 1972 having to go and live at my Nannas house because my Parents didn’t have any money to feed me and my sister.We had a black and white Telly and no carpets.

[@churchofgod4016]

Wow... Were you reunited with your parents?

[@Mod-rw9cw]

@@churchofgod4016 yes after a couple of months the strike was finished and we went back home. Then in time we got new carpets and eventually a colour Tv.

[@dantaylor7344]

The date might change but the issues never do

[@churchofgod4016]

And governments keep closing down services and get more stingy with public health.

[@iggle6448]

And why is that? Where is all the money going?

[@davedixon2068]

to churchofgod and iggle6448, if you notice the lady shown wasn't bitching about not having money and the government not giving her money she and her husband quietly got on with LIVING with what they had and trying to improve their own lot, not expecting anyone else to GIVE them anything,. This is exactly what my parents did, they both worked hard to provide the best they could and brought up 3 boys who became well educated and success full in their own lives. We all have children who are for the most part better off than we were at their ages. Too many people today moan about the government when it is often simply their own life choices that are the problem.

[@TheENDEVOUR]

I lived on the estate at the same time this film was made. We did OK. We survived and made do

[@anthonymitchell8893]

We went to Australia in 1968 we were living forest fields suburb of Nottingham

[@martinlees2480]

i was born here in 62 we had little but we were happy kids

[@karistone1297]

@@Tolpuddle581 I'm Australian. My oldest sister moved to the UK in the 80's. She's in her late '60s now and lives in Derbyshire!

[@MizMite2002]

This was filmed one yr after we left nottingham for toronto. we went from coal to central heating. neighbour hood pool for the kids. good schools and lots of nature. Sad to think this could have been my family`s future. I would like to know how this family`s future unfolded for them.

[@BM-jy6cb]

I lived in St Ann's for a while as a kid after returning from overseas - it was after the slums had been cleared and replaced with a huge amount of modern housing. Unfortunately, as the Council moved more and more dysfunctional wasters in, and especially after another Nottingham slum tower block was demolished and its residents transferred to St Anns, it soon turned into a modern day slum. I drove through in the mid 90's and it looked like Beirut on a bad day - garages with their doors ripped off or hanging by a single hinge, roofs covered in bricks and old tyres and the roads were like obstacle courses. My parent's well kept cottage-like garden was just a rubbish-strewn pile of mud with a wheelie bin thrown across the bottom. That part of the estate was less than 15 years old at that time. My parents were of the same mindset as this lady and her husband and had long since pulled themselves up the housing ladder through hard physical work and scrimping and saving. As a friend always says: you can take people out of the slum, but you can't take the slum out of some people.

[@johnadams3730]

I am 71 up to I was 15 I lived in one room with my mother father and sister we shared the kitchen with my Nan who had the rest of the flat my sister would sleep on a mattress the world be rolled up at night.My mother and fathers bed was a 3.6 feet wide I had a single bed I was the youngest so I had the bed in the winter we had frost on the inside of the window,there was about 3 feet between my bed and my parents bed and we lived like that from when I was born in 1949 till 1965. My mother and father worked full time .

[@karistone1297]

Wow, what an amazing story, John Adams. Thanks for sharing!

[@blackpoolram]

I recall my aunt's harrowing stories of poverty which she encountered during the 60's as a Salvation Army officer in postings such as Speke (Liverpool) and Fishponds (Bristol).

[@dean9235]

60 plus years on from this documentary and a lot of tenants in private rentals still live in these conditions: cold homes, mould, can't afford to heat more than one room! Welcome to 2021. Nothing ever changes!

[@kelhimacmillan5675]

Very true! For me, in the winter months I sometimes have to choose between heating or eating!... We're told we now live in a classless society, but it's a bloody lie! Xx

[@onemediaopticalukltd8398]

We should clap for the hard working people in the 60's on how they survived on a few quid a week 👏👏👏.

[@CannabrannaLammer]

The money was different then. It didn't equal a few quid today.

[@janetmalcolm6191]

@@CannabrannaLammer I left school in 1970. I earned £7.50. I kept one third to get to work and buy my weekly food. That included a bus pass. One third for either one item of clothing or essential items and one third went to my mother. That is how far money went. A lot of people paid rent which was supposed to be one fifth of your income but that wasn't a palace. Sometimes just rooms in a shared house if lucky. Most of us had to leave school at 15 by the way. Then get a full time job from day one.

[@janetmalcolm6191]

​@@CannabrannaLammerWages were very low. It didn't buy a lot and certainly people were not able to buy the luxuries we are able to buy today. At least not for the ordinary person. Wages paid the rent if you were lucky. Coal for a fire. Food was basic. Some not affording much meat. A chicken if you were lucky enough for Sunday dinner whereas chicken is every day food now. I earned £7.50 when I left school at 15. £2.50 paid to my mother. £2.50 for my fares etc for work. £2.50 for food and toiletries or 1 item of clothing. I was lucky. That was good for me but not for others. Many eat less meat just couldn't afford it. People had larger families and couldn't afford much so some worse off than others.

[@dennisleporte2327]

In the mid 50's my mother recalls wind coming through the cracks of their front door in the winter. She recalls my uncle who was a baby at the time being very sick. At 8 yrs of age it occurred to her he could die. Waking up in morning to find a glass of water next to your bed had frozen.....

[@karistone1297]

Wow....we are so blessed nowdays, even in this time of Covid and lockdowns.

[@pingupenguin2474]

Single glazed houses, jack frost patterns on the windows. 1962/3, the big freeze.

[@dennisleporte2327]

@@pingupenguin2474 That's when my cousin left for CA lol