A letter from Miss Margaret E. Blake of Kendal, which appeared in The Westmorland Gazette on November 22, 1984

WHEN most people look back to the old days, they don’t think so much of the hardships, but that we were much more contented with our lot.

Our pleasures were simple but we enjoyed them so much in the little time we had – such as a Sunday afternoon walk after morning church.

In the 1920s and 30s, the average working man’s wage in the North was about £2.15s.0d.

We forget now how cheap it was to live then. A week’s groceries for a family of four cost just over ten shillings. A joint fillet-end of lamb was 3s.6d, milk 2d a pint or 4.5d a quart. It was a helfpenny a pint less in country areas.

Coal, not the cheapest, was 1s.9d a hundredweight or 2s.6d for the best quality.

Oranges were ten for 6d, jaffas being dearer at four for 6d. Apples were 6d a pound for the dearest ones and vegetables were very cheap.

You could put a deposit on a house for £25 and buy it for £250. Mind you, saving up that £25 took a lot of time. Council house rents were ten shillings a week.

I shall never forget the excitement in our house when father bought our first battery operated portable wireless. I was about ten a the time. Some of the girls in our form at school already had one.

Yes, life was hard in those days between the two World Wars but I found them ‘good old days’ in many ways and lots of us feel the same.