'Aunt Sally'

[liverpool49]

Hey All

In the 50's (when i was a lad) my mum would clean things with some kind of reddish soapy stuff that came in a bottle and it was called 'Aunty Sally'.
Does anyone have any memories of this magic potion???

Vince from Sacramento

[Guest]

Hi Vince
this was mentioned on an earlier thread - I remember the stuff, used to take a bottle and get it filled for about 6d at the local chandlers- probably just as good and a lot safer than the modern stuff

[Glenys]

Vince,
Yes I used to go to a place on Stanley Road, near to Park Street, taking an empty bottle with me. The smell lingers on in the memory.
Glenys

[tina]

hi all
we had a shop 51 linacre road a chandlers,i would serve aunt sally,blue and pink parifin people would bring empty botles in,sometomes we used alpine botles,does anyone remember them
tina

[liverpool49]

Betty, Glenys
Thanks for the replies. I remember the smell too and I agree that Aunt Sally was likely to be non-toxic.....it didnt do me any harm but then again!!!!!

Vince

[bootlebuck]

I may be wrong but am sure "Aunt Sally" used to come from a shed on the corner of JUNE St & Litherland Rd,, I think the old boy there used to have a horse & cart he used to have the Sally one end & large blocks of salt in sacking the other, apparently he had never heard of "HEALTH & SAFETY .
Ron H.

[annie]

we used to get our aunt sally from brook road and had to take our own bottle and they would use a big funnel and pour it out of a big vat, loved the smell when you walked into the yard ..also got our disinfectant there

[annie]

we used to get our aunt sally from brook road and had to take our own bottle and they would use a big funnel and pour it out of a big vat, loved the smell when you walked into the yard ..also got our disinfectant there

[Allan Stoddern]

I have always said that there is no smell quite like the old Chandlers. When you entered these shops it hit you in the face as you went through the door. Not sure if it was the Paraffin or the Aunt Sally or both.
Alas you don't get that smell anymore, at least I haven't anyway.

[Patricia Simpson]

I loved to sit curled in chair watching the red and blue kitchen floor tiles getting mopped with a steamy bucket of aunt sally.

The other smells that gave a chandlers its character was the oily smell of the bundles of chopped firewood and packets of fire lighters not forgetting the little bags of coal and candles. pat

[margaret willee]

Remeber the bags off Blue for the washing . that was something you got from the Chandlers . what were they for . ?

[Patricia Simpson]

Not being funny, Margaret, but a blue, dolly blue, was for whitening such things as nets and white clothes. Pat

[ron waters]

MAGGIE I thought you got that in a packet of smiths crisps rw

[margaret willee]

R/Wyou got the wrong end off the stick as usual ....

[ron waters]

MAGGIE I suppose you still have the old mangle in the back yard do you ? r w

[Sheila Graham]

I have always said that there is no smell quite like the old Chandlers. When you entered these shops it hit you in the face as you went through the door. Not sure if it was the Paraffin or the Aunt Sally or both.
Alas you don't get that smell anymore, at least I haven't anyway.

----
I am with you Alan...the smell was wonderful; it was warming and home.
Did you ever bend wire into a loop and blow bubbles with Aunt Sally?
Come to think of it, many years ago when reading the 'England' (I think it was called) magazine, I found an article written about the chandlers. I must dig it out and post it, if Mack doesn't mind....sheila.g

[PETER CRAIG]

.

[annie]

hi pat we also use to put the blue bag in the bucket of whitewash when we painted the back yard wall to make it really white

[bootlebuck]

Hi Annie did you get your lime from PARRS on Marshy Lane like we used to. Ron H.

[PETER CRAIG]

.

[annie]

yes i think it was the only place that stocked it

[bootlebuck]

another popular pastime like the limewasing of the yard was every couple of years going to the tar works for a bucket of pitch to re-coat the shed roof what a good job that was.
Ron H.

[frank delamere]

I may be wrong but am sure "Aunt Sally" used to come from a shed on the corner of JUNE St & Litherland Rd,, I think the old boy there used to have a horse & cart he used to have the Sally one end & large blocks of salt in sacking the other, apparently he had never heard of "HEALTH & SAFETY .
Ron H.

you are right about it being made in june street, the man who made it was an ex major,name of MOON, his son also worked there.
the salt i know not.
frank

[garthur]

I remember Aunt Sally very well. Used to get it at the chandlers on Harris Drive - top of Diana Road, Remember it used to sometimes be in a dark green bottle with a cork....
Also remember the dolly blues!
God, I am starting to feel really old now.....

I remember when Dad had been working on some particularly questionable job [eg doing building repairs on certain houses that weren't particularly clean....]he would have to leave his work clothes in the yard - after mum had given him a quick spray with the Flit....[and they thought romance was dead!]. Clothes would then go "in soak" in case there were any fleas or bugs hiding in them....as if they could have survived the Flit.

On the subject of Aunt Sally - I did actually manage to get some a few years ago. We were living in Anfield and there was a little chandlers shop on Walton Breck Road . Wonder if it's still available.

[Patricia Simpson]

Hi, all, saw long ropes of liquorice at the continental market in Liverpool today. Remember the liquorice that was like a piece of twig, the faces that was pulled, but it was bitter but lovely.

garthur, I think it was san izal in the dark green bottle? Aunt sally was in clear glass or you took your own, I could be wrong though. Pat

[bootlebuck]

[quote="Patricia Simpson"] Remember the liquorice that was like a piece of twig, the faces that was pulled, but it was bitter but lovely.
clipped.


Hi Patricia do you mean "STICKYLICE" think thats how its spelt like chewing a peice of Privet Branch but much nicer.
Steuart.

[annie]

HI STEUART YES IT WAS STICKYLICE EVEN THOUGH IT WAS LIKE EATING A TREE WE ALWAYS BOUGHT IT. AND THE BEST PART WAS WHEN IT WENT SORT OF THREADBARE IT STILL TASTED LUVLY

[margaret willee]

and it didn't cost much ...

[Patricia Simpson]

Yes, thats the one. half-penny they were, and you could stick it in your pocket without it getting everywhere, except collectimg bits of fluff ect from pocket, we thrived on that

[sandra smith]

my grandma lived in brook road (behind what is the strand now) halfway down there was a gap between two houses and you could see into the yard
It had horses and carts and bottles and boxes of aunt sally other stuff i think bars of soap for washing the smell was amazing. I used to go past just for a sniff

[Eddie]

I can smell the stuff now

[Ron King]

Funny how we never got high from sniffing all those products. Not like some of the ones the kids are into today.
Those smells were a part of growing up to me. We used to get our Aunt Sally from a chandlers on Hawthorne Rd near Willard St. Always very dark in there but the smell was great.
Does anyone know what AS was made from, or is it better not to ask?

Ron

[arthur]

Apiltons chandlers on Aintree rd opposite the aintree pub.
Mom would go for some Aunt sally for floors.Dolly blue for the whites.
And carbolic soap for the clothes wash.Thay all made the house smell fresh and clean.
Good old days.




Arthur still a old Bootle boy.

[tony00165]

The Cavern club in Liverpool didn't have mains sewerage and over the years the cess pool filled up,,,,there was a slight depression in the middle of the floor as you came down the stairs and you had to jump over the water to get past. They used to kill the smell by pouring gallons of aunt sally into it......It was so strong it would make your eyes water. I'm in the Mersey cats and sometimes go to the meetings....Everybody who is asked 'What was the first thing that greeted you in the Cavern' would reply.....'Aunt Sally'....they couldn't have run the club without it.

[jimbo]

I used to sell it from a van many years ago, door to door, some old folk would open the bottle and pour it right down the grids, they said it was great for it. A Family in Irlam Road used to make it in the back garden in old baths and sell it to me.

Aunt Sally, Bleach and Pine