MANY Bolton women used to do all their dirty washing in public. And they didn't care who knew it. And when the Council stopped it, they didn't half get into a lather!

In these days of washing machines in most homes, and commercial launderettes for those who don't have their own machine, the words "municipal wash-house" takes the mind back instinctively to the clogs and shawls era.

But in fact, it was as late as 1969 when the wash houses in Moss Street and Rothwell Street were closed, despite great opposition.

They might have had white tiles on the walls, stone floors, chipped paintwork and huge machines belching steam and soap suds - they made no concessions to prettiness - but to many women they were a part of life.

Indeed, an Evening News' reporter in 1961 found that many of the women arrived in cars which they tended to leave parked a little way from the entrance; many had washing machines at home, but said they found the wash house "more convenient". Some had small businesses of their own which they left in the charge of a relative for the afternoon; others were quite coy about going to the wash house and refused to be interviewed.

So why did they go? Well, even in 1961 it was still cheap. A deposit of 1s 4d (7p) entitled them to use the hand washers, spin-driers, and drying racks for two hours, with money back if they finished before the time was up. The automatic washers cost 2s 3d (11p) for two hours.

Ironing was on a huge roller-type iron costing 1d (about p) for two minutes, but it was possible to do so many things in that time it was cheaper than ironing at home!

The wash-houses, of course, had been created for a need well before the time of automatic home machines. Dolly tubs, possers and mangles were probably the norm in those days.

When the Rothwell Street premises were opened in 1931, it was described as "the finest in the country, built to accommodate 30 washes at once." It opened from 7 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and from 7 a.m. till 5 p.m. on Saturdays (the building also had slipper baths - the charge per bath "6d per grown-up, 2d per child, and tea and biscuits can be bought cheaply.")

Women used to start queueing for the wash-houses at about 5.30 a.m., with well over an hour wait. Some women actually made a living out of going to the wash-house to do the washing for other people. Later, you could have your washing collected and delivered back home by the council.

"The wash houses," reported the paper in 1948, " are cheerful hives of industry, and cater for nearly 2,000 people who have no facilities in their homes, either for lack of space or for lack of hot water systems."

However, over the years as with so many services, the wash-houses began to lose money. Up went the price, fewer people used them.

Eventually, in the late 1960s, the losses were running at £20,000 a year, it would cost too much to modernise, there were numerous commercial launderettes in town, and the Council began to talk of possible closure.

"Not likely," said many of the women, some of whom had been using the wash-houses for 30 years. Petitions were got up, there were marches to the town-centre, and representations to councillors which ended up in fiery discussions in the Council chamber between the ruling Tory and opposition Labour parties. Women campaigning to keep the wash houses open were interviewed on TV; their complaints were heard as far away as Whitehall. All to no avail.

On December 31, 1969, the inevitable happened; both wash-houses were closed for good. The sound of scrubbing brushes and steam, and the familiar noise of spin-driers, came to an end. The wash-houses were washed out.