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This story has been submitted to the Peoples War site by Peter Quinn of Lancashire Remembers on behalf of Mrs Elaine Huxley and has been added to the site with her permission. The author is fully aware of the site’s terms and conditions.

About 1943 when I was 12 years old dad decided to lime-wash the inside walls and outside toilet. The pub landlord, Dick Pattison, had a brilliant idea- why not use a stirrup pump. The lime was mixed in the bucket with mum doing the hard bit, operating the plunger. She kept pumping but nothing came out – dad kept saying ‘harder harder’. He grabbed the pump and tried to release the nozzle- the pressure had built up and of course when it released lime-wash shot all over him and everywhere – the pipe wriggling like a snake. Dad dashed into the bathroom to douse himself with water and my ten year old brother grabbed the pipe but the pressure was so strong it shot over the high garden wall, over the back entry and painted the roofs of two adjacent houses in daubs of white. Years later, there were still remnants of lime on the neighbours’ houses. From then on it was known as the day Frank Walker painted Oxford St for free!

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