Admire the industriousness of the Liverpool women who transport huge bundles of laundry to and from the local washhouse every week, crammed into old prams or balanced skilfully on their heads. The washhouse doubles as a social hub for the women, with a cafe and creche facilities. At the time of filming, this one in the Pontack Lane area was one of 13 remaining original public washhouses in the city, although new more modernised buildings were under construction.Liverpool's last working washhouse closed in 1995.

The peppy documentary not only looks at the modern washhouse, but introduces the story of Kitty Wilkinson, 'the Saint of the Slums', who pioneered the public washhouse movement in Liverpool during the 1832 cholera epidemic. John Abbot Productions, who made the film, specialised in sponsored nonfiction films from the late 1950s to the late 1970s.

This video is part of the Orphan Works collection. When the rightsholder for a film cannot be found, that film is classified as an Orphan Work. Find out more about Orphan Works: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/c.... This is in line with the EU Orphan Works Directive of 2012. The results of our search for the rights holder of this film can be found in the EU Orphan Works Database: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en...

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