Adrian Taylor’s letter (Oxford Mail, June 25), was most amusing and rang several bells with me. I too think we were very green back in the old days, admittedly often forced upon us by the aftermath of the Second World War: shortages, rationing, ‘make do and mend’ etc.

I well remember my grandmother turning sheets ‘side to middle’, patching them when necessary and even patching the patches! Turning collars of men’s shirts was another common practice, as was cutting down adult clothes into garments for children and reusing knitting wool from unpicked garments.

Fabric was never thrown away until all its uses had been exhausted; we always had a ‘house flannel’ to clean up dirt and spills and only as a last resort was the threadbare material thrown out.

Saucepans were fitted with new handles, or a washer could be fixed to the base if a hole appeared and you could buy a saucepan lid, or a china teapot lid from Woolworth’s to replace an ill-fitting or broken one.

Collecting the (already ordered) Sunday joint from the butcher was one of my Saturday jobs and it was always put onto a small square of greaseproof paper, then wrapped up in a newspaper for me to carry home in mum’s shopping bag.

After church, one of my Sunday jobs was to take the bucket of vegetable peelings collected in the week to a family who kept a pig. We were often given a piece of pork at Christmas and maybe some fruit or vegetables in season through the year.

I used to mend ladders in stockings and darn other garments to prolong their life. It was also possible to get electrical items mended, rather than having to replace them because one couldn’t get into the sealed unit to find and repair the fault. Yes, we really were, of necessity, very green!

DOREEN BARKER (Mrs), Montague Road, Elms Rise, Botley, Oxford