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Gumption
primrosecottage
Posts: 817
Hello all,
It's grey and wet here, so I am looking for inside jobs. I thought I might clean up 
looking for easy way. Does anyone remember Gumption, back in the day we used it for cleaning at the shop called J S (it only sold food then) so it wouldn't have any nasty chemicals in. Sorry you are probably too young to remember such things 
I suppose I could wash pots
0
Posts
The name is ringing faint bells. Was it a pink paste, sold in screw top, wide mouthed pots?
I remember it as a grey paste in short tubby tins. But it might have had a pinkish blush, I can remember we used it every where, no rubber gloves in those days.
I remember Gumption, my mum use to buy it, seems it is still a brand in Australia doing a quick internet search, but long gone here in the UK.
Cant remember it as an actual thing I always thought it was a saying ( You need Gumption ) as in know how and elbow grease, well iv learnt summat 2da,can remember my grandma using black lead on the fire grate the brush use to catch fire sometimes talk about laugh, and she used to sweep the causway outside her house every day,just Imagine,I can see her now in her pinny brushing away, Primrose av u got a fire grate to do maybe
I don't remember Gumption but in these parts we say show some gumption meaning common sense
I remember my Dad having a tin of that in the shed about 50 years ago. I also seem to remember it being pink. Just found an image:
http://www.oldshopstuff.com/Shop/tabid/1248/ItemID/10702/Listing/Old-Tin-for-Gumption-Smooth-Paste-Cleaner/Default.aspx
It was the 'Cillit Bang' of it's day, I think.
'Gumption' is still sold in Australia, but that may be different stuff.
Well at least I haven't lost all of my faculties
A little expensive to travel to Australia oh!! I really must renew my passport
That's the stuff in the tin my mum had.
We also use to have a really old tin of yellow cream, the tin was the same colour as the green on the Gumption tin. My mum use to put it on our fingers if we had thorns in them, it would 'draw out' the thorn - no idea what it was called though now.
Strangely I found the tin from BobTheGardener's link
, not quite the colour I remembered it, but this was the stuff:
We used Gumption, we also used something called 'black jack' to draw thorns etc out of our hands. The smell of lavender always reminds me of the tin of hard wax polish I used to have to use on the 'best furniture' in the 'front room' every Sunday. One of my jobs each week.