Dorothy Forbes Video – Living conditions in Hamilton

Dorothy Forbes, a Lakedale co-operator, speaks about early days in Hamilton. Dorothy’s husband Bill was born and raised in Nova Scotia, home of the co-operative movement on Canada’s East Coast. He was well acquainted with the benefits of co-ops. The couple gladly joined the study sessions.

Dorothy is sitting in a chair in the centre of the shot

[JANET – off Camera] And that was in an apartment?

[DOROTHY] No it was the upstairs of a house.

[JANET – off Camera] It was, many people were doing that. How many rooms did you have?

[DOROTHY] We had three rooms but the big problem was it didn’t have a sink in the kitchen.

[JANET – off Camera] What?

[DOROTHY] I don’t know why we took it. I guess it was cheap.

[JANET – off Camera] And there weren’t many around.

[DOROTHY] Yeah right, so I had to cart water back and forth from the bathroom and do the dishes and everything then later on I had to wash diapers in the bathtub.

[JANET – off Camera] You had that even with the kids? You didn’t have a kitchen you didn’t have water in the kitchen?

[DOROTHY] No, no never thought about it when we first went to look at it I guess. So well Kevin was born, we were married in May he was born the following May so we had one year and then a year after that with him there so