Many Nivernais people remember the time of shower baths. “1955-60s: there were two shower baths in Nevers. As a child, in a home without a bathroom, my father would take my brother and me to take a shower. I have memories of a very warm and pleasant place,” recalls Jean-Claude.
“When it rang, you had to get out quickly”
“We went there as a family, my parents, my sister, and me. I loved it, it was very clean,” explains Nizou. “I remember going there to Fourchambault, with my sisters. We took “cans” of Dop shampoo,” confides Marie-Claire. “Yes, I remember the baths in Fourchambault, where my mother took us. The owners were very strict. When it rang, you had to get out quickly,” says Marie-Claude.
Yves remembers that in 1947, the Prémery showers were located at the boys’ school.
“It was my grandfather who ran them on Saturday and Sunday. During the week, he was a postman.”
“My in-laws were “guardians” of the shower baths at La Charité in 1977,” Françoise recalls. “Some workers came in the evening after leaving the factories to take a shower. On weekends, it was more family-friendly. For a small fee, we had a hot shower?! »
Shower baths were not reserved for big cities. In Varzy, from 1905, there were some at the hospital-hospice. They then opened up to the local population. The doors of the establishment only closed in 1984. In Guérigny, they existed from the end of the 19th century for the staff of the Establishment of Forges de La Chausssade. The water was heated by waste steam from a machine.
Pascale Carroué is 63 years old. She remembers that when she was around ten years old, she went to the baths in Entrains-sur-Nohain. “There were around ten shower cubicles, not very large. It was under the village hall, in the center of the village. I went there several times with my mother. Many accommodations did not have a bathroom. Usually, we washed with a basin, at the sink.
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