Innocent memories of a childhood long gone..
a threepenny bit to watch Wigan in the lads pen...
nowt to watch Latics (Springfield Park was easy to get into)...
jumping in the canal on a warm summer's day...
fetching grandma a jug of stout from the off licence..
happy days of yesterday
Started: 28th Feb 2013 at 14:34
black peas at Wigan fair
Replied: 28th Feb 2013 at 16:31
eating a pomegranate with a pin
Replied: 28th Feb 2013 at 16:32
i remember running up Tunstall Lane to a shop when the word went out that they had pommegranites in!
Replied: 28th Feb 2013 at 18:17
Dad toasting crumpets with a toasting fork over the coal fire.
Replied: 28th Feb 2013 at 20:44
Mum putting pyjamas in the oven beside the fire so you could go to bed "Toasted"
Always had a special hat-pin for Pommies
Replied: 28th Feb 2013 at 23:13
brown sauce butties and eating black potatoes off bommie i will always remember the smell
Replied: 1st Mar 2013 at 01:23
My Mam taking us and any other kid that wanted to come along down to swim in the flash..then having jam butties and a bottle of water between us all..funnily..the sun was always shining.
Replied: 1st Mar 2013 at 10:21
the laughing policeman outside Blackpool fun house.
Replied: 1st Mar 2013 at 17:40
As a Platt Wazzer, I used to go to Balls' and get a Vimto jubbly and when I finished it I used to rub the inside on the slide at Platt Bridge Park to make it faster. Did anyone else do that?
Replied: 1st Mar 2013 at 20:45
What about the white tide man coming round, if he knocked on your door and you had a packet of Tide in your house he would give you a fiver which was tidy sum back in the 60s
Word got round he was in the area and me mam would send me to the shop to buy a packet of tide only to find out that the shop had sold out
Happy days
Replied: 1st Mar 2013 at 20:54
My parents had a stall in the entrance of the old market hall and me and my sister used to help mum......but we also were free as kids were in those days to roam and experience our surroundings.....always ended up at the record bar in Woolworths I think listening to pop records.....happy days indeed.........
Replied: 1st Mar 2013 at 22:18
rio - you were spoiled
Replied: 1st Mar 2013 at 22:26
Sliding down the spoil heaps from the pits on a piece of belting or such like. Buying loose butter from the local co-op for my gran, having it wrapped in grease proof paper and put on tab till pay day. Going with the local farmer to get the cows in for milking, haymaking in summer. Making go carts ( trolleys ) and throwing arrows, not forgetting catapults or arrows from bulrushes. Happy days
Replied: 3rd Mar 2013 at 13:31
I bet you slept well after a day like that nightchap.
Replied: 3rd Mar 2013 at 15:53
I thought people who turned up at the chippy with their own dish were posh.
Replied: 3rd Mar 2013 at 21:40
LOL, why did people do that?
Did they get more food maybe?
Replied: 3rd Mar 2013 at 22:00
There is/was athread which turned rather naughty when dishes in chip shops were mentioned by that XRH59 chap.
Replied: 3rd Mar 2013 at 22:06
did you used to be that Memory Man dostaf He was so famous I can't remember his name.
Replied: 3rd Mar 2013 at 22:10
Chopped egg in a cup.
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 00:57
Chopped egg in a cup with toast........yummmmmmm.
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 02:05
I went to the Rugby for an old shilling. Threepence each way on the Bus from Abram. Threepence into the Hen Pen and threepence for a programme. We would stop outside to get the programme autographed after the game. Good memories.
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 04:05
good question Mac - don't know the answer though.
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 16:41
i spy The Memory Man - was it Lesley Welch.
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 19:36
Still do chopped egg in a cup, luxury
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 20:28
that's him Marie - thanks, it was driving me nuts trying to remember.
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 21:05
Milk pobs.
Riding my home made bike down the slag tip at the bottom of broom road.
Shooting rats at the gant.
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 21:20
Tap latch.
Liquorice sticks (Yuk)
Replied: 4th Mar 2013 at 23:11
when liquorice was called spanish and the hard black sort was the best
I remember the white Tide man! and didn't they used to give plastic flowers away with washing powder too?
what about making a paper cone with newspaper and filling it with sugar so you could dip a stick of rhubarb in?
Replied: 5th Mar 2013 at 09:23
chopped egg wi butter yum ,nestle condensed milk couldnt eat itnow too sweet ,also going to hightons farm at top of lamberhead road on corner, wi a jug to get milk, going to pens where lamberhead road is now to get veg off folk who grew them
Replied: 5th Mar 2013 at 10:16
My mum loved milk pobs ......
Replied: 5th Mar 2013 at 10:20
we only had pobs when we were poorly. recently my son's partner had a bad throat and I told her to have a bowl of pobs but it was like a foreign language!
Replied: 5th Mar 2013 at 14:02
When it rained...splashing in the puddles in my wellie boots...the bigger the puddle the better.......
Replied: 5th Mar 2013 at 19:02
My parents used to buy me books and I could cut out a manniquin and clothes and put the different clothes and hairstyles on the card manniquin. The clothes etc would have little tabs on them I coud bend over to keep them on.
If you know what I mean - do they still do these?
Replied: 6th Mar 2013 at 07:39
They do here to a degree......they are sticker clothes.....but then you can't change them if you stick them.......I much prefer the tabs.....I had them too.....remember them well Pam.....
Replied: 6th Mar 2013 at 09:30
i used to love them and you canstill get them. i used to make my own too.they probably do the same thing by computer nowadays!
Replied: 6th Mar 2013 at 13:02
You've got to wonder . . . will our grandchildren/greatgrandchildren do everything on their version of a computer?
Replied: 6th Mar 2013 at 16:55
Pam your little grandson will be doing all on a computer I would think....
My nephew who is 15 is now allowed to listen to music on his mobile on earphones during non teacher work time......unheard of in my children's days at school.......
Replied: 6th Mar 2013 at 22:50
When me and my brother were small in the middle fifties we would often sleep over at our grans and there was a lady that would call with a wooden hand cart filled with blocks of salt. We called her sally Salt.My gran would then lay newspaper on the table and give us each a cheese grater and then told us to see who could get to the middle of the block first.I used to bite my nails at that time and it was so painfull getting salt in my fingers but I never gave up.Happy memories
Replied: 7th Mar 2013 at 21:00
What a lovely story Susie.....
Replied: 8th Mar 2013 at 03:27
Chopped, boiled egg in a cup with a knob of butter and salt and white pepper...thanks folks...I had completely forgotten about that. Must try it soon....
(Still have condensed milk though...)
Replied: 12th Mar 2013 at 00:01
When I was a baby my mum gave me condensed milk in my bottle as baby food . . . anyone heard of this?
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 19:56
We always had condensed milk, the kitchen was very small
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:01
Me and my older brother used to put Condensed Milk on toast.
And what I want to know is, why has nobody mentioned Trainspotting in this Innocent Memories thread.
Well??
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:24
Springs branch. Only went once and nearly died of boredom.
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:38
i-spy (4350)
There's just no pleasing some folk.
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:41
The railway was at our back door so trainspotting was a must..climb up the Ropewalk wall,or go on the station platform for sixpence and get the names as well,yes I was a bit of a tomboy but made up for it since..and we used to have condensed milk on butties when we were little..brown sauce as well as sugar..I don't know how I've lasted so longlistened to Dick Barton Special Agent..The Man In Black and The Fairy That couldn't Fly,could go on and on.
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:46
sorry winder. I did enjoy walking over the iron bridge though.
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:50
I remember one called The Cisco Kid ont' telly
I think he had a sidekick called pancho
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:52
I remember Cisco as well.
not so sure about momac's The Fairy that couldn't fly.Sounds a bit dodgy to me.
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 20:54
I-spy..I don't actually remember that one,my mam told me she always had to shout me in when that was on..
Also only had a little relay,so hurry home from the Emp'to listen to Top Twenty..i-spy I used to stand over the iron bridge as well.. I lived in Wallgate so I hadn't far to go.
Replied: 13th Mar 2013 at 22:05
anybody remember the first score flash before the days of local radio, sky sport, 24 hour news etc..
the sound of the mike being switched on.....then the voice
ATTENTION PLEASE........
It seems like only yesterday.
Replied: 14th Mar 2013 at 21:48
my parents met on that iron bridge on a blind date
Replied: 15th Mar 2013 at 08:42
Here you are kath Iron Bridge
Replied: 15th Mar 2013 at 10:28
I bet they got all steamed up kath
Replied: 15th Mar 2013 at 10:55
Saturday morning at the baths, a penny buttered crust from the chippy with a bit of pea wet, then a pennyworth of broken bisquits from Woolies
Replied: 17th Mar 2013 at 13:07
thanks for the iron bridge comments and picture. my mum would have laughed. truth is she thought my dad had too many spots and he had to do a lot of chasing to win her over.
Replied: 18th Mar 2013 at 14:07
[url=http://youtu.be/xIfaLPaLJ4Q]more memories[/url/]
Replied: 18th Mar 2013 at 14:11
Above link
more memories
think I have corrected the link
Replied: 19th Mar 2013 at 11:44
Last edited by nightchap: 19th Mar 2013 at 11:55:32
That concentrated orange juice that you got at the clinic for babies !!! never tasted anything like it since.
Replied: 19th Mar 2013 at 18:47
. I remember it buzybee I have not tasted anything like it since either.....glass bottles with little blue screw caps.....I think it was to make the cod liver oil go down better.....
Replied: 20th Mar 2013 at 09:20
Liz, Do you remember the big tins of National Dried Milk as well ?? didn't you used to have coupons to get stuff like that ?
Replied: 21st Mar 2013 at 06:28
buzybee the tins of national dried milk reminds me of our next door neighbours in Bickershaw - when the tins had been emptied they attached some string to make stilts for us to walk on.
liz loved the orange juice, some of the 'high juice' orange squash has a similar flavour
Replied: 21st Mar 2013 at 17:17
beryl... That is so funny !!! we used to do that as kids we also used to make so called " telephones " with them using a very long peice of string !! oh what fun we used to have.
Replied: 21st Mar 2013 at 20:49
Mention of the dried milk reminds me that my dad used to love dried eggs. He remembered them from when he was a child in the war. He yearned for them so much that we bought him some and they were a struggle to find. I thought they tasted awful but dad loved them.
Replied: 21st Mar 2013 at 22:54
Pam,I remember dried eggs,and like your dad,I loved them..I do believe you can still buy them.
Replied: 21st Mar 2013 at 22:59
Buzbee I remember making tins into "telephones" with string.....don't think we had powdered milk though....my Dad used to get fresh I think from his farmer mates.....could have though I just don't remember.....
Replied: 22nd Mar 2013 at 05:02
Lizzie, i think the big tins of dried milk was baby formula. Could be wrong. No doubt someone a bit older than me on here will know.
Replied: 22nd Mar 2013 at 09:32
Last edited by buzybee: 23rd Mar 2013 at 13:09:48
kathpressy
Which shop in Tunstall Lane did you buy pomegranites from, reason I ask is because I come from up that way myself.
Replied: 22nd Mar 2013 at 11:49
Yes buzybee it was formula milk for babies, the only other baby milk I recall was Carnation milk and when prepared vitamin drops were added. Carnation milk was used for the babies on the childrens ward when I was a student nurse there many years ago.
Other childhood memories were with a top and whip and we coloured the top with cloured chalks.
Replied: 22nd Mar 2013 at 15:24
Oh Beryl..how I loved the top and whip..and hop-scotch,I used to use my mams tin of lavender polish..who needs computers or ipads when you've got them.
Replied: 22nd Mar 2013 at 20:40
Agreed, Momac, and you got a bit of fresh air in your cheeks.....not Computer Pallor! The lovely people on here have LIVED, not "existed". Rememeber the skipping rhymes?....."Eeper, Weeper, Chimney-Sweeper", "Oh Mother, At Hindley Fair", "The Farmer Wants a Wife", "Jelly on a plate" etc. etc. Happy Days!
Replied: 22nd Mar 2013 at 20:56
Sitting on Coaches singing "She'll be coming round the Mountain etc"
Replied: 23rd Mar 2013 at 00:58
Yes Irene..and playing two ball saying"Mathew Mark Luke and John,next door neighbour please carry on".
Replied: 23rd Mar 2013 at 08:24
Irene two sorts of hopscotch - which did you prefere?
I managed to play three balls but couldn't quite master four. Skipping ropes especially when two were held
and turned in opposite directions.
Remember the liquorice sticks like a small twig? great for loose teeth extraction.
From about aged 6/7yrs I lived in Bickershaw and the streets were fairly quiet of traffic then so we kids all played in the street with a few of the mums having a cup of tea and a ciggie whilst they kept an eye on us.
Replied: 23rd Mar 2013 at 09:56
Massive Big Thanks to all who have added their memories on her, cos, lots, and lots of them are mine. I have just enjoyed a lovely walk down memory lane, reading them all. Cheers to all for brightening up a snowy day you all get my Award for the Day
Replied: 23rd Mar 2013 at 11:16
My dad used to scare me to death when he was making the fire. He screwed up sheets of newspaper and put them in, then a few sticks of wood on top, then a few pieces of coal. He would then light the paper and once it got going he spread a full double sheet of newspaper in front to block off the the front until it was well and truly lit then put more coal on and do the same again....it terrified me cos i was sure one day he would set the house on fire, chimney fires used to be common in our street.
I used to love putting an empty sugar bag on the fire, the colours were lovely when it burned.
Replied: 23rd Mar 2013 at 13:21
buzybee we lit fires like that too and I did it myself when I married. i had a couple of chimney fires though and turned to gas after that. i remember te sugar too.
Replied: 24th Mar 2013 at 09:42
momac i took a top and whip into my school a couple of years ago because we were chatting and no one knew what a top and whip was. [this was the staff!] i used to love mine, especially if you got the right sort of string. i love chalking patterns on too and watching the coloured rings as it spun.
Replied: 24th Mar 2013 at 09:45
Oh Kath,the thrill of putting different coloured chalks on and watching them mingling into one...loved them...they don't know what they missed do they?.
Replied: 24th Mar 2013 at 12:26
no they don't. i've got a top and whip in my cupboard but my back won't let me play anymore
Replied: 24th Mar 2013 at 13:46
I would love to walk down the street on some empty tin cans with string through them but i think i would get sectioned !!!
Replied: 25th Mar 2013 at 16:50
I remember my dad sending me to get "The pink sports paper" on a Saturday. Making a tent with mums wooden clothes horse and a blanket,
Replied: 25th Mar 2013 at 18:11
I remember when we used to go to King's Wood with saws and axes before bonfire night. I think we were only about eight years old. Health and Safety. bah.
Replied: 25th Mar 2013 at 20:28
The wooden clothes horse with an old blanket - yes I remember it so well, many happy memories of that in the back garden alongside jam butties, a biscuit and a bottle of pop.
Also, a visit to ashton market on Saturday afternoon to the drapers stall for a sixpenny bundle - ribbon, lace with odds and ends of material for us girlies to make clothes for our dolls.
Replied: 25th Mar 2013 at 22:56
loved my top and whip to, and various coloured chalk to make different designes, bad spell sozzz. I was better at top & whip than spelling
Replied: 26th Mar 2013 at 11:14
Sticky-bobs.
Replied: 26th Mar 2013 at 12:34
Putting buttercups under your chin to see if you like butter
Replied: 26th Mar 2013 at 13:15
Daisy chains.
Hiding behind the piles of grass the council had just cut, the smell of the newly cut grass was and is wonderful
Replied: 26th Mar 2013 at 13:42
I can't recall TWO types of hopscotch, berylh, and could only manage two balls against the wall. Woe betide us if the hopscotch went onto anyone's newly-mopped and donkey-stoned doorstep!
Replied: 27th Mar 2013 at 13:54
Irene there was the hopscotch with six squares - three either side, the were the squares were staggered ie one then two squares this was repeated twice, ut the principle was the same with the polish tin but if I remember correctly you passed the tin on the way up but collected on the way back ( not described very well, sorry)but hopefully you will get the idea.
Replied: 27th Mar 2013 at 18:20
Irene,I used to polish our front step with the lavender the was out of the hop scotch tin..no donkey stone for us.
Replied: 27th Mar 2013 at 18:29
I remember sticky bobs. Buttercups hopscotch.....wonderful memories......
Replied: 27th Mar 2013 at 20:11
Such wonderful and happy memories on here. Takes me back. I remember we had gas mantles and paraffin lamps/heaters. A lamplighter with one arm used to turn up on his push bike to come outside and light up the street light. We used to play Jimmy J'lastic where 2 people stood with a piece of elastic round their legs and a third person would carry out a series of movements by jumping on the elastic, crossing over etc. Eating Kailie (sherbet) sticking your finger in it and sucking or if you were lucky with 'Spanish'. Happy days.
Replied: 27th Mar 2013 at 20:28
momac You must have been posh up at that end of Wallgate.
Replied: 27th Mar 2013 at 21:07
Don't know about that Marie..we still had gas mantles when a lot of folk had electric in their homes..the thing was I didn't feel like we were missing out,I suppose my mam and dad did though.
Replied: 27th Mar 2013 at 22:17
my grandparents had gas mantles until their house was demolished in 1968. my grandmother had the luxury of electricity and hot water for 2 years before she died.
Replied: 28th Mar 2013 at 09:19
My Granny had her fire and cooker all in one in the front room.....she did all her cooking in it, but just had a small gas ring in the kitchen.....
Replied: 28th Mar 2013 at 09:30
Skilly.
Replied: 28th Mar 2013 at 09:54
Is that what they are called......couldn't remember......
The pub you went to in Adelaide after the cricket was probably the Lion..........in North Adelaide.....the Oval looks terrible.....they dug all the turf up....no grass left.....
Replied: 28th Mar 2013 at 10:08
The Lion , thanks Lizzie that could well be the one. It was a grand afternoon.
The Oval will have be ready by early December
Replied: 28th Mar 2013 at 14:21
You wouldn't know it to look at it.....they have been selling off the old turf so people will have a little shrine of the oval turf in their garden.....thanks for the info, Piso.....
Replied: 28th Mar 2013 at 19:13
busybee - Sunquick orange squash from Asda used to taste exactly like the orange from the clinic, but they must have changed the recipe slightly a couple of years ago and now it is not quite the same taste - but a good near match.
Replied: 31st Mar 2013 at 17:48
Thanks nightcap. . the one from the clinic must have been loaded with sugar... it was so thick, almost like a syrup. Not good for the teeth !!! That brings back aweful memories of having to go to the clinic in Millgate to see the school dentist.. I shudder at the thought of it !!
Replied: 1st Apr 2013 at 10:09
Oh that orange juice......I can taste it now.....
Replied: 1st Apr 2013 at 10:15
Hanging on to the bar for as long as you could on the old gas lamps. I was fortunate enough to have on right outside my front door and remember the chap coming round at night to light it. I used to let Pisolivadi hang on it too.
Replied: 1st Apr 2013 at 13:32
I used to be an Ovalteenie - and a minor of the ABC on a Saturday morning at the Ritz.
Replied: 3rd Apr 2013 at 19:02
In my early teens a few friends and I loved to go to Wigan Rugby, on arrival we identified and borrowed a dad/uncle so when we paid for our tickets to go into the kids area our new dad/uncle would claim us so we could go through the wire gate into the main section - it worked every time.
Replied: 3rd Apr 2013 at 19:07
BERYLH, I along with my mates did that nearly every Saturday the amount of ( dads ) we collected over the years must be in the hundreds ,like you say we would pay our entrance fee to get in it was a threepenny bit but we hated going into the ( henpen ) we thought we were big lads and wanted to go onto the spion kop oh happy memories.
Replied: 4th Apr 2013 at 03:57
yes awinstanley the days of Billy Boston, Eric Ashton, Cliff Hill. I remember having a crush on Cliff Hill and as his mum lived en-route to school we walked past slowly in the hope of seeing him, alas no joy!
Replied: 5th Apr 2013 at 17:19
Orange Jubbly
I don't suppose this Jubbly tastes the same!
Replied: 5th Apr 2013 at 21:22
a freshly baked penny loaf from the little shop near the old convent.
Replied: 7th Apr 2013 at 21:16
Ahhh when I had enough hair left to worry about sticky bobs landing in it. And getting a pint without having to sell a kidney and your soul. Boiled onion with butter, salt & pepper.
Replied: 9th Apr 2013 at 23:01
Stevejmac,every time I came home from the 'emp..my mam would have a boiled onion with, as you say salt pepper and butter..and to this day I love onions.
Replied: 10th Apr 2013 at 06:45
i used to love going to the minors on a saturday morning sliding down the tips climbing the yo yo great days its a shame kids miss out on all this stuff sat in front off computer all day playing games
Replied: 13th Apr 2013 at 18:18
I was an ABC minors monitor, in the early 50's...Good times, 'eh?
Replied: 14th Apr 2013 at 01:18
I was one in the early sixties, art:
We are the boys and girls well-known as
The minors of the ABC.....
The manager trying to make himself heard above hoards of screaming kids wearing glow-in-the-dark ABC MINORS badges.
Replied: 14th Apr 2013 at 20:31
dosco, only just seen the 1st April post
I don't remember the gassie; but I'm just laughin' at the memory of you sayin' ''I'm just hanging around '' swinging from the new NO ENTRY sign.
Replied: 15th Apr 2013 at 14:27
had the grandkids round today. they were looking at old photographs and when they spotted me in my drainpipes, beetle crushers and boot lace tie, they went hysterical.
I thought I looked great.
Replied: 5th May 2013 at 23:20
And I bet you did i-spy..come on the teds.
Replied: 6th May 2013 at 13:51
I wish I could still fit into the drainpipes momac. And the sideburns have long gone.
Replied: 8th May 2013 at 20:25
Remember having your hair tugged on your birthday- wasn't there a song that went with it.
You'd never get away with it today.
Replied: 18th May 2013 at 15:21
I-spy,I'd forgotten all about that...hopefully someone remembers the song.
Replied: 18th May 2013 at 16:41
When you'd been to the barbers - short back & sides & your mates would slap you on the back of the head - a 'pow slap', I think 'pow' is wiggin speyk for 'pole' probably, ie barber's pole.
Replied: 18th May 2013 at 18:19
Last edited by raymyjamie: 18th May 2013 at 18:49:18
The hair tuggin' thing, didn't you get a tug for every year old you were?.
Replied: 18th May 2013 at 18:57
When I was in the infants ('70's), a teacher would lightly tug your hair a number of times - according to which birthday it was - and then say, "Cock, hen or goose?"
Cock - give a big knock! Hen - start again and Goose - let loose
Replied: 18th May 2013 at 19:16
Spot on jo anne.
Its been going doin' mi head in for the last hour trying to remember that one.
Replied: 18th May 2013 at 19:24
My wife has just reminded me that after you'd done cock, hen or goose you would get another tug & they would say "and one for next year".
Replied: 18th May 2013 at 19:32
I think my old teacher must have been a bit of a sadist. From what I recall there was no mention of a goose when she tugged.
Instead it was turkey and if you said that you got another 30.
Replied: 19th May 2013 at 10:33
Oooow!!!!
Replied: 19th May 2013 at 11:19
I remember my grandma giving me a pudding basin & putting a 2 shilling piece in it & running up Bird St to Oliver Myers chip shop on Manchester Rd Ince to get her dinner. When I got there the 2 shilling piece was gone. I spent ages walking up & down Bird St trying to find it but to no avail. My grandma was not very pleased.
Replied: 19th May 2013 at 14:18
Last edited by raymyjamie: 19th May 2013 at 16:23:31
We had it tough !
Ours was Cock, hen, goose, or linnet.
Goose was pull till it comes loose and linnet was pull for another minute!
Replied: 19th May 2013 at 19:04
Coal wagon with bags of coal on the back!
Wooden chip forks to eat chips wrapped in newspaper!
Replied: 19th May 2013 at 19:29
BlimeyRay, no wonder yer gran was miffed. 2 shillin' would have bought chips for the whole of Bird St back then
I also remember going to Myers on Saturday dinner with our own bowls and asking him to put as much pea wet in as he could. Used to mop it up wi' Rathbones bread.
Replied: 20th May 2013 at 15:08
Last edited by dosco: 20th May 2013 at 15:35:32
luvvly grub dosco. We would have chip shop dinners & teas a lot more in those days, cost a fortune today.
Yes 2 shillin' were a fortune would've bin about 1952, I was six.
Replied: 20th May 2013 at 17:50
almost gone but not forgotten.
A poetic tribute to the humble washing line
A clothesline was a news broadcast, to neighbours passing by,
There were no secrets you could keep, when clothes were hung to dry.
It also was a friendly link,for neighbours always knew
If ‘company’ had stopped on by, to spend a night or two.
For then you'd see the "fancy sheets", and towels upon the line;
You'd see the "posh” table cloths", with intricate designs.
The line announced a baby's birth, from folk who lived inside,
As brand new infant clothes were hung, so carefully with pride!
The ages of the children could, so readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed, you'd know how much they'd grown!
It also told when illness struck, as extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe too, haphazardly were strung.
It also said, "On holiday now", when lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged, with not an inch to spare!
New folk in town were scorned upon, if wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbours carefully raised their brows, and looked the other way.
But clotheslines now are of the past, for dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home, is anybody's guess!
I really miss that way of life, it was a friendly sign
When neighbours knew each other best... by what hung out on the line.
Replied: 20th May 2013 at 22:07
Eating chips out of a bag made from newspaper with your fingers
Replied: 21st May 2013 at 00:02
my grandkids came home from school last week i was in back garden .they said what can we do grandad were bored.so i took the washing line down and made it into a big skipping rope .they loved it kids from down street came and played.i got a crack round the head for taking line down of my wife.she said your mam would have giving the one so thatbrings memmories back proper.ha ha
Replied: 23rd May 2013 at 14:00
On bonfire night we would have my mums homemade treacle toffee made in a circular flat tin tray, smashed up into irregulat pieces and parkin or she sometimes called it bunnock.
Replied: 23rd May 2013 at 20:14
We used to put spuds around the embers of the bomie but could never wait long enough and ended up eytin black skin and raw spud,,,,,,, but it were great
Replied: 24th May 2013 at 14:51
Last edited by dosco: 24th May 2013 at 15:52:57
This is the land of lost content
I see it shining plain
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.
Replied: 24th May 2013 at 15:15
Making a trolley out of old pram wheels.
train spotting all day.
Saturday morning pictures at the Ritz
climbing over pub wall to pinch emptys then taking them back to get the money.
potato picking in holidays
black treacle or syrup butties
Replied: 24th May 2013 at 20:38
An auntie of mine insisted on saying white rabbit on the first day of every month.
She thought it was a good luck thing but I haven't a clue what it means.
Replied: 1st Jun 2013 at 15:29
Camping out during school holidays, playing football in the street and hedge jumping.
Replied: 1st Jun 2013 at 18:36
The birthday hair tugging... We used to chant " cock, hen, goose or feather"
Cock- give a good knock. Hen- pull and count to ten. Goose - pull til it's loose. Feather - good luck for ever.
Replied: 8th Jun 2013 at 00:01
I missed out linnet- pull for one minute.
Replied: 8th Jun 2013 at 00:02
oh Edna i'd forgotten all about the hair pulling! thanks for the memory. do children still do it?
Replied: 10th Jun 2013 at 09:45
"and throwing arrows, not forgetting catapults or arrows from bulrushes. Happy days" Such Innocence!
Replied: 24th Aug 2013 at 09:03
I remember doing everything mentioned on this thread. How on earth did we all have time to do all these things? My favourite was my two wheeler bike, never off it. When I think back the most dangerous thing was clinging onto the outside of a bridge exactly the design of the iron bridge and going all across. As was mentioned what was health and safety?
Replied: 24th Aug 2013 at 09:57
A big spoon full of Scott's emulsion every morning. A taste to remember for the rest of your life.
Replied: 24th Aug 2013 at 21:27
watching telly through letter boxes cos we had none and perrie winkulls .
Replied: 3rd Sep 2013 at 21:48
tom I can still smell and taste scotch emulsion . what was that stuff? we had a spoon of malt too.
Replied: 7th Sep 2013 at 20:13
Kathpressy
I just looked it up ont Internet.
Scott and Bowne carefully distinguished their tastier product from other “secret” remedies, openly publishing the formula in early advertising: “50 per cent. of Pure Cod Liver Oil, 6 grs. of the Hypophosphites of Lime, and 3 grs. of the Hypophosphites of Soda to a fluid ounce. Emulsified with mucilage and Glycerine.” The mucilage used was probably gum acacia. The glycerine added sweetness and was also thought to have tonic and healing properties. The hypophosphites of lime (calcium) and soda (sodium) were considered helpful in the treatment of consumption.
No wonder we didn't,t like it
Replied: 8th Sep 2013 at 08:56
Last edited by tom1303: 8th Sep 2013 at 08:58:52
good grief!it's a wonder we survived childhood.
Replied: 8th Sep 2013 at 14:14
perrie winkulls
Scotch and malt!
That's the way to bring kids up - hic
Replied: 9th Sep 2013 at 18:56
Last edited by kenee: 9th Sep 2013 at 18:58:04
Toast on an open fire ... Sitting on a hard backed book on your steel-wheeled roller skates ... Making dens ... Collecting Lanry bottles to get back the deposits ...
Replied: 11th Jan 2014 at 21:43
Millgate Clinic. Fennings Fever Cure--- It would take the rust off a nail it was that bitter. Taking newspapers to the chippy in Bulteel Street and getting a free bag of scratchings. Two pennorth of chips with pea wet on.
Running back from the Carlton pictures after watching Roy Rogers and slapping my backside pretending I was on a horse. Dressed up as a pitman in the May Queen ( along with about six other lads dressed the same ). I met an old lady recently who used to be a Nit Nurse. Asking bus conductors for a blank ticket roll to draw on. We never had any money so we didn't miss it. Can anyone tell me how much it is these days for a penny banger? It must be at least a couple of quid....
Replied: 13th Jan 2014 at 11:02
Four smacks for a penny from the chip shop
Replied: 14th Jan 2014 at 00:15
what's lanry bottles? I remember collecting jam jars for a 1d return.
Replied: 14th Jan 2014 at 13:03
Kath,Lanry is a very thin bleach.
Replied: 14th Jan 2014 at 18:35
Bit like Twentygrand...Co-Op bleach..Remember that?
Replied: 15th Jan 2014 at 01:04
Indian brandy from the chemists ,rag and boneman,
Replied: 17th Jan 2014 at 11:39
I can remember seeing the first ice lolly. A girl walking along with a bright green one. Must have been shortly after the war. I pointed it out to my mother, "what's one of those she said?"
Replied: 17th Jan 2014 at 11:48
what about Dolly Blues probably called something else now
Replied: 17th Jan 2014 at 12:09
And the starch that used to give all the Dads boils on the back of their necks due to their stiff collars.
Replied: 17th Jan 2014 at 13:50
Gloves and mittens fastened to the bottom of sleeves via a length of elastic.
Replied: 17th Jan 2014 at 14:08
I am still wearing them happy days
Replied: 17th Jan 2014 at 18:06
my mam tooth comb in hand my head bent over a news paper. making sure I had a clean hair, derbec soap nitty nora at school. sugar butties h.p. sauce butties.
Replied: 1st Feb 2014 at 19:43
Houghton weaver song sums up a lot of what the 50's were like
WHEN I WAS A LAD
Rows of back to back houses, covered in smoke and grime
Children skipping in the street, and washing on the line
A scarf tucked down your jersey, to keep you from the cold
I wore a woolly balaclava when I was nine years old
Chorus
When I was a lad, neighbours were neighbours
When I was a lad, doing you favours
People giving people a hand, no matter how small
When I was a lad, dolly mixtures
When I was a lad, Saturday pictures
When I was a lad, those were the greatest days of all
School from Monday to Friday, I learned to read and write
Grandad sitting on the doorstep in the fading light
Tin bath hanging from a six-inch nail, lino on the floor
Lavatory out in the back-yard, sit with your foot against the door
Chorus
Times were hard in winter, but mother kept us fed
All night huddled round the fireside, overcoats on the bed
We were a great big family, we all slept head to toe
In a big brass bed up in the backroom, and it seems so long ago
Chorus
Replied: 1st Feb 2014 at 20:38
This thread brought back so many great memories of childhood , I can't thank all the WW contributors enough, I can even admit it brought tears to my eyes.
I feel that the child of today misses out on such simple and fun adventures we all had as children in the 1940's and 50's, such innocent enjoyment, our parents must have been and were gems, had no money but never felt deprived of anything. On reflect I can now see parents of that time going short on all sorts of things to make sure their children were happy and healthy..... Good times :)
Replied: 7th Feb 2014 at 18:02
Last edited by britboy: 7th Feb 2014 at 18:28:35
A church jumble sale a highlight and a treat.
Replied: 7th Feb 2014 at 18:08
The Roy Rogers comments took me back to Abram junior school about 1956/7 play time playing Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Brian Rigby - are you still out there Brian?
Replied: 8th Feb 2014 at 18:31
I still wonder what my grandma put in her poultices. She always said they were good enough to eat. But the smell was horrible
Replied: 8th Feb 2014 at 19:58
Just this morning with different waste on work top ready for different bins my hubby said just look at all that would have gone in one bin at one time, I said no it wouldn't. Milk was in a glass bottle you rinsed out and put back on doorstep, most food came without packaging, just bought loose, potatoes etc, cheese wrapped in grease proof paper along with bacon, butter etc, any scraps put on fire, only thing in bin usually was ashes.
Pop bottles taken back to shop, to get deposit back, no cereal boxes cos we just got toast for breakfast.
Still longing for eggs chopped up in cup with butter on, as remembered earlier in posts.
Replied: 9th Feb 2014 at 21:42
your right process ,lots were burnt on fire ,top of our street was a pig bin where you put veg and potatoe peelings for pigs ,minnie brimelow had pigs on white street so most likely they were for her and like you said it was ashes in the bin .id love to have chopped egg wi butter again maybe i will be sneaky an have one ,looking back on this thread brought many memories back
Replied: 10th Feb 2014 at 12:08
The smell of coke - it always made me cough.
Replied: 3rd Apr 2014 at 21:49
Having a fire in the front room on Sundays. Dad would carry part of the back room fire through on a shovel to get it going.
Replied: 3rd Apr 2014 at 21:56
been remembering some of the tales I got told.
Like 'eating crusts makes your hair curly' and 'frogs and toads give you warts'
and I still say God bless you when somebody sneezes .If you didn't the devil will get you.According to my gran
Replied: 18th Apr 2014 at 22:00
saturday and sunday sport was ratting on dougie where the dam is now and skimming for bloodworm and selling them to a bloke in morris st for picture money and we used to buy catapult lastic from lenagins in greenough st happy days
Replied: 12th Jan 2016 at 19:39
Last edited by watchalot: 12th Jan 2016 at 19:42:08
Really enjoyed re reading this - ah! the memories
Replied: 15th Jan 2016 at 15:09