A Trip Down Memory Lane

pam · A Trip Down Memory Lane

I watched a programme on Sunday about the whitsun tide walks which were common yrs ago (we still have them but not like they used to be)
I remembered walking as a child with new clothes on then at the end of the walk being given a bun and a drink. In the afternoon we all went into the next small town to watch their prossesion of witness. it was a family day out and we all looked forward to it. It also brought back memories of when my own daughter was in the prossesion and a held one of the ropes on the banner of the sunday school - it could be hard work - especially if it was windy. Ahhhhhh what lovely memories
Anyone like to share theirs? Pam

Annie

Hi Pam,
hope you enjoyed theweekend with your guest, rather a cold and soogy one here in the soft south east.
I dont remember the walks but do remember that Easter all the girls used to turn up at Sunday School in new gear with hats, probably showing my age there,
Annie

pam

Hi Annie - yes we have enjoyed our weekend thank you - even the snow blizzard which lasted at least an hour at the Buxton raceway

Hope you enjoyed yours as well.
Much of the old footage which they showed in the documentary was in Derbyshire one of the narrators ( A man) spoke of the tradition for the boys to have their first pair of long trousers at whitsuntide he recalls being 14yrs old when he first had his - I dont think the youth of today would be impressed - do you?

Pam

Annie · Trousers.

Hi Pam,
when my brother was growing up in the 50's boys didn't get long trousers untill they went to Secondary School but they came after the summer holidays. Girls didnt wear trousers in those days either to school. Not nice on a frosty morning.
Nice Easter mainly reading in the warm, I did take a couple of good brisk walks with the dog between showers but missed out on my usual Easter blitz on the garden, that can wait for some warmer weather,
Annie

fairydust

I lost my Dad last year and love to think of the memories of him when I was a child....I really miss him badly he was 83.

pam

I still have both my parents around but still like to take a trip back to when we were children.
Sorry to hear about your loss - I am sure the memories help. xx Pam

Annie

Also sorrry to hear of your loss, my last family member of that age group is a 92 year old aunt, she is full of the tales that dad didnt tell us, Guess we all have our little secrets.
I have been doing family history since 1993 and she has come up with all sorts of gems.

By the way getting back to short trousers does any body remember liberty bodices and scholl knickers with a pocket in them, essential 50's wear, we used to keep our dinner money in the pocket and all the girls lifted their skirt up to pay on a Monday,
Annie

pixie

Oh bring back the liberty bodice, kept us nice and warm on those frosty walks to school.

I remember the big PE knickers too and you had to tuck your school skirt into them when it was a PE lesson. At least the boys wore shorts.

I used to keep my dinner money in my socks. Maybe we were poor and couldn't afford the scholl knickers.

Speaking of older relatives, I lost my wonderful uncle a few years ago but his Mum, my Nan, is still alive and is now 98. She has some tales to tell too, and her father was a vicar!!!

pam

I remember pulling up the laces on my mums corset as a child, and having a army coat thrown over the top of our bed to keep us warm. Pam

Annie

That should have read school knickers, ours were bottle green, alright when you were five, not so good when I was 15 and doing a cross country run through a building site in marroon ones with a yellow shirt, we all hated that.
My granny wore very impressive corsets, she was magic, the static from her layers of underwear sparked in the dark when she undressed, on visits she slept in the same room as my sister and I.
She also used hat pins and convinced us she pushed them into her head,there was also the ritual with the old fashioned curling tongs which you heated over the range, her hair often had a brown singed patch and I can still smell the hair frizzling,
Annie

pam

Annie what brilliant memories!!
What about the 'dolly tubs' and old the old mangles for squeezing out the water afterwards proper finger nippers they were!!
I can also remember our first television! Pam

Annie

Hello Pam,
we didn't have a dolly tub, I spent the first ten years of my life in a farm cottage with a privy and well in the garden, we had a big stone copper in the corner of what Mum called the skullery, you lit a fire underneath and boiled the sheets etc, we did have the mangle though, first tele I ever saw was my aunts, we didnt have any electricity either, we all crammed into her tiny living room to watch the coronation, then joined in the village celebrations, I still have photo's of my cousins in fancy dress, then back to gas light and buckets, mind you lots of people lived the same way then.
No lights upstairs which is why granny made a good show undressing,
Annie

pixie

We lived on a houseboat on the Thames until I was 12 and had no washer so we had to go to the wash house on the caravan site the boat was moored along side.

On the boat we also had no bath. During the week it was a wash down at the sink and sometimes, when we were small enough, we bathed in a tin bath next to the fire in the saloon (living room).

Every Sunday evening we went to the public baths on the caravan site and put a tanner in the heater to fill the bath. I had to share it with my brother who was 3 years younger than me. Yuk

The walk home wasn't pleasent in the winter with wet hair and pj's on. It was about 1/4 mile to walk.

Those were the days.

Speeds

As usual no time but have to post

1. Washing up bowl outside Auntie's caravan to bath brtoher and me when we were about 5 - in Swanage - have naked photos to prove
2. Great Aunt who loved in cottages in Stowmarket area - no bathroom - prvvy - hole over bucket opposite house. Used to visit and HAVE to use the loo

- when you are 7 a non flush loo is sooooo exciting - nowadays I would have to be past bursting to use it

3. I remember the old mangle washing machines and old TVs

I am sure I will think of some more - keep them coming - your stroies are brilliant

Annie

A boat on the Thames sounds fantastic, mind you it probably wasnt for busy Mums, my cousins grandmother died in the 70's, she lived in the cottage her parents lived in back in Victorian times and that still had the privy in the garden, you are right Speeds, my kids used to insist on going to the loo there because they were so fascinated by it. I had got soft by then and used to try not to breath in.
When I was young the local council used to send round a kind of tanker to collect the contents of the buckets, hows that for an unusual job. That ceased as more people got mod cons and our cottage was condemned in 1955, then we got a brand new council house, no more tin bath in front of the fire, first thing my brother did was manage to lock himself in the bathroom,
Annie

pam

Some brilliant memories here. Our village was mainly terraced when I was born - but we were allocated a semi council house brnad new it was and I was born there. As for the toilets - well I have only realised in recent years that this 'new' house had a bathroom - but we as children had a PO under the bed and actually used that??

Why? I have asked myself whenthere was a bathroom next to us? I have come to the conclusion that mum and dad found it difficult to adjust hense the PO's.

I never had a bath in the tin ones but we used the larger ones which we still had for sailing on the pond in cockety bobs field as we caled it.

Pixie how exciting is that!! - to live in a house boat!
What did we 'play' with folks - not pc's that's for sure!!

pixie

It was a great life on the houseboat. As kids we loved it. It was hard though with no proper heating or bathroom and only a small galley (kitchen). It was always damp and we had drip bags up along the inside when it rained. Not nice when one would overfill and pour out onto you!!

I used to love looking out of the portholes at night when the pleasure boats went past and everyone on board was party'ing away. The boat would rock with the wash from the big boats.

I was a tomboy and loved climbing trees and making dens in the willow trees.

We didn't have much in the way of toys except our bikes we needed to ride to school and along the towpath.

Some good memories there but also some scary ones when the Thames flooded and also when it froze over.

Annie

The boat sounds lovely, as to toys etc, like Pixie I cant really remember any real exotic stuff, skipping ropes, marbles, blackjack, two ball, hula hoops, bikes like Pixie, second hand in our case but they went, the boys used to fish and we all learnt to doggy paddle in a cut of the river, I dread to think what else was floating about in there, roller skates, carts built out of pram wheels and wooden boxes, rafts that usually sunk, hop scotch, indoors, board games, cards and books and Radio Luxemberg.
Most life revolved around hops in this area, the big event of the year was hop picking and the big party at the end over on Whitbreads, the influx of Eastenders etc, Mum worked in the hop fields so I learnt to tie or twiddle hops at an early age, no health and safety in those days, most local kids spent a lot of time in the fields while Mum worked and most 'helped', one big event was the big shire horses coming down from the London brewery for a holiday, fantastic to watch them roll on the grass in sheer joy and gallop about loose in the field when they first arrived,
Annie

pam

We used to make a train whilst on our roller skates it was great fun zooming down the hills. Oooopps and no helmets on either!
I loved playing 2 balls and could even manage to juggle 3 - 4 on a really good day you know - under the leg stuff! We also used to do shows - in our back gardens - singing and dancing stuff then charge our friends a penny to come and watch.

Pam

pixie

I was never any good at jubbling but I used to love throwing the balls up at the side of the house. It used to drive my parents mad.

We used to swim in the Thames back then. It was cleaner, well I hope it was.
Used to fish too but I could never take the hook out. I used to scream for my Mum or Dad to come and do it whenever I caught one.

pam

Swimming in the Thames how exciting that sounds. We used to go to a big pond out in the country to swim in and people would take small boats to row around in.
Who can remember the old wind up record player 48in and I think it was 33in records - gosh I used to melt those down and make fruit baskets and stuff with them!!

Used to stink the house out!! Pam
Oh anyone remember Sandy Powell records so daft they were? Pam

Annie

I wasnt any good at juggling either, running and jumping was more my thing, we used to play rounders and things, not sure about Sany Powell but I do remember the record players and the needles, we used to oplay them at the wrong speed,
Annie

pam

Playing at the wrong speed was a laugh - do you remember the first tape recorders - Huge things with large reels and a micro phone- we used to sing our little hearts out and play it back thinking we were soooooooo good!!

Later on after I was married, we went to York for the day and guess what ?? - I saw my vacuum cleaner in a museum there!! And -- I was still using it!!

Pam

Annie

Him Pam,
yes, they were a pain if the tape broke, also if they became unwound, the dog got hold of one I remember, what a mess. By the way, re your earlier post, I doubt anybody would have paid a penny to watch me do an act,
Annie

pam

Well we were not good either at the 'shows' but we were all friends so - just put up with it!!

We would walk miles as well through the woods and play in the rivers - sadly our children do not have this freedom do they?
Now what about Bill and Ben oh and I loved Johnny Morris - the Hot Chestnut Man - do you remember them? Pam[/quote]

Speeds

pam

Oh Speeds - what a great memory to have !! Mine is long gone. How I regret throwing some of the stuff away which I had. When the 'mods' and 'rockers' fashion came in I remember buying my first long skirt and strutting around in it - felt like the bees knees I did.

Pam

pixie

Anyone remember hot pants? Oh and white boots to go with them?

Speeds

Yes I do - I looked OK in them as I was only about 6 or 7

I have some wonderful 80's photos - that was really my era TBH.

I was 18 in 1982 and 21 in 1985, married in 1986 so I took lots of photos.

pam

oh yes I remember hot pants - legs a bit too chubby for them though so never had any.
I was married in 1970 at the age of 20yrs. The 60's was my era. I always say 'I came in with the Beatles'!!

Had my fringe down to my nose and peeked through it!

Wore dusty springfield eye make up

Used to drive my dad mad that did - he used to say in her broad derbyshire -'ya can get up them staires and wash that muck off ya face - ya look as if yav bin down the pit!!

As if I did!!

Pam

Annie

As A young student nurse I was living in the nursing home at an adjoining hospital with a large group of Chinese students as our nursies home was full up, I remember the Chinese girls rolling on the floor and giggling at The Beatles, I was a rocker by the way.
Pam is right we did walk miles and bike miles as well. Less trafic was probably one reason, also in a country village every body knew you, a pain at times as they also knew your mother and wrong doings usually got reported back.

I bet your grandmother loved your voice Speeds, bet the modern generation would have a good laugh though, my youngest daughter borrowed my old maxi skirt for a school project on the Vietnam War, I had kept it out of sentimentallity and was forced to realise that much of my earlier life is now taught in history classes,
Annie

pam

Oh The Beatles - yes they were my favourites - I remember my first real boyfriend managing to get tickets to see them Swooooooooon.

I screamed all night and the next day - I couldn't speak!!

A Rocker Annie? Mmmmmmmmmm we would have been in competion then! Although my second boyfriend had a motor bike and we travelled miles on that very often around the large stately houses in derbyshire such as Chatsworth house and haddon hall.
Were you into the Rolling Stones then Annie being a 'rocker'? Pam

Annie

Actually Pam I think my rocker allegance owed more to the fact that the boys in my group favoured B.S.A and Triumph to the Lambretta, to be honest I didnt like The Stones much, I thought Mick Jagger a bit of a poser. Gene Vincent was my favourite, I saw him in Maidstone back in about 62 but I am about five years older than you. He came to a bad end.

In those days all the big groups did tours, I usually went with a friend and her brother most weeks, my friend could really shriek, in those days concerts were affordable as well,
Annie.

pam

Oh Yes Gene Vincent - please - refresh my memory of him Annie - I remember his name but nothing else? He didn't go down with Buddy Holly and ohhhhhhh what was that other cute young mans name? I bought a DVD of his life and Nad cried when he died in the plane crash

Shriek!! you say !!

Yes so could I - I remember shrieking at home when the Beatles came on Top Of The Pops - drove my parents (well dad) (mum used to laugh) mad! I suppose you remember TOTP's as well??
I didn't take to Mick Jagger either Annie. One of my first 45's records would be probably John Leyton and Craig Douglas Remember them? Pam

Annie

Hi Pam,
Gene Vincent was one of the original American Rock and Roll stars, he spent some time in England in the 60's where he was very popular, at that time his trade mark was his leather gear, I suppose his best known song would be Be Bop A-Lula, my favourite was Unchained Melody.
He appeared on Ready Steady Go and Top of the Pops, he was only about 30 when he died officially of a ruptured stomach ulcer though more modern accounts cite his rock star life style, Lotta Lovin might be one you remember Woman Love was another and Race with the Devil.

I saw him live at about the same time I saw Cliff and the Shadows live.That dates me. That time Cliff was huge.

Definately remember Top of the Pops, that was still must watch for my daughter in the eighties, it went on for a long time.

I definately remember Craig Douglas although lots of them have dissapeared over the years, I have to rack my brains with some of them,
Annie

pam

Yes I remember Be Bop A Lula and I love Unchained Melody. I enjoyed Cliff and Elvis oh and Pat Boone - remember love letters in the sand. I used to watch all their films - but Pat Boone turned religeous and had this 'thing' about not kissing his leading ladies as he was now married? Then he just seemed to fade out of the lime light.
Just remembered it was Rickie Valance who died with big bopper and buddy holly what a lot of talent gone! Pam

angel28

It's funny - 'memory lane' is how I met my current boyfriend - we used to go to school together, I had a huge crush on him then. Went on facebook a couple of months ago and started getting back in touch with lots of old school friends - and there he was, different in lots of ways and still the same in others....he said he liked me in school too, but thought we were from different worlds back then - its funny how things DO change!

Annie

Angel, how nice to met up with an old flame after so long. Wish you lots of luck.
Yes Pam I remember Pat Boone, a long time since he dissapeared though.
I was still at school when Buddy Holly died, they released some records a couple of years after he died and they were a huge success.
A friends father had a cafe with a juke box and we used to jive to some of those early records in there, I cant remember how much you put in the slot but big arm used to pick the records up and put them on the turn table. Remember those.
I liked the early Elvis but not after he came out of the army. I think I was about 12 when they released the original Rock Around the Clock film in England with Bill Halley, that started it all of.
Annie

pam

Hiya Angela - I keep hearing about this 'facebook' has it replaced the 'friends united'? That must have been in the stars for you to meet up on there

how romantic.
Annie you have started something now - we are desperately trying to remember how much we used to put in the juke box??

Can you remember when the stilletoes first came in?

I tottered round in them - wouldn't like to try now.
No central heating !!! I remember lighting the coal fire and putting some newspaper up in front of it to 'draw it' as mum used to say. We even had a fire in our bedroom when it was bitterly cold - well it was mum and dads really but they used to put us kids in there to keep us warm and they would sleep in ours. Pam

angel28

its a lot better than friends reunited, you can use it to organise your social life! and keep in contact with all your friends old and new and make new friends.. as for memory lane - Im going to an 80s disco tomorrow night!

pam

Is that your era then - the 80's as was my daughters. Sounds good - the disco I suppose you will jitterbug the night away?
The twist was the rage in my era. Pam

Annie

Enjoy the disco Angel, Boy George and O.M.D perhaps, my middle daughters era, Julie like classical. My youngest a bit of a suprise after 14 years was a baby in the 80's.
Pam I have a feeling it was 6d a play and 5 for 2s, must have been quite a money spinner for the cafe's.

Yes I wore stillettos, we used to get metal tips put on them, they sparked on the stones, also left marks in tarmac and floors.Probably lots of ladies with bunions as a result.

We didnt have heating upstairs, remember Jack Frost and the lovely patterns on the windows, at the old cottage on th3e inside as well.

Yes a newspaper to draw the fire, my grandmother used to have us making spills out of newspaper to light things with, usually her Players Weights from what I remember. You twisted the paper round and lit the end from the fire
Annie

pam

Speaking of Boy George the girls treated hubby for his birthday in march and he went to see him at the at buxton. He was a little disappointed though as he didn't sing many of the songs which he is known for.
Jack frost - oh yes we had him as well it was coal fire we had in that room as their was a fireplace up in there. I remember the pipes being frozen alot as well.

Old armycoat on the bed. Only lino on the floor, and a little rug at the side of our beds.
6d for the jukebox gosh werent we lucky

Like you I used to make the twists for the fire.
We did have electricity - but grandma had the old oil lamps with the wicks - do you know what I mean? Pam

Annie

Yes Pam, I actually own two oil lamps which come in handy during power cuts, they dont smell very nice though but usefull with my stock of candles.
We had gas lightong when I was young, towards the end of our time in the cottage it was becoming difficult to get the mantels, then Dad was on a job (he was a brickie) and was given a whole box of them which we shared out with neighbours. no mains electricity along our lane then.
I can understand your husbands dissapointment over Boy George, I quite liked his early records.
I loved Simon and Garfunckle in the 70's as well.
Annie

pam

Yes I remember the gas lamps grandma had one in her dining room.
At home I remember a huge grey stove/ oven, with a large pipe leading up the wall and out side - it was coal fueled. Everything was cooked in/on there. At Christmas time my lovely grandad used to cook the tarts, and used to help him We always cooked 100 mixed tarts and it took us the whole evening until my bedtime. As the oven was stoked up more and so got hotter we had to watch them very carefully as they soon burned.
Gutting Rabbits - ughhhhh how I hated the smell when grandad had caught one and brought it home to gut - I never did and still don't eat rabbit!

Pam
I also liked Simon and Garfunckle oh and the Yardbirds! Pam

Annie

Pam, yes my two grandmothers had the old stoves with the oven at the side, there was usually a keetle singing on the top, just needed to be moved nearer the heat to boil.[img]
Dont talk to me about rabbits, we used to eat them years ago, Mum used to clean them, I have some in the freezer at the moment, the gamekeeper near my daughter was shooting them a few weeks ago and gave me some, my husband cleaned them but I cook them for the dog, I can,t face them, I did give some away. He gave them to me because he said it was a shame not to use them.[/img]
Actually I suppose after the war with rationing any thing was welcome, Mum used to get them from the gamekeeper as well back then.
Today reminded me of I think 1962 when it snowed for weeks, do you remember that, it was a really bad winter, the first day they early bus managed to get through to the village it skidded on a double bend and blocked the road again for the day
Annie

pam

Yes I remember the bad winter - we had snow piled high down the side of the road, my two cousins who lived down south had to stay with one of our aunts near us as they couldn't get back home. I too remember cars skidding and watching people go out and help to push them to get them going again.
As for the rabbits I think you are right about the war and rationing, even though I was born just after the war old habits die hard don't they, we regularly had bread and dripping sarnies, my cousins I remember used to have bread and sugar sarnies which I never did like.
My favourite toy was my doll - it had hair which was 'stuck on' and once it's arm came off and it had to go to the dolls hospital

I bet they are long gone? Pam

Annie

Toast made over the fire with dripping was a staple, I never had sugar sandwiches but condensed milk, yes, a couple of years ago I saw a tin and thought I must try that, far too sweet for me now. Home made jam was another staple in our house and bottled fruit.
I had a doll with stuck on hair as well, she cried when you tilted her, Dad made a cot for her but I think my favourite was a china teaset because it was like the real thing.
Yes the drifts were deep that winter, here many cars ended up in the ditches because they were full of snow and you couldnt see them, I remember going to the next village in dad's van to get chicken food and it looked beautiful, mind you I also slipped on a slope on the ice and knocked myself out, my chim hit the road with an almighty thump,
Ann

Speeds

I used to love sugar sarnies.

Not sure about them now though!!!!

pam

Speeds!! You are the only other person I have heard say they had sugar sarnies - I agree with you - but the dripping was just as bad!
OOOooooooooohhhhhhhhhh but did you like sethe kaylie ( not sure how to spell that)

I loved it - I used to crook my finger - pop into the bag a scoop a dollop out

It used to send my tongue a redy/pink colour. Pam

Speeds

I guess only poor people had sugar sarnies - and we were not well off - though not in dire straits. I definitely do not think thre was anything else to go on the bread.

Dad used to have bread and dripping - I never liked it though.

pixie

We had lots of sugar butties. Nice and crunchy they were too.

I am paying for it now though with quite a few cavities and some missing teeth.

Nestle sweetened condensed milk was gorgeous. I used to buy it for myself up until about 10 years ago. It was always better the second day when it had been opened and left in the fridge.

Annie

I loved bread and dripping, guess that makes me the odd one out, Pam I dont know the name you gave there but is that the powder stuff we used to buy by the ounce, it looked like coloured sugar crystals. we called it sherbet down here if so, they did a lemon one as well, probably pure citric acid as my sister skinned her tongue with it.
I remember blackjacks, Barrets sherbet, you can still get that, gobstoppers, black bubblegum, I was forbidden that, Mum thought it was disgusting but I used to buy it any way, we were allowed the pink stuff, used to have competitions to see who could blow the biggest bubbles.
Sweets went in and out of fashion, one time I remember that Imps were in favour, they were hot and strong and you saw how long you could keep one in your mouth.
Annie

pam

Annie I to loved the dripping what I meant was it was unhealthy as was the sugar sarnie. I stopped eating the dripping as I got older as i could eat half a loaf of bread with it on.

It would have been sherbet I think (what we called kaylie)
Pixie I also loved the nestle condensed sweetened milk I used to creep into the pantry and nick some on a teaspoon (no fridge)
Oh and as a real youngster I remember hiding at the back of the settee with the biscuit tin and eating the middle out of the custard creams

putting the 2 ends of biscuits back in the tin!! Gosh I'm telling you all my dastardly little deeds now

As for the gum - yes I had it - but - here comes another secret !! I used to save mine on the dressing table and add to it the next day! Had huge mouthfuls of the stuff at the time

I think it was because I wanted to blow the 'biggest bubble ever' or something! Pam

Annie

Pam we all saved our bubble gum, I dont think we worried about germs in those days. Didn't worry too much about unhealthy eating either come to think of it. Have you ever had a giant bubble burst all over your face.
We weren't very well of but did have a big garden and grew all our own veg and had fruit trees and bushes, also with Mum working on local farms things used to find their way home, we also used to go blackberry picking etc, it all helped. We still grow veg. i have just used the last of the leeks.
Talking of food remember gypsy tart. We used to get that at school, the recipe I have uses 12 ounces of brown sugar and 14 of evapourated milk, hows that for unhealthy.
Tinned fruit and evapourated milk was a treat along with jelly and custard in those days. We always had those at birthday parties.
Annie

pam

We also had the large back garden for vegetables - also had a hole in the hedge in the back garden it was our quick way to the playing field, where we spent our days. As I was older and married we had 2 allotments which we shared with my dad - so again lots of fresh veg. I used to walk pushing my daughter in her pushchair, from where we lived into my birth village (takes about half an hour) and do a stint on the allotments - she had her bucket and spade and would 'help'

Lunch at mums then walk back home to get tea ready for hubby coming home from work. I used to make many cornish pasties and meat and potato pies in those days, as the veg started to come in from the allotments. Sadly we haven't a veg garden now - it's all lawned!
Bubble gum yes

I got many burst on my face - it left a black mark if it wasn't got off properly.
I have never heard of Gypsy Tart but then again I never stayed at school for dinners. We lived very close to the school and mum didn't work - so we went home.
I also remember the chapel and miners welfare outings in the summer.
We travelled by coach or train. For the Miners welfare day trips I remember the coach being loaded with beer pop and crips.

We all had some money given to us as well. One or two of the not so caring parents would 'lose' their children just outside the lost childrens place on the sea front - then 'find them' near the end of the day! How rotten was that??
The chapel day trips were sing sing all the way there and back until our little throats were croking. Pam

Annie

The big event locally was the end of hopping and a big celebration on Whitbreads hop farm. The landlord of the local pub used to run a trip ti Margate, we all sat in the back of his open lorrry, just the few locals, a trip to dreamland and a ride on the Medwat Queen was part of that. Sad fact, the scenic railway at Dreamland burnt out this week, arson according to the police, my favourite ride back then and also all my kids favourite.
We had Sunday School trips, usually Hastings, usual day at the seaside.
My husband is very into organic veg growing, these days just the garden but we did have an allotment in the past. The front anf the flowers is my territory. My favourite garden of all time was one of the grannies, her family had lived there for over a hundred years, real cottage garden with veg mixed up with flowers all higgle de piggledy.
Gypsy tart is popular among all the middle aged men in this area, very sweet and the only place I have ever had it was school. You often see plea's for the recipe which is very simple, you mix the milk and sugar and put it in a pre cooked pastry case and bake in a hot overn for ten minutes.
Annie

pam

It sounds a wonderful time of your life Annie what fond memories to share with us.
In our area it was Potato picking, always during the October half term break from school. The tractors would come through the village piled high with potatos and the men women and children would be sat around the edges. - Wouldn't be allowed now would it. We also used this time to collect bonfire wood in readyness for the 'big night' I remember groups of us going up into the field beyond the playing field at the back of our house to get wood. We stacked it on the playing field and had a huge community bonfire - it was a great atmosphere, party like I suppose with everyone chipping in with different kinds a food. Pam

Annie

Yes Pam we had the communial bonfire on The Green, we collected wood for weeks before and it was piled up high, we took fireworks round and had a fantastic time, I remember one year my cousin kicked something and his shoe flew of into the fire, one of the dads was a fireman and used to supervise the actual fire, probably not allowed any more just like a seaside trip on a lorry. There were benches arranged all round the trailer.
Potato picking is one of the real back breaking jobs, there was a bit of that round here, after that you deserved a celebration. I worked on a fram when my youngest was at school as it fitted in with her school and Julie's day center and I have ridden on the back of a tractor many times but it wasn't the highlight that a ride on the cart of one of Whitbreads drays was during hop picking.
On the news tonight they said English Heritage says they can restore the scenic railway, good news as it was built about 1920 and has been part of Margate right back to my parents youth. I might even get another ride sometime,
Annie

pam

Hi it is sad to hear of something of long standing being damaged - good that it is being restored though. I have never been to Margate so know nothing of the railway.
Bet you used to go carol singing as well Annie? Pam

Annie

Yes Pam, officially with the Sunday School and unofficially with mates to make abit of money, it usually didn't work as most Mums only paid out to the Sunday School, later when old enough round the pubs with the vicar.
The Sally Army used to do good ones with the brass band, we all used to follow behind, a bit of excitement. I think every body did it back then.
Our village was unusual with 13 pubs most of which made their money during hopping and at that time 7 different churches, We only have four pubs left now and four churches. One is a strict Baptist which nobody knew much about but has survived for many years.
The Methodist and C of E church used to get lots of recruits about October, they then qualified for the Christmas party.
Annie

pam

I went to the methodist in our village twice on sundays!! My brothers never went though. It's now a 'christian centre'. We did lots of fund raising to try and do the repaires needed but the amount needed was so great and the flock so small it just wasn't possible. I remember playing Buttons one yr when it was decided to try and raise money by doing a panto! Sadly it wasn't enough. Guess what it closed the council had it done up and the christian centre took it over!!
We did the carol singing in small groups - the sunday schools didn't go round really.
At 'Anniversary' time we always had new clothes - but I hated being high up on the platform - it scared me. Pam

Annie

I went to the C.of E. sunday school along with my sister, my brother attended sporadically. There were far more girls than boys and as I was tall I usually ended up being a king in the nativity play, I even had a beard glued on a couple of times. I was a bit shy about preforming, you must have been good to be Buttons.
It didnt occur at the time but I realise now the vicar enjoyed going carol singing. The pubs paid out quite well usually.
What about penny for the guy? my brother used to do that with his mates, they pulled the guy around on one of the homemade carts.
Annie

Speeds

We used to make a guy although we never carted him around to get his "penny".

We used to have a home bonfire and a few fireworks which was fab.

I used to love going carol singing too - our church choir used to do it. A few of us kids did try once but we were not very good

I am really enjoying reading all these memories. Somehow I wonder if Thomas' memories will be quite the same - maybe - they will all talk about the time before they had jacuzzi baths or something

Thomas thinks mobile phones, big TV with SKY, credit cards, holes in the wall, buying stuff, plenty of food etc etc etc are the norm. I try to teach otherwise and I try not to spoil but it is hard. Oh to be a fly on the wall in 20 - 30 years time.

pam

Annie - I was in my 30's when I played Buttons - and scared 'sugar puffs'

My daughter played one of the fairy's who lived in the Fairy Glen,.

Yes we used to make a guy - having great fun stuffing my dads old clothes then pushing it round in the wheel barrow and we always collected enough money to fill a shoe box with fire works. One year my grandad had a load of tyres delivered onto the back field for our bonfire - we took turns in 'keeping watch' so non were stolen

We had the biggest bonfire around on that year - and the most smoke as well!!
Speeds - You have me thinking now about what memories our children will hold for the rest of their lives - I am going to ask them!! Pam

Annie

Bet you looked good in tights then Pam, before we moved to the village we had our own bonfire and fireworks, one year dad made a guy that was so realistic that next doors dog attacked it, the people next door having no children used to always take part in things like that and supply extra fireworks etc. They spoilt us a bit.

With penny for the guy my brother always had an eye for the main chance when we were young and di very well.

Speeds, whatever the kids today remember I bet the next generation will think that it is incrediably old fashioned. Mind you I think that the time I was growing up just after the war was a real period of change, so much that was the way it had been for hundreds of years and then all the new technology and real changes in lifestyle for every body. Really our cottage with its well and privy was a way of life that had gone on for centuries, it must have been pretty hard for my mother with three small children, we take things like hot water for granted these days, one thing that strikes me is how much harder it would have been to deal with things like incontinence without a washing machine and dryer, even washing nappies, Mum soaked them in a bucket and boiled them in the old copper.getting sheets dry was a major task in the winter as well .
Annie

pam

I was quite skinny in those days so the leggings looked ok - wouldn't do it now though

Oh the baby burco boiler!! I had one when I first got married used to boil all my whites in it. When nad was little I used to boil all her nappies in it before washing them in the twintub. Drying them was harder as we had no central heating or dryer so had to use 2 clothes horses and try and dry them overnight in the lounge we had a coal fire in there so it was quite warm.
When we bought our first house, the outside toilet had a step up to it - for the first time I realised why the toilet was called 'the throne'

lololol Pam

Annie

I had a twin tub but no dryer when Julie was young and often had sheets, blankets etc drying all over the house in the winter, she wet the bed every night untill she was 22 but then stopped just like that except when she had a fit, it was like winning the pools. Mind you once I had a dryer it was magic, pads didnt help much as she was so active.
I remember to old baby burco's really good for boiling, the twin tub did that but to rinse you had to fill the spinner with water, my first automatic was magic. I was still better of than Mum though.
So thats why it is called the throne is it, sit in majesty on it.
I bet you daughter loved playing a fairy, my youngest had the ambition to play ''a nangel in an activity play'' when she was at nursery. She did eventually,
Annie[/img]

pam

That must have been really hard for you Annie little wonder you were thrilled with your dryer.
What about the old irons then? Hot them up on the stove and spit on them - if the spit sizzled - it was hot enough

Ever do that?
No ironing boards - just the table top with a sheet on!. Pam

Annie

yes Pam, I remember the old flat irons, scorched many a collar, actually I still have my Mums old one in a cupboard. We used to rub them with soap to make them iron smoothly, I can remember the smell. Usually Lifebouy or Wrights Coal Tar, remember them. I still lve the smell of Lifebouy. there was the old green bars as well, I cant remeber what they were called. Household soap for cleaning.
My aunt had an upmarket version, it was powered by gas, the only one I have ever seen.
Talking of smells wintergreen ointment springs to mind, I think we used it for chillblains among other things. Thermegene (is that how you spell it) Wadding as well, people wrapped it round their chests when they had a chest infection. It was warm.Codliver oil and malt (I liked that )and N.H.S orange juice, that was sour, babies used to get that.
On a differentt note when hot pants came in I remember an elderly neighbour joking, I have hot pants, I wear thermogene in my drawers.
Annie

pam

I like the 'hot pants joke Annie.
I cant remember thermogene. Mum always had a jar of 'goose grease' in the cupboard to rub on our chests if we had a cold.
My 2 brothers are younger than me by 7 and 11 yrs. I remember giving them orange juice in the mornings before having breakfast. Mum used to put viral on their dummies (yuk!!) and honey (Yuk Yuk Yuk!!!) I still dont like honey - not sure if viral is still onsale? Anybody know?
Soap - gosh yes -

carbolic!! Mind you I once remember my dad getting a flannel and some 'vim' and rubbing one of my brothers neck as he hadn't been washing properly and he had a tide mark under his chin. ouch !! Pam

Annie

I know 'goose grease was one cold remedy although we didnt use it, I am not sure if virol is still around but I recollect the name. The scrubbing with Vim sounds painful but what dads did back then.
I have remembered the household soap was made by Fairy. I think scents are one of the things which instantly bring back memories.
Thermagene was like pink cotton wool soaked in something which made a skin reaction an bit like Ralgex.
We always had a bottle of iodine for cuts and scrapes, did that sting, mind you we never got them infected so it must have worked. Elastoplast was another, it had real sticking power in those days, made your eyes water pulling it of, none of the modern ones seem to stick like that any more.
I think Whit walks were more of a northern thing, for some reason they make me think of miners??. We did have some here many of them immigrants from the Scottish and Northern coal fields.
Beating the bounds was one thing I remember I am not sure what date that took place and I think they still do it in some places.
Annie

pam

The elastoplast used to leave a black mark the outer edges of it when we took it off didn't it, was horrible to try and get off.
derbyshire was known for mining so the walks my have had something to do with that fact. It is however a procession of 'witness' - to acknowledge that Jesus rose from the dead. It 'should' be walked a few weeks after easter when he was crucified but I'm ashamed to say I can't remember how long.
When the big miners strike came my dad worked for the coal board although not down the pits. It was very hard. I was married and remember every week taking him and mum food. One of my brothers had just started work and used to slip my dad enough for a pint at the local. Dad used to go on the coal lorries delivering coal to the old people.
The local miners welfare set up a food collection and the wives would give out boxes of groceries which had been donated by the local shops. It was a very hard time. Across the fields was an old coal tip and you could see people going down there to scrape and pick at the ground for just a bucket of coal. Pam

charles47

When I first met Gill she used Chanel No. 5.

Now she uses "Deep Heat"!

When I said this to her I found out that I no longer have the reflexes of a fighter pilot...but I can probably dodge a punch from a tortoise...

pam

Brilliant Charles!! Hey - I like Chanel no. 5- not quite got to the deep heat yet

but the way my knee feels this morning I could probably do with some!!
I remember using a colgne stick as a young girl I used to love the smell of it. Pam

Annie

Hey Charles you were lucky, I couldnt afford Chanel before I got married, cant now either come to think of it, I used a cologne stick as well 4711, I might need the Deep Heat today, I am helping at a garden open day and the shed where we make the teas will be freezing unless the sun comes out.

I well remember the miners strike and the winter of discontent, especially the power cuts, it was very hard for all the men involved, all our Kentish mines are closed now.

Thinking about it I think the reason why I associate miners with Whit Walks is a news report or film I saw many years ago. We had mines here in Kent, The last one went in the eighties, one of Julies care workers was the son of a Scots miner who came to work in the coal fieds here, his Dad walked all the way from Scotland for a job. How things have changed.

Yes the black marks from Elastoplast took forever to get rid of. There were two techniques for removing it, either rip and risk losing skin or work gently over a number of days. I think it depended on how much bravado you had.
Annie

pam

Same in derbyshire - the mines have gone - I did once go down - right to the coal face I really admired the men for being able to work in that long low tunnel. What did we used to do with most of our rubbish then? -- Burn it!! Now we are nagged at for the rubbish we create - cant win can we. Mind you I do prefere central heating!! Pam

Annie

Mining was a horrible job, my Dad did a bit when he first left school, in Scotland, he was living with his sister at the time, Mum had died and his sister met a Scots miner the in the first war, he didnt work underground though and joined the army as soon as he was 18.

Yes I prefer central heating, we did burn all our rubbish back then but if you think back we didn't produce any thing like as much any way. Veg was sold loose and tipped into a paper carrier which was used untill it fell to bits, meat was wrapped in thick white paper, these days every financial transaction seems to produce reams of paper instead of just one bill and dealing with people like social services etc produces mounds of the stuff . I guess it was easier to dispose of what we produced. And my own personal bugbear, all the adverts that come through the door via the post, free local papers and local food outlets,
Annie

We had to buy carriers as well, nobody gave them away for free,

pam

My dad also did a stint in the mines but moved on only to return yrs later - but as a manager in one of the machinery depots.
Do you remember the 'Bunty' comic and there was another one which i had and can't remember it for the life of me. I used to love the cardboard 'cut out' dolls and collected the different oufits for them They had little tabs on which you folded over to keep them on the dolls.

We loved to play the board games as well and when grandparents came on visits we would sit round playing cards. Queenie and newmarket - we loved it. Pam

Annie

Yes I remember Bunty , when we were really young we Had Chicks Own and Tiny Tots, later I had Schoolfriend, my brother favoured Beano and Dandy and The Eagle. I cant remember any others of hand but I am sure there were some.

My grandmother taught us lots of card games including Patience, which I still play on the computer but Americanised to Solitaire, we also played all the board games. Ludo, Snakes and Ladders etc. We usually listened to the radio at the same time, Childrens Hour, Educating Archie, Billy Cotton Band Show,The Glums, Round the Horn among others, Radio Luxemburg as well, Hughie Green and Michael Miles I remember from there and The Ovaltinies.
Annie

pam

Thats the one!! Schoolfriend lolol I couldn't think of it at all. I remember my brothers playing with their little plastic 'cowboy and indians' all over the floor. Used to stand on the blinkin things and they really hurt!
our toys were so much different then to what they are now. I used to read loads and loved the Enid Blyton books, oh and Brer Rabbit, as I got older I read Little Women, and Jo's Boys not forgetting Pollyanna!! I can still lose myself in a book but don't get much time. Pam

Annie

Yes, we did read, one of may favourites was Monika Dickens my granny was village librarian and suggested I try one as it was about Romney Marsh, Wish for a Pony, I read all of them after that. Enid Blyton when I was younger and various school stories, all sorts. I still read rather a lot.

My brother collected Dinky Toys, he used to save for them, little cars and lorries. My sister and I had a go at knitting dolls clothes and later sewing them.

Remember five stones and jacks, they used to have spells of popularity as well. Marbles was another one.Conkers in season as well. Hula hoops at one time, my sister was good with one of those.
Annie

pam

Yes my brothers had Dinky toys infact I still have a very old one which I bought from an antiques fare.
Hoola Hoops and all of the rest you have mentioned as well as 2/3 balls - you know throwing them to the wall and then under your leg stuff!
Knitting!!

mmmmmmmmmm well I remember whilst in my senior school buying some wool as did my friend to knit carigans for ourselves.
Well I ended up knitting about 4 rows and taking the rest of the wool back - and bought one instead. My friend however went on to knit hers and wear it! Clever girl. I however enjoyed sewing more and did make myself a trouser suit for myself when I was around 15/16 yrs old. Pam

Annie

Dont talk about knitting, last year at infants school we had to knit a pot holder, we were taught to do garter stitch and cast on. We were presented with some khaki 'wool' (perhaps left over from war time knitting) and some needles, boys and girls alike. I just couldn't get the hang of it then. We had to keep on untill it was finished. I managed to get my wool tangled round the mechanism that lifted the seat on the desk, you know the old fashioned ones with the lid that lifted and with seats attached. Those days we had to finish things so I was still knitting long after the others had finished, my Mum was pleased with the end result eventually and used it for years.
Last thing Friday teacher used to come round with the old wax polish, big dollop on each desk, we all had a cloth which we kept in the desk and we all had to polish away untill it disapeared. Woe betide any body who wrote on the desks either.
One day I actually got the hang of knitting and did quite a lot after.
Sewing wasn't so bad as I came from a long line of dress makers and I made lots of clothes. I taught my youngest daughter as she wanted to do more than they do in Technology these days and she made her wedding dress last year and her boyfriends gear, it was a medievil theme, lots of the costumes were home made and looked really good.
Do you remember the playground games and skipping rhymes, we knew loads of those and skipping games,
Annie

pam

I can't remember having to clean my desk - but remember the teachers throwing chalk and even the board rubber at pupils who were not paying attention. The cane was also in use 0uch!! I never had the pleasure if it but was once threatened with it.
I remember playing hop-scotch used to love that game and still show the children how to play it. We were allowed to draw it in the playground Tig, kiss cat, and the two/three balls up to the walls. Oh and hand stands we saw more girls blue knickers in those days didn't we!!

Our toilets were outside as well in those days right at the top of the playground we also had an 'air raid shelter in the school yard and loved to play in there - although we could only get so far inside as the rest was blocked by a large iron gate which was padlocked.
My hubby's mum had an air raid shelter in her yard his father had it done I believe, it was reinforced and still had bunk beds inside. Pam

Annie

Actually as far as I know I went to the only school where pupils cleaned their desks.
Yes knickers were often on display, in P.E with a skirt tucked in, doing cart wheels, handstands etc, some of the skipping games had actions where you showed your knickers, not navy in my case,bottle green at one school and maroon at another.
There were always hopscotch grids along the road and in the playground when I was growing up, I read a sad bit in a paper last week where some kids were told of by officials for marking a pavement to play hopscotch, sad to say.
Tracking was anotherpopular game where you chalked arrows for people to follow, they used to be all over the village.
I lived in a house once with part of the basement converted to an air raid shelter, none in the garden where I grew up but when we first moved in Mum and Dad had to clear the garden of shell cases as the cottage was near a railway halt that had received lots of bombs, dad made some of them imto candlesticks as they were brass.
Annie

pam

I loved the skipping games - remember 'higher and higher? Whip and tops and yo yo's - couldn't do the yo yo's for the life of me. We had a farm across the road from us and used the autmn nights to go scrumping farmer always had loads of nettles growing round hi trees - I wonder why?? After one scrumping session we went onto the playing fields at the back of our house. I needed to nip home for something and one of the lads shouted 'Pam!' I turned round and got an apple smack in the eye ended up at the doctors with a very swollen and painful eye having to wear sun glasses as I couldn't stand the light in it. That was a bit of 'fun' which went wrong. Sadly years later that same friend hung himself at the ripe old age of 19yrs. Pam

Annie

Yes, sometimes we had loads of kids playing the skipping games, I liked Yo-yo's, I actually have one here that Julie was trying to get the hang of.
Scrumping, yes did that, best was the cherry orchard near the church, no nettles but a big black dog running loose, when he ran and barked the farmer used to appear with his shot gun. Lots of fruit around here as it was part of the blossom route, coaches used to come down from London at blossom time, not so good now as the trees are smaller but still very pretty. Not so many types of apples either, Millers tasted good even when tiny unlike most of them, plums and damsons as well, oposite the church small very sweet pears which just used to drop along the road, we picked up loads of them.
We used to go blackberrying and collect sloes and bullace as well. Also rosehips.
Mum used to make damson jam and I still do, lovely on toast.
Sorry to hear about your friend, it is suprising how many of the people I grew up with are gone including my brother who was killed in a car crash when he was 19 and in the R.A.F.
Annie

pam

Sorry to hear of the death of your brother ann that must have been a terrible time in your life. xx
I had another male from my class who also hanged himself he would have been in his early 20's and a friend who was in 'our group' in our early teen yrs who went on to joine the army and had a massive heart attack at 30yrs which killed him. So sad all the young lives which never get the chance to live on until the retirement age.
We used to go blackberrying as well and mum would make lovely pies. Did you used to put them in salt first then stand and watch for the grubs to crawl out!

It made us realise what we had eaten whilst picking them???
Years ago I made sloe gin - I used to make all different types of wine from fruit and veg. The recipe said to get a small bottle of gin and steep the sloe's for ex amount of time. I watched as the sloe's got fatter and my gin shrunk down the bucket

couldn't see the point in that ( well I could have enjoyed that gin with some tonic in!) never did that one again it just didn't work out.
I also made some potatoe wine which went sour - it stunk us out

and some elderberry which obviously I hadn't 'racked off' enough before bottling it and storing it in the spare room. Kept hearing occassional banging noises at night - thought it was a car back firing - until one night I twigged on and went in there to look at my wine. -Oh dear - what a mess!!

I just buy it these day's it's easier and cheaper. Pam

Speeds

pam

what about you speeds any memories from yester year you would like to share?
Re- the wine - I don't get the time either.

Pam

Annie

yes, I remember the maggots in apples and the blackberries, I wonder how many we actually ate, don't think it bothered us that much. Yes we had pies made out of windfalls and blackberries. Another foul thing was the fish my brother used to catch in the river, he came home once with a huge pike, he wanted us to eat it, lots of local ways of soaking freshwater fish before cooking, Mum used salt water but it still tasted exactly like the Medway when it was cooked. We always soaked garden peas in water before cooking so the maggotty ones rose and the maggots wriggled out.

Mum and my Uncle Jack used to make wine, that's what the rosehips were for. Not too sure they were that good as it was usually like sour thick sweet alchohol, only shop bought stuff we had then was port and sherry at Christmas and always a bottle of Stones green ginger, I only found out what real wine tasted like once I grew up. Like you I prefer to buy. Mum gave it up but Uncle Jack carried on and used to offer a glass when we visited, too polite to refuse. Like you I buy mine these days.

My mother used to do 'eyewatering pickled onions' as well. I was talking to an elderly lady in the village who said when he was about sixteen my brother and his mate fancied her daughter so one time when they came round she was peeling onions for pickling and had both of the boys sitting at her kitchen table peeling, things you do for love eh.

Did you have a ginger beer plant, the whole country did at one point, you kept it fermenting and once a week topped up the sugar and yeast and water, drained of half before doing that and gave it away, (probably explains why the whole country had one. In the end you couldnt give it away. It had to be kept 'live' probably ceased when they all died.

Losing my brother was hard, the first time I experienced the death of somebody that close, one thing I have from that which I have learn't to be very true, my late Mum said you don't get over losing a child but you do learn to live with it.
Annie

Speeds

I do have some - but my memories are so young and almost seem inconsequential

I will have to wrack my brains

Annie

Speeds,
do rack your brains, as a family historian I believe that memories are important, I have a fabulous book which is based on lots of memories of the beginning of the last century recorded in late eighties, it is fascinating,
Annie.

pixie

Can you still get ginger beer plants because I want one.

I loved making ginger beer and I still have a glass a day now. It's good for the digestion.

pam

Speeds any of your memories would be interesting to read I bet you have loads once you start thinking back.
Ann I remember the ginger plants and the ginger beer well - hated the stuff. Mum always had one or two on the go still don't like ginger - except for ginger biscuits for some reason.
I remember mum putting (Ithink it was a rabbit) insalt water, it was in a large basin in the dining room. Whilst we were all out the dog somehow got in there and drank all the water out of the bowl.

ugh

Speeds I haven't seen any ginger plants for a long time but I am sure they must still be around. Pam

Annie

Pixie,
I Googled yesterday to see if there was a recipe for ginger beer the way we made it back in the 60's, no luck but there are lots of recipes available, most look a bit more alcholic than that one.
I dont like rabbit much any way Pam so the dog would be a good excuse for not eating it, puts me in mind of a friend when I first married, she had a cat and dog who had lived together for years, one day she put her leg of lamb to rest on the kitchen unit, the cat jumped up and knocked it down, the dog grabbed it and shot of up stairs with it followed by the cat, when she got to the top landing they were both tucking in. Completely ruined her Sunday roast,
Annie

pixie

Thanks Annie, that was very good of you. We don't really drink alchohol so maybe I will give it a miss and carry on buying it for now.

pam

As a very young girl my daughter had a rabbit and a dog for pets. when we went out we would leave the dog in the garden and the rabbit out, as well - they were such good friends the rabbit was kept safe from any cats as the dog hated them and would chase them away. As a pup the dog spent lots of time in the hutch with the rabbit. On one occassion I was putting some fresh water in the rabbit hutch and thought I heard the rabbit bark - nahhhhh I thought as the dog was milling around. Later in the week I again went to the hutch - guess what?? It was the rabbit that barked!!!

Pam

Annie

I have heard of animals doing similar things, obviously the rabbit thought he was a dog.
When I was young we had a cat that would attack any thing, she used to bring home gifts, there was a ledge outside the back door where she would leave various dead animals, even a hedgehog once, she even used to catch fish in the stream outside the cottage, she did really well one year when floods washed the carp out of the farm managers pond and they swam down the stream,
Annie

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Trousers.