Childhood & Sentimental memories

Olliebeak

My apologies Hester - We are the same age . It must be the 'grandmother' influence - I too was born in 1951 and I lived with my grandparents. So we are both 50's babies but with 30's/40's influences on our up-bringing!

My nickname as a teenager was Olliebeak - because my friends discovered that my 'unused first name' was Olga! It didn't help when I got myself a boyfriend called Fred!! - then the double act of Ollie Beak and Fred Barker was well and truly born. Of course, as I got older I didn't object to the 'Olga' part of my name (it sounded foreign and mysterious!) - but when I was very young I really hated it. All my school friends were Gillians, Lindas, Pamelas, Vivians etc and 'Olga' just sounded like the word 'ugly' .

Fancy your teacher punishing you for lying about not having a television - that's disgusting. Nowadays of course they would probably know a little more about each pupil's background - or at least I would hope that they do. Have to admit that my school was fully aware that I lived with grandparents. We once did a school class project where we had to give info about our families. I ticked the box about being an only child AND the one about having sisters/brothers! Some of the kids in my class had been to a party at my home and hadn't seen any sisters/brothers and were most confused about that bit. Then again, others weren't surprised - I think in those days it wasn't THAT unusual for children to be brought up by grandparents/aunts. Sometimes family accommodations weren't always suitable for children to live in - at least until the post-war house building got further under way in the mid to late 50's!

dND

Hi Hester,

I had a 'Rosebud' doll too! If I remember rightly she was an offer on the back of Kellogs cornflakes (early 60's). I loved her so much, partly because she was the only large doll I had.

I also remember many years later, coming back from university one time and finding that my parents had binned her and it really upset me.

shetitasatic

Hi Olliebeak and Hardup Hester - I remember Liberty bodices, I had a 'weak' chest and was made to wear them! I also had the ones with the suspenders on, to wear with 'lisle' stockings. I also remember as a teenager in the early 60's wearing a roll on girdle (what on earth for - I was skinny!) with suspenders, as tights hadn't been invented!
Sometimes the button came off the suspenders and you had to keep your stockings up with a sixpence or even a polo mint!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

rosieben

I remember listen with mother, and then watch with mother when Andy Pandy, muffin the mule and the woodentops were the favourites!

Listening to Radio Luxembourg whilst I did my homework; it was the only pop music on radio at the time (remember the ad for the football pools - Keynshan, spelt K E Y N S H A M)

The radio stations were definitely not geared for kids, apart from listen with mother and Uncle Macs club on saturday morning - who else remembers Sparky the Magic Piano?

I thought I was in heaven when we were given a little pop music on Radio 2 and then the pirate stations, Radio Caroline etc, and I was listening for the first ever broadcast of Radio 1, good old Tone!!

I remember mother listening to Mrs Dale's Diary too, and all of us singing along with Sing Something Simple .....

nuttyrockeress

What a super thread. It’s taken me 2 days to read in between meetings etc!

Just wanted to add a few memories of my own, seeing as I have had so much pleasure in reading other peoples memories! (I was born summer 1978)

I remember going scrumping. As a child I was overweight and used to panic that I wouldn’t be able to run away quick enough if we ever got caught. I think this is where my love for hard conference pears comes from – pears fresh from the tree “kank hard” as good old dad used to say. The place where we used to go has been long gone now – there are houses on the orchard – about 15 so you can imagine how big it was!!

I too used to get a weekly comic. I started off with Twinkle, then onto My little pony and onto Care bears. Next one called My girl or something similar?? Next came Whizzer and Chips – Beano and Dandy. Then I discovered music and Smash hits then finally onto Just 17, oh then at about 16/17 I discovered More (that was an eye opener!!)

When I was little I had my bedroom decorated from head to toe in Pirouette – Wallpaper, carpet, duvet, lamp, lampshade, nightdress holder, perfume and ornaments in my window!

I remember the Bazooka gum – it was a pink colour, a bit like the Anglo bubblies but they had a tattoo and a comic strip inside!

Another one I remember which no-one I tell does was Cadbury’s silk….. Probably as I was/am very fond of Strawberry creams!! They were 5 individual (caramel keg shaped) pieces of chocolate, filled with strawberry fondant mmm – wish they would bring them back!!

I too remember Piglets – we at work seem to think there was a baked bean flavour too?

The snow years ago used to be amazing!! I remember one year it snowed so much that it took down all the electric and bought down all the telephone lines for days. Dear old dad used to be a welder and made me a sledge – it would only go in really thick snow as it was far to heavy and used to make it way though to the concrete!! I much preferred the old coal bags that he used to bring home, you could go on for miles!! What fun

Dad also made me a swing in the garage. 2 heavy duty hooks in the garage roof and a seat – me and my friends had hours of fun!

Another thing that I remember is home brew and home wine. Dad used to make sloe wine amongst other stuff. Our street had (still does and 7 of the familes still live there now!) 10 houses on and we were all really close. An older couple who lived opposite, made a bar in their garage. One night we had a party and dad took some home brew and wine along. The woman next door (who still lives next to mum now) doesn’t drink. She got plastered on the wine and had to be carried home – heh-heh!

When all the kids from the street used to come to play in our garage on the swing, I used to show them what a big girl I was and drink from the keg that was stored in the garage cupboard – eww, the things you did.

I used to collect Barbie stickers, I managed to fill 2 albums with the swaps I had and still be a couple of stickers missing. I remember you used to get stickers that you could move and dress Barbie in different outfits.

Holidays were a caravan in Chapel St Lennoards (one of our neighbours hired one out) on the Maid Marion site. There always used to be me, mum, dad, grandma and granddad plus on occasions other family. Every night we used to go in the arcade after tea then onto the Maid Marion club. One night, we found a machine in the arcade (little john I think the arcade was called) that got a balloon by a mechanical arm, fixed it to a pipe and then filled it up with helium. Then it attached it to a hollow ring and appeared through a shutter at the side. I begged and pleaded for one so dad gave in. Anyway, we went into the club and had tied the balloon string around his wrist to keep it from drifting up to the ceiling. He lit a cigar up for a smoke and somehow managed to burn through the string which made the balloon drift skywards – the ceiling was so very very high – needless to say I screamed for hours!!

Each night whilst at the caravan, dad and I used to take the dog for a walk on the beach (back in the day where you could walk dogs on the beach without getting in to trouble) We used to look at the stars and talk about the constellations.

I remember watching You and Me – I loved the market stall with Cosmo and Dibs!! I also remember watching Look and Read at school with Wordy.

When I was at nursery, I remember rushing home to watch Button Moon, Let’s pretend, Postman Pat, Bagpuss, Pigeon Street, Finger mouse, Rainbow and so many more!! I adored Pigeon street!

If I was poorly, I used to go to Grandma and Grandad’s (mum’s side) and stay with them. I always used to get toast and butter or dairylea for breakfast then I used to get Heinz tomato soup for dinner/lunch with bread and butter! Mama (as I used to call her) used to have an old biscuit tin in her cupboard that she would fill will chocolate and mints – everything used to be minty lol!

Gosh the memories are flowing now. Better leave it at that for now!!

Keep them coming folks!

maypole

Popping the tar bubbles on the road, that was when we used to get hot summers and not so much traffic on the roads . The smell of tar takes me back there.

Olliebeak

shetitasatic wrote: »

.............. I also remember as a teenager in the early 60's wearing a roll on girdle (what on earth for - I was skinny!) with suspenders, as tights hadn't been invented!.......:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I bet your mother would have said it was 'to keep your kidneys warm!' :rotfl:

I remember the 6d in the suspenders as well - I've always been very tall and the stockings in those days didn't have much stretch in them. I was lucky if my stockings came more than 3inches above my knees! Consequently the suspenders were always stretched to their full-length and would 'ping' off the stocking tops - how embarassing . Do you remember the stockings with the small, all-over diamond patterns on them? They were considered to be quite 'racey' at the time .

I remember getting my first pair of tights (Nov 1967 and they cost 11/6 (57p by today's money!)) and going out on a date in them. They were really WAY too short in length (like everything else was for me) and by the time we came out of the cinema the gusset was almost between my knees. We were taking a romantic walk home through the park and I didn't have the courage to tell the lad that I needed to adjust my tights - there was NO way I was stopping on the way home due to my embarassment . Those tights got thrown in the bin when I got home and I had to buy much more expensive ones in future - the lesson learned that evening was that 'one-size fits all' DIDN'T in my case (5'10" and size 16).

Maypole - did your mother use butter/margarine to get the tar off your fingers after you'd been popping the bubbles? :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

MRSMCAWBER

Nuttyrockeress

you and me
me and you
lots n lots for us to do

me and you
you and me
lots n lots for us to see

Ok i got that out of my system:rotfl:

I was really posting, to find out where abouts in notinghamshire you are from??? im from sutton in ashfield-we used to go to chapel (maid marion site), ingoldmels... never stayed in skeggy as it was too noisy:rotfl: ..so visited instead

nuttyrockeress

Mrsmcawber i'm originally from selston but now at jacksdale.

another comment i remember dad saying when i was little when i asked what was for tea was either bread and catch it or sh** with sugar on

cathodetube

I have so enjoyed reading this thread. My mum was English (she's dead now) and my dad is American. I visited this country a lot while growing up in the US in Sixties and Seventies. Hated cheese until I came here and was forced to try a huge selection by my Auntie Sheila bought from the British Home Stores cheese counter. Remember that? Cheshire, Lancashire Wensleydale, Double Gloucester, Strong Cheddar. I was a convert! I also loved butter spread on Ryvitas which she kept in her larder. Still eat that today in her memory. She also used to bring me up a cup of tea in the morning with two biscuits, usually rich tea and digestives. I used to love having the digestives spread with butter and cheese on the top.

My mum used to make tarts for Christmas, jam and lemon curd, plus mince pies. She used to give them to our American neighbours who found them quaint. My mum used to come back from England with huge slabs of Thornton's toffee (she was from Yorkshire) and boxes and boxes of tea as the tea in the US is horrible. I remember going to the Thorntons shops in Sheffield before they opened up down south and seeing the toffee broken up by mallet wielding shop assistants and then put in lovely boxes and tins. Shame they don't do that anymore. My mum also used to stockpile tins of Fray Bentos steak and kidney puddings which she never ate. Why? She would also bring back Birds Custard Powder. She would make meat and potato pie with a china blackbird in the middle holding up the pastry. Was that a Yorkshire thing? She used to eat bread and dripping, and I tried it and could see that it could be very addictive. She also loved sandwiches made with any kind of potatoes. She would give us chukkie eggs (soft boiled) with toast soldiers for breakfast. Does anyone else know that name? She also gave us tinned tomatoes on toast, with I still like today.

The first time I was given orange juice here I spat it out as it turned out to be orange squash!

My American grandmother would make us boiled potatoes and serve them to us with French's mustard squeezed over them. Her mother did it for her and her sister at the turn of the last century growing up in Ohio. Grocery stores sell it here now. To this day I still don't like ketchup with any kind of potatoes. Try the French's with chips, it is fab! My grandmother also used to fry apple slices in butter, sugar and cinammon and serve them to us as an after school snack. Ditto for sugar and butter sandwiches, on white bread. The same grandmother would make us apple dumplings served with homemade custard. The dumplings were cored apples, stuffed with sugar, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg and wrapped up in shortcrust pastry and baked. Like your own apple pie all to yourself.

My Yorkshire relatives would always have tea at about 5 pm, with lots of sandwiches, cheese, cold meats, pickles and cake. And tea. Loved that meal. Then they would have supper later! They didn't have a fridge, only a larder and you used to have to take a stone hot water bottle to bed with you. No central heating. I remember being cold most of the time here when I first came to live. Living in rented flats with teeny tiny gas fires and scuttling back and forth from the bathroom after a bath to sitting right in front of the gas fire in order to stay warm. And not wanting to get out of bed in the morning because the bedroom was so cold I could see my breath fogging in the air.

My mum's auntie in Leicestershire had an outside toilet and she used to keep her chamber pot under the bed. I screamed when I found it one day while playing as it was full of liquid. I had never heard of chamber pots before. I was seven! We only had indoor plumbing in the States.

I remember watching Coronation Street and not being able to understand what they were saying! It's one of my favourite programmes now. My mother bought us all proper brown leather English sandals and made us wear them back in the States. All our friends made fun of us as the buckles made a jingling noise. I was so embarrassed and refused to wear them.

Does anyone remember a chocolate that Maynards made with coconut inside it? I used to love visiting the shop that they had in North London and buying a quarter of various things. I love aniseed balls and liquorice toffee which you can still find in certain places.

This thread has made hysterical reading for me. Thank you everyone. I am sure I will be back.