Half a century ago... what were you up to?

I was thirty and had three small children, husband just getting his business started so we were quite short of money but weren’t they happy days. I now have three adult children who are super and loving.

I was preparing to go on stage in a ballet which I had also choreographed having taken four years out to look after my first child. Because of the break I was hugely nervous but very excited. It went well but it was my last season because it made me realise I definitely wanted to be a full time mum.

This time in 1973 I was 20 and 2 weeks from giving birth to my DD . A week next Saturday she is hosting a big party for her 50th but is convinced nobody will turn up 😂.

I'd just graduated from university and was applying for jobs. I landed one, reasonably locally, that was actually relevant to my degree subjects! Amazing luck! It was as an analytical chemist in a sewage works lab, analysing the constituents of sewage and trade effluents. Happy days!

I was in hospital in Exeter which turned out to be osteomyelitis of the right ilium. Extremely painful. I also happened to be pregnant and after I had an operation to scrape the bone and a course of very strong antibiotics I eventually went home after 7 weeks. Not long after, I lost the baby I was carrying at 22 weeks. A year later I gave birth to my youngest son.

Fifty years ago - I was in my second year as a student mental health nurse, recovered from my first love and going out with a lovely hairy folk musician. Horrible hours working 11 days a fortnight on rotating shifts. Even at 19 I swore I'd leave as soon as I qualified and find a more civilized job. I went on to do a degree, not nursing, and became a uni lecturer which was probably the right sort of job as it often involved teaching on the new nursing degree courses. If I'd known what I do now - I'd have kept my opinions to myself and taken a more political and less challenging approach at work instead of trying to change the world. It would have been a lot easier and probably more effective.

Having my heart broken. I thought I'd never recover. Little do we know that's just the beginning...

Married with a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. A stay-at-home Mum and facing the prospect of a milestone 30th birthday later that year.

I was a student and working at a summer job along with my future husband.

being 5

In 1973 I was 6 enjoying life not a care in the world my sister was 13 & little did we know we’d be joined by a little brother 1 year later happy days

8 months pregnant with first DS.it’s was a very worrying time as my first pregnancy was a still birth.All was good I had 9 pound very healthy baby boy.

Travelling home overland from Kathmandu by bus after spending a couple of years working in Thailand!

This time fifty years ago I was off to Geneva. The Quakers (I'm not one but I went to a Quaker school) ran a summer course there for school leavers to study the work of the UN. Spent two weeks in a very fancy student hostel, "Foyer John Knox", went to UN sessions and also visited other international institutions, ate interesting food, learnt how to smoke and drink, lost my virginity....

Age 16 I had completed my GCE's and was spending a month at my French penfriends in a little village in Normandy where her parents ran a family bakery and village boulangerie.

Same as you fiorentina51 preparing for my September wedding.

I was one year old!

We lived in a semi in a cul de sac in Netherton, Dudley.

My mom didn’t work, but would soon start teacher training.
Before she had me she was a Demonstrator for the MEB.

My dad was an accountant at the MEB and studying for lots of qualifications.

We had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Emma, and the owls, of course.
We had a navy blue VW Beetle.

We would be going on holiday to Western Super Mare with my Nan and Grandad any time soon.
They had a green Beetle.

My Nan was a Teacher and my Grandad worked at a glass factory.
He had been in The Royal Engineers during the war.

I was 25, just finished a shorthand/typing course and about to start a job in a bank.
I had been in England for just over a year, having followed a young man from Oz, where I had done a degree in microbiology. Third country in 4 years.
I was heartbroken when he dumped me a few months later. It turned out for the better as a year later I met my wonderful, kind DH.

I was planning my wedding. I was hoping for stability, comfort and companionship which had never been in abundance in my life. None of these came my way with marriage as I'd hoped and so I remained lonely for a good few years. Life did eventually get a lot better after my divorce.

Claretjan

LRavenscroft

Dancing to Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple and madly in love with Richard Gillan who I still think is the most handsomest man to walk the planet.

Do you mean Ian Gillan? I was a big Deep Purple fan too!

Oh, dear, yes, I mean Ian Gillan. Brain cells failing! Glad you like them too.

Yes, I loved Marc Bolan too. 😊

In 1973 I had my son aged 2 and my daughter aged 1, with a husband who was violent! Fortunately, with the support of my family and friends, I was strong enough to leave. Never looked back. Life is good. ♥️

I was 20 working as a nursery nurse in a SCBU at our local hospital and married for a year. I was very fashion conscious and wore maxi coats and shiny white leather boots and shamefully shirt mini skirts. I liked hard rock / heavy metal music and the year before had gone abroad for the first time when I went on my honeymoon. My monthly salary was about £25 a month

I was 2 months married to my first husband and already realised I had made a mistake. Fear of failure made me stay 22 years. What a waste of my youth.
I'm all for living together as is now often the case.

In 1973, I was 14 and thought Marc Bolan was beautiful