Do you remember odd details from long ago?

Both my children were born in Freedom Fields Hospital, daughter in 1978 and son in 1979. He then had surgery in Derriford Hospital a couple of years later.

Back in the late 40's, early 50s my Dad's car was an Austin 7. RPJ 170. He upgraded to a Ford Anglia DeLuxe (it had a clock - which was broken) EKT 541, when I was 4 years old. I can't remember the reg of his next car as he only had the Standard Ensign (in a sort of butterscotch colour) for a short while. He had difficulty seeing over the steering wheel. The next, Anglia 105E (BY 2872), later became my first car. By then I had left home so didn't really get to know his subsequent cars.

CariadAgain

Considering my memories are pretty non-existent until mid-teenage I remembered the hospital my mother had me in back in the 1950s - ie Derriford in Plymouth (was wondering whether I could ask the hospital what time I was born - for horoscope purposes - but I don't suppose they've kept those records all these years).

I remember the first time I realised my mother was an awful cook and I must have been about 5 years old when mince was part of the meal she gave me and my reaction to it was "It's awful....I've got a bad cook for a mother....I'll have to eat it though #sighs".

CariadAgain doesn't your time of birth show on your birth certificate?

When I was very small our three cats were Sir Sixie Sixpence, Tuppence and Penny Fluff (She was an angora). The neighbours' cat was Dee-Dee, at least that is what his name sounded like, but I could neither read nor spell at that time, so I have no idea if anyone even ever wrote the cat's name!

But for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the Mininister's wife's cat at the Manse across the road - only that the cat disliked small children, intensely. And now there is no-one left to ask what that cat was called.

Allira

I can remember the registration of my first car from 60 years ago - but none since!

Me too! I know my current car too but not the ones in between.

I can remember my mobile number but not my landline number as I rarely use it. I've had it for over 20 years but I have to look it up if I need to put it on a form!

Thisismyname1953

When I was in the choir in grammar school we learned to sing the Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear. For some reason this afternoon it came into my head and I have been singing it for the past hour . I could remember most of it but had to check up on the bit about eating with a runciple spoon. Whatever one of those is 😂

My English teacher told us a runcible spoon was a metal spoon that had been made to look like silver but was made of base metal. Presumably she meant EPS. (Or is it EPNS? ) Electro-plated at any rate.

However, Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary says runicible is a nonsense word made up by Edward Lear.

So you pays your money and takes your choice!

Rosiebee

Someone on the radio recently mentioned a Welsh hymn that I remember singing at school as a child - in Welsh. I spent the whole day with this lovely hymn going round in my head. How has my brain retained this for what must be nearly 60 years without me sadly even being able to speak Welsh. I won't have heard it since school as I moved to college in England at the age of 18 and have lived here ever since.

When I was at school I was in the choir. We were quite succesful in festivals etc and sang on TV too. We went on a week long trip to our twin town which was a suburb of Paris and gave a couple of concerts while there as well as being entertained with various trips. We learnt to sing the French National anthem for the trip and I still remember most of it although I don't remember what all the words mean. I think I did know at the time.

Having a pessary shoved-up bum by a male doctor as a 3yr old and feeling horribly shy & embarrassed! I was a very sensitive child & it still makes me feel odd. 😶

I had a detail memory confirmed by my mother when I told her I remembered the window panes in the house where I was born...it was a thirties house. I told her the panes were oblong but not on end, lying sideways in the window frame.

She was so amazed. We left that house when I was two.

I can remember the registration number of my dad’s very first car and that was roughly 68 years ago ! Also recently on a particular day:date I thought that’s Lesley’s birthday- a girl at school I was not particularly friendly with 🤷‍♀️

I can remember the registration of my first car from 60 years ago - but none since!

Crossstitchfan

Allira

CariadAgain

Considering my memories are pretty non-existent until mid-teenage I remembered the hospital my mother had me in back in the 1950s - ie Derriford in Plymouth (was wondering whether I could ask the hospital what time I was born - for horoscope purposes - but I don't suppose they've kept those records all these years).

I remember the first time I realised my mother was an awful cook and I must have been about 5 years old when mince was part of the meal she gave me and my reaction to it was "It's awful....I've got a bad cook for a mother....I'll have to eat it though #sighs".

It won't have been Derriford Hospital, CarisdAgain as it wasn't built in the 1950s.

Could it have been Freedom Fields Hospital? Or Greenbank Hospital?

For a while Flete House was used as a maternity hospital after wartime bombings rendered some hospitals unusable. It closed in 1958. I only knew about that because MIL told me, she had her second child there.

I was born in Flete House in 1945. I remember my mother telling me it was owned by a Lord Mildmay. We left Plymouth in 1948 when I was three, and I don’t remember any of it.

It was some distance from Plymouth, I think, was it near Modbury?

Last week I sang to the family the whole two verses of a 1950s advertisement jingle for Lucky Strike cigarettes sung each week on a TV show the USA, where we lived when I was a kid. I realise I can remember the jingle for Colgate toothpaste, too. Obviously the important stuff sticks with me!

Allira

CariadAgain

Considering my memories are pretty non-existent until mid-teenage I remembered the hospital my mother had me in back in the 1950s - ie Derriford in Plymouth (was wondering whether I could ask the hospital what time I was born - for horoscope purposes - but I don't suppose they've kept those records all these years).

I remember the first time I realised my mother was an awful cook and I must have been about 5 years old when mince was part of the meal she gave me and my reaction to it was "It's awful....I've got a bad cook for a mother....I'll have to eat it though #sighs".

It won't have been Derriford Hospital, CarisdAgain as it wasn't built in the 1950s.

Could it have been Freedom Fields Hospital? Or Greenbank Hospital?

For a while Flete House was used as a maternity hospital after wartime bombings rendered some hospitals unusable. It closed in 1958. I only knew about that because MIL told me, she had her second child there.

I was born in Flete House in 1945. I remember my mother telling me it was owned by a Lord Mildmay. We left Plymouth in 1948 when I was three, and I don’t remember any of it.

Back in the 60s, if you shopped at the Co-op you got Co-op dividend and were issued with a reference number. Mine was 11628! Still remember it after all this time!

I remember my granddad's car registration number PSG 770. It was a Wolseley in Champagne beige. Really really useless information to clog my brain up with.

I remember my phone number 44834 because we had it drummed into us as a kid in case of emergencies along with a 10p coin. I could not even tell you what my landline tel no is now and I have lived here 6 yrs!

This thread has reassured me! I have all sorts of random things pop into my head from childhood.

kircubbin2000

I woke up this morning thinking for some reason about a cat my neighbour had 50 years ago. I could not remember it's name and it has annoyed me all day.Eventually I went through the alphabet and at last I got it! TRIXIE!

I found myself doing that (going through the alphabet) quite recently when my seldom seen brother unexpectedly turned up on my doorstep one day. Luckily, his name begins with an A, so I got there before any embarassment ocurred. Names come and go with me.

However there is one retrospectively embarassing event which suddenly surfaced a few years ago when a friend was talking about sailing.

Now I wish I could forget it. I must have been about 3 years old, on holiday in, I think, the Swanage area. My father took me along to the Sailing Club where he had temporary holiday membership and was showing me off to his new sailing buddies. For some reason I announced "My Daddie has a Willie!" I didn't understand the laughter and remarks which ensued then of course. Unfortunately though, once remembered, never more to be forgotten.

Dizzyribs

@kircubbin You’ve raised a memory for me! I haven’t thought about Mrs D’s cat for well over 60 years! He was called Mr Thomas. Not a very friendly cat unfortunately,

You've reminded me of a stint decades back where I had a live-in job in a College.

Cue for a group of us were sitting there watching a mini play being put on in a huge lounge there with two doors. It was supposed to be serious - and the main actor concerned was putting on a big "it's serious....I'm dying...collapsing gradually" thing - as someone's huge cat was getting more and more curious and closely following the "dying" actor as they staggered from one door to the next. Totally ruined a mood that was meant to be sombre - as I think we were all focused on the cat looking more and more curious. That's a memory from over 50 years ago....

@kircubbin You’ve raised a memory for me! I haven’t thought about Mrs D’s cat for well over 60 years! He was called Mr Thomas. Not a very friendly cat unfortunately,

Someone on the radio recently mentioned a Welsh hymn that I remember singing at school as a child - in Welsh. I spent the whole day with this lovely hymn going round in my head. How has my brain retained this for what must be nearly 60 years without me sadly even being able to speak Welsh. I won't have heard it since school as I moved to college in England at the age of 18 and have lived here ever since.

CariadAgain

Allira

CariadAgain

Considering my memories are pretty non-existent until mid-teenage I remembered the hospital my mother had me in back in the 1950s - ie Derriford in Plymouth (was wondering whether I could ask the hospital what time I was born - for horoscope purposes - but I don't suppose they've kept those records all these years).

I remember the first time I realised my mother was an awful cook and I must have been about 5 years old when mince was part of the meal she gave me and my reaction to it was "It's awful....I've got a bad cook for a mother....I'll have to eat it though #sighs".

It won't have been Derriford Hospital, CarisdAgain as it wasn't built in the 1950s.

Could it have been Freedom Fields Hospital? Or Greenbank Hospital?

For a while Flete House was used as a maternity hospital after wartime bombings rendered some hospitals unusable. It closed in 1958. I only knew about that because MIL told me, she had her second child there.

Could have sworn my mother told me it was Derriford Hospital. I looked at the photos and thought "It looks like it was built in the 1950s". Maybe it was something else she was referring to then?

I know she certainly had me in hospital and it was Plymouth. My mother being my mother - I recall her comment of "There was two wards that they put women in then - and they obviously sorted you out as to which one you belonged in - as they put me in the correct one for me". LOL - by which, knowing my mother as I did, she meant "They put the 'rougher' women in the other ward...".

I knew what my mother was like in that respect...

So I remember they put her in the ward she felt was appropriate for her. She was in for a week and no-one who knew me saw me for the first few days. She was always "real size 8"/tiny and I was her first child and she would never talk about things like that (having been brought up by a woman two generations older than her - her grandmother in the event as I realised). So she was too ill to see me, my great-grandmother didnt want to come and see me and my father was armed forces (so I imagine he was somewhere he couldnt come and see me). The other thing I remember is her telling me "You have the exact same birthmark as your father and it's at the exact same place" and so the doctors said to her "It's a million to one chance she (me) could be anyone else's other than your husbands". Guess I was doing my own little bit of making sure the staff didn't muddle me up with anyone else's baby whilst they were the ones having to look after me.....

I worked for the Area Health Authority in the late 1960s and Derriford Hospital was in the planning stages then. It opened in early 1980s I think, but we'd moved by then.
One of my DC was born at Freedom Fields but because I opted to stay in for just 24 hours they put me in my own room. I could hear laughter from the ward the other new Mums were on because they were staying in for eight days.
I was miserable!

Thisismyname1953

When I was in the choir in grammar school we learned to sing the Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear. For some reason this afternoon it came into my head and I have been singing it for the past hour . I could remember most of it but had to check up on the bit about eating with a runciple spoon. Whatever one of those is 😂

I only found out last week that someone I knew nearly thirty years ago died recently. Sadly he was relatively young and it has saddened me greatly. When I looked at his funeral service ( which he would have chosen himself) they read out The Owl and the Pussycat. It was so ‘him’ .

I can remember singing "All things bright and beautiful" in the school hall at junior school which always smelt of plasticine.