Fifty Years Ago

I still miss pounds shillings and pence, it was money with character. I remember my brother and myself emptying out our red tin money boxes using a knife and how excited we would get, half a crown, thruppenny bit a sixpence a penny, A shilling and two shillings..... That was in the days when you had to save for things and we could only get money out of those money boxes twice a year once for the fair and once for Christmas... and yes they were happy days....

We were still in the uk but about to emigrate to Australia. I can’t really remember the discussions about the metric system, I thought you still had pounds shillings and pence ? We have metric here and I find one of the confusing things is heights of people in cm rather than feet and inches. I have got used to metres in material but the weight of babies has me foxed. Many still think in terms of pounds and ounces, younger ones too.

I worked in a library. We were invaded by a mob of angry, elderly shoppers - demanding to know, instantly, what this or that was in real money!

I had to draw up a poster, pretty quickly, to display comparisons/conversions

They'd all noticed that local shops had all increased their prices, rounding everything up, not down.

Things were 99¹/²p.
I remember my mum being cross at that because it was more than it had been.

Apart from decimal currency I still think of old weights as stones pounds and ounces. A five pound bag of potatoes and a two pound bag of sugar. All my recipes are in old measures, and if I stand on the scales I want to see my weight in stones and pounds as kilos are meaningless. Its not just me, is it?

We were living in Belgium then and using francs and cents, so by the time we came home to decimal currency we had no problems. I remember my mother and father being unable to get their heads round it though! I’m afraid I still use pounds and ounces though.

I’m still in pounds and ounces too - or else I just ask for 4 or 6 of what I want to be weighed. I think ‘old money’ had more character - always 2 half crowns in the 60’s for my school dinner money - never anything else. Pocket money was the same and 1 half crown bought 6 Post Office savings stamps, from a lady who called every Friday night. I had £6 by Christmas to get family presents. Good memories.

I was teaching- so much easier than £.s.d. I had a conversation with my GD the other day by WhatsApp she tested my times tables and then I chatted about some of the maths we never use now- 12 was a dozen 144 was a gross. Then I told her about old money remembering florins, half-crowns and when £1 was a paper note. She thought it was hilarious!

I was 11yo and i didn`t like it but would find it hard to go back.
And i remember my dm saying everythings gone up .

I was another bank clerk. We had to do role plays with each other before the great day, pretending to be either cashier or customer.

When D Day actually arrived, it was a bit of a let down as the customers stayed away, we were far less busy than usual.

I remember that customers were supposed to bring in their ‘old’ money in certain proportions, i.e. 12 old pennies, not an odd number. Our local undertaker was an awkward old beggar, he came in with bits and bobs and the chief clerk was too scared to challenge him, so we had to root round our tills for any oddments to get the right amount for him.

I was 27 with two little boys of 4 and 2 to look after. I do remember having to mentally switch back to ‘old money’ for quite a while ti get an idea of what everything cost and I remember everybody used the term ‘new pence’ for quite a while afterwards.

Apart from the money we have never gone fully decimal. We still keep our British ways and use the old weights and measurements, but what annoys me is that we seem to be expected to use both which is ridiculous.

I too worked in a Bank (TSB). I remember we had to work overtime the weekend before to be prepared.

I remember seeing an older lady being interviewed on the Midlands local news, asking how she felt about the new money. She said "they should have waited till all us old folk had died"'

I found it much easier counting money in 2 columns rather than 3!

I still have to think a bit longer than I would like when asked my height in mètres. However, no problem with my weight, as I see it daily when I stand on the scales. Shame it doesn’t convert into the same amount of stones there were in 71.

My granny, in her 80s, was sure she’d never get on with the new money. Then the Midlands tv news featured a Twycross Zoo chimpanzee which could sort the coins. Granny went very quiet and soon got on fine with the new system!

I seem to remember the transition as going surprisingly smoothly. Mind you, I was a boring number cruncher so maybe I actually enjoyed it. I do however remember feeling decidedly ripped off when buying various products. I daresay many people were deliberately cheated by opportunists.

In the mid 1980s, a work colleague was having to cope with a mother who when decimal currency came in, just told her DH that she didn't understand it and that he would have to deal with all money handling fromthen on, which he did, she did not even have a purse.

Then in 1982 her DH died and she was living alone, still had no idea how the 'new' currency worked, hadn't handled money for over 20 years and he was rushing from Reading to Yorkshire every weekend to do her shopping, setting up accounts where ever he could, so that she could continue to live without having to come to grips wth this currency she had decided she did not understand.

After 50 years I still think “I must be mad paying 10 Bob for that!”.

On that day in 1971, the first cheque I signed in the new system was for DS1's nappies. He duly arrived two months later, so will be 50 in April.

I was delighted. Maths was never my strong point.

Urmstongran

I can’t work out how big or small a new born baby is in kgs! I need to know in lbs. and ounces.

We still drive at miles per hour. Some people still like to know the weather in Fahrenheit. I can visualise someone who measures 5’ 10” but not if it were in metres and centimetres.

We’re a bit mix & match really aren’t we? Neither one thing nor the other.

Very true. And for many years fabric was still sold in yards. I worked on a market stall in my teens measuring - and calculating cost of - “yard and 7/8ths please love”. Even now when buying fabric I calculate in yards then convert.

I did O levels in 1971. We were the first year to have our Maths exam set using "new" currency.

I was 21 when we changed to decimal and still remember people asking, how much is that in real money?

They said decimal currency would make children better at maths, since they wouldn’t have to waste time on money sums.
Whether this turned out to be the case I don’t know, but somehow I doubt it.

Who else remembers mental arithmetic tests featuring questions like ‘a dozen articles at fourpence three-farthings?’
I remember being so relieved when I realised that there was a very easy way to do them in your head.

Witzend, I have had a try at long distance home schooling my grandchildren and found it extremely stressful. Please can you teach me an easy way to do mental arithmetic. ??