Do you remember aunties and uncles giving out pocket money

I had an Uncle who had a jar full of change. When we visited he would give us a money scramble by throwing coins onto the lawn. My brother always picked up more than me but he had to share.
I never had money from any other uncles and aunts but we really looked forward to the money scrambles.

We had a bachelor uncle who returned to Ireland to retire from Australia, and when he came to visit regularly he would have two shilling pieces or half crowns at the ready and would give one each to my brother and me, especially if it was a birthday, then it was a half crown.
This would have been late fifties as he passed away in 1960.
He was quite well-off and we were always delighted to have him come to visit. He would want to see my Dad, being his brother and usually I would be asked to take him out to where my Dad would be working on the farm.
This is a lovely memory of happy days, I'm wondering where the years have gone since then!

Every single family gathering, especially if the adults were the worse for wear, I came away clanking with two shilling and half-crown pieces!

annodomini

I was sometimes awarded 6d for playing a piano piece (badly) to an uncle who was,himself, an accomplished musician. I hope my cousins, who were very musical, received better remuneration. Uncles and aunts were always generous at Christmas and birthdays, rather than supplementing pocket money here and there. Our parents gave us pocket money on a scale of 2d for each year of our lives. So when I was 8, I got 1/4d a week, so didn't need extra handouts.

I only got a penny for each year, so a shilling when I was 12 (in 1952). I was quite happy with that. I had everything I wanted - well, apart from a pony.

You comment about 6d for playing the piano reminded me of my mother, who used to get 6d for learning the accompaniments to the songs my grandfather sang. He was a good amateur tenor in the days when musical evenings were popular.

My paternal grandparents always sent a 10/- postal order to be paid into my post office savings account as a birthday present. I thought it rather odd that they decided what I did with the money they gave me. At Christmas they sent presents if we didn't go to see them, or they came to us.

I certainly remember writing thank-you letters to them and to my maternal grandmother and aunt who always sent presents.

Other uncles and aunts did sometimes slip us a threepenny or sixpenny bit or even a florin or half-a crown.

I don't think my mother really approved of this handing over of casual money - it had been considered vulgar in her Danish childhood, so she pretended not to see it, and we usually hurried to put the money in our piggy banks to avoid having to tell her how much it was.

When my sister and I were young we used to visit my nan every Sunday morning, another 2 cousins were there. At going home time nan used to give us sixpence each to buy a Princess Anne savings stamp and a penny. The penny was for the chewing gum machine at the bus stop, we had to decide what order we were going to use the machine before we went though as it used to give out an extra pack 1 in 4 times. That way no arguments as to who got the extra pack. My nan was a wise woman!!

Jumblygran: your money scramble reminded me that when I was little the best man threw copper coins to the children waiting outside the church or registrar's office when the bridal party came out after the wedding.

If he was slow to do so (to tease us) there would always be a boy that called "Ha' a penny oot" - as you can see from the Doric Scots this was in Scotland.

Yes I do remember and our family still do this. Saying we don’t use cash is not the point. Just keep some pound coins fir the children to buy an ice cream or bag of sweets or fir their piggy bank.
Some traditions need saving.

I only ever got pocket money from my dad - it was never expected that aunts and uncles, or anybody else, would give me money.

I had an uncle who used to go upstairs to my empty bedroom and drop change into my piggy bank. He never said anything but I could hear the coins chinking from downstairs.

I remember going to my Aunties pub and all the customers gave me money. My aunts used to give me 2/6p. I had a money box and saved so much I lent my mom money ?

I always used to get a half crown from my uncle when I visited bless him

I had many aunts and uncles, and usually was given half a crown when they visited. What a lovely, chunky coin that was, and how much you could buy with it in a child's world.

My sister and I used to stay occasionally with a wealthy great aunt and uncle. Uncle Fred would give us a ten shilling note, telling us not to tell aunt Violet, then she used to do the same thing. An utter fortune in the fifties. They lived in Hove and we loved going to stay with them, not just for the money!

Neither my father or mother's sisters had children and I did not have any siblings so did very well' financially' xmas and b'day.'

I only got money at birthdays or if I did a chore for them, like shopping, gardening, etc. It had to go straight in my moneybox to have spending money for my summer holidays.

No, but my Aunty Bessie used to send me a 10/- postal order every Christmas, and my Aunty Ùna once sent me a toy doll's bath that had a working plug hole.

It only happened to me once. An uncle I hardly knew pressed half a crown into my hand. My mum said that's far too much and tried to give it back. I'm sure he didn't realise that I'd never forget his generosity all my life!

I come from a complex family as my father's mother married twice and they were different religions. So I had lots uncles and aunts and could scarcely keep track of them. I remember being taken to see them (1950s) and I would be given sixpence. On my birthday or at Christmas it might be half a crown which was a lot of money then.

I visited my grandmother every fourth week and she always gave me money at the end of the visit. My mother would take it and promise to "put it away" for me but she never did. It just went into the family spending pot. I found this out when I saw something in a shop I wanted and asked for my "granny money" and my mother said there was none.

When I told my grandmother she was very angry and decided to open a post office savings account for me instead so my mother could not steal it. She put away a shilling every week and when I was old enough she transferred it to my name. She told me not to tell my mother.

My grandmother was a very wise woman. It was she who advised me to open an accommodation address in one of the local shops for all my letters from the bank and so on. I was paid by bank transfer (which very few people were in the early 1960s) and did not want my parents to find out how much I earned. They never did.

Rosina

I had many aunts and uncles, and usually was given half a crown when they visited. What a lovely, chunky coin that was, and how much you could buy with it in a child's world.

My grandmother came to live with us for a while after my grandfather died. She had a habit of leaving her handbag in the bathroom everytime she used it and each time I would go and get it for her and each time she would give me one of those lovely half crown coins. She was beginning to be a bit forgetful and that’s why she came to stay with us. How well I remember them. Wish I could remember what I spent them on but some sweets would definitely have been bought. A brown paper bag full?
My grandchildren love being given money to spend but now it’s notes not coins!

I remember being given half a crown by relatives but don’t remember spending it. I think it went in the family pot. I was very disappointed when given money as could see no benefit from it. Didn’t have a savings account. However, mum bought me magazines every week and gave me sweet money.

My grandad sometimes used to slip us a coin, often behind my nana’s back. If she was in an irritable mood she would stop us at the door as we were leaving and demand to see the coins we’d been given. If it was a shilling she would sometimes exchange it for a threepenny bit or a sixpence! Occasionally she would give us a small coin herself, but we never expected it.

My Grandma saved all her old pennies for me and shone them up with Brasso! My uncle gave me a posh box of chocolates on his annual visits. He also gave me a radio and a gold watch. My brothers got a puff of his cigarettes!

I rarely got pocket money, as we weren’t very well-off, but there was nothing much to buy during the war, anyway. We had been ‘bombed-out’ and moved to the opposite side of Liverpool from all the relations, so rarely saw them, and no pennies were forthcoming when we did.
Remembering the sheer joy of being given anything at all, as a child, it makes me sad that most children today will never experience such an emotion.
Does anyone remember the National Savings Stamps
which were sold in school, probably to help the war effort? So that I wouldn’t feel left out I was occasionally given 6d to buy one, and loved to stick it in the Savings Book. I never remember getting the money to spend, though. Mum probably cashed them as soon as a page was full, in order to fund the next purchases. An early example of recycling! ?

One of my Uncles was a bus conductor, where they used to come round and give you tickets with a little machine.

When I used to get on the bus when young if my Uncle was on, I would give him the money and he would then give me my ticket (along with the money I had just given him)