how did you spend your teenage years

tanith

1963 left school got a job at C&A Marble Arch my wages were £4.10sh after work Saturdays and at lunch times my friend and I would run up Oxford St to the HMV record shop and listen to the latest records in the little booths, then on the way back we would try all the posh perfumes in Selfridges god knows what we smelled like after trying on loads we couldn’t afford most of them.

Left school same year as you also got job at C&A Marble Arch
office work wondering if we ever met 🤣
Only difference used to go to Wallis in Oxford St to spend too much money
Didn’t last long in the job at C&A

1970s: As a younger teen I enjoyed visiting Kensington High street including Biba and the market with friends or the newly opened Mc Donald’s. We had occasional sleepovers at each others houses, but few parties. The blistering summer of ‘76 after Olevels was definitely memorable as was the school being closed for a meningitis outbreak. After Alevels I had a holiday job with Marks and Spencer which I returned to each December for the Christmas period when my university term ended. I did occasional babysitting for neighbours during my teens too and stocked up with childcare books from the library before the first session when the mother left her one year old with me for the whole day! I considered her very reckless…

pably15

I left school 1960, was glad to leave , my friend and I went looking for a job we both got employed in a lemonade factory
weekends were spent at our local community centre dancing.
our first wages...in a little brown envelope £2. 7/6p
I handed my mum my wages, she kept £2....I got 7/6 pocket money...how times have changed

My virtually non-existent memory of my earlier life doesnt tell me the figures - but I do remember when I started work proper after leaving school that my mother demanded a rather "substantial" amount from my salary to cover "board and lodge" and I have long thought it was probably/almost certainly more than the extra food/fuel/etc I was using.

It was a very mixed blessing when my father told me years subsequently that "When you handed over money for board and lodge your mother kept it all - but when your (younger) brother did she put it all into a savings account for him and gave it all back to him when he got married" !!!!!!!!!

So she kept mine and didnt touch his. The mixed blessing was that I then had proof she was treating him as her favourite. Add that he was buying his first house with someone else (his wife-to-be) and I was having to buy mine on my own - but he got help I didn't.

I guess my father was starting to prime me maybe for what he said to me some years later of "Your mother will try and turn you into a carer for her later in her life - don't do it - as she'll drive you mad". So that and the fact we'd both had help doing work on our first house - but he'd also had LOADS of looking after his young children several days a week and his "board and lodge" given back to him by her = he was the obvious one to fulfil the "carer" role when it did indeed come to it years later - as he "owed" way way more than I did, as well as being her favourite.

CariadAgain

Thinking back re the way I had several part-time jobs in a row in my latter days in school - and thinking "I don't recall any boys being assistants in Woolworths. I don't remember any boys doing any part-time jobs basically - other than being a "newspaper person" (always called "newspaper boy" then - and that fact has just struck me too...why wasnt it "newspaper person"?).

When I worked in that hotel of my friends parents and did realise I was being paid less than the boys and that that was wrong - I was washing-up and doing general housework (and getting health problems with my hands from doing it) and they were being waiters and not getting any health problems from doing that.

What jobs were boys doing - or werent they (apart from those newspaper deliveries)? Again - my memory doesn't tell me - but I don't think my younger brother ever did any part-time jobs (though he would have left school at 16 - rather than my 18 years old that I left at).

My ex-husband was peeling potatoes in a chip shop. My husband was assisting a wedding photographer on Saturday's. All Good until photographer double booked and DH was suddenly the 16 year old photographer at someone's wedding. Apparently they were happy but I think it was a very stressful day for him.

pably15

It was nice to hear what you all did in your teens, I loved the 60's, my friends and I were out most nights, when I was 18...age for drinking, I got a weekend job in a bar...£ 1 for working 3 hours friday night and £1.50 for a saturday night...then when my shift finished on a saturday night I was off up to the friday night dance,,,10 pm till 2 am...great memories

I should have said when my shift finished on a Friday night not saturday,,

Ahh so sorry to hear that…My grandson is autistic and he is literally the most sensible one out of his 2 happy go lucky brothers..He recently asked his mother about getting a mortgage as he's been saving because he feels it will be down to him to look after the other two if anything happens to their parents..,btw they're all in their 20’s.. He’s brilliant…

I was at school up to completing A Levels and then going off to Teacher Training College, so homework, I was also in the school and church choirs as well as the school brass band. I was a papergirl from age 13 for about 3 years, up at 5.30 six mornings a week, can't remember how much I was paid but the Christmas tips were great (I delivered to some big houses). I danced a lot, ballet and tap, which I loved and this led to me joining amateur op and dram societies as a dancer at 14, generally performing in at least 3 musicals a year. At 13 I became a student demonstrator at my dancing school, Saturday mornings standing at front of classes for younger pupils to copy what I was doing - got my own lessons free of charge as payment and at 15 became a student teacher and was then paid. Saturday evenings were generally spent with friends,a group of 8-10 of us at each other's homes, chatting and listening to music and making plans for trips ice skating, cinema and concerts etc. Loved life and think I was very lucky

I started the decade at the grammar school, didn’t like it much but was told it was a privilege to be there. Left at 16, immediately got a job on my local newspaper earning £4.4s 6d a week, and met my future husband there. Ended the decade very happily married with two babies and looking forward to the next decade. Happy times.

I was working in my parent's pub at the age of 12. Mainly during the summer holidays and weekends.
I collected glasses, washed up and helped with stocking up and cleaning.
My wages/pocket money was 2/6 a week, rising to 5/0 a couple of years later.
The swinging sixties bypassed my neck of the woods I'm sad to say.
That, coupled with the fact that I had a strict Catholic upbringing, and a father who had been in the army for 12 years and who was the eldest of a family of 4 boys, meant that my social life was heavily curtailed. My virtue had to be protected at all costs.
He was a lovely man in many ways, but if he could have locked me away from the ages of 13 to 25, I think he would!

I thoroughly enjoyed my schooldays though didn't achieve as well as I could. I messed about quite a bit. Was told I was a bad influence by the head teacher when I was 14, and was not promoted to the A stream as I should have because of it.

I pulled my socks up so to speak, got some O levels, became deputy head girl and started my A levels. The plan was for me to go to teacher training college.
I dropped out after a year and started work at Boots Chemists as a trainee dispenser aged 17 in 1968. My wage was £5/10/0 a week. I gave mum £2 on the understanding that I would not be working in the bar like my brother.

Working in a Chemists was a revelation to me,particularly when working on the drug counter. All contraceptives were stored in a drawer back then. Having them on display was not allowed. Saturdays were the big day for the purchase of Durex etc. Several local prostitutes would by them in bulk. They were all stored in a drawer labelled "indoor pursuits."
I worked there for almost 10 years. Had a great time and made many lifelong friends.

At 18 I met my future husband again. We had been at school together, he was 14 and I 12. We hated the sight of each other back then.
He was at my brother's 21st birthday party and love blossomed. We had been going out for 3 weeks when he asked me to marry him and I agreed.
We married in 1973 and survived, happily wed until his death in 2022.

I did eventually become a teacher.

Became a Hairdressing Apprentice and was paid 32/-. Had to give Mum £1 of it. Left when I contacted dermatitis. Wasted my young life with unsuitable chap and was pretty awful to my poor old Grandma, so escaped to the RAF.

1964, I enrolled in the secretarial school of a large engineering company. I was paid £5 a week less stamp, of which £1.10s was for my Mum, 10s for my Dad who gave me a seat in his car for the journey to work. What remained was for my lunches, clothes and going out.
After training in shorthand, typing &bookkeeping I was given a "very good job" as secretary to the chief design engineer.
I have used the skills I learned then all my life in all my occupations and self employed business.
I insisted that my two sons paid 'board' and took responsibility for some household chores when they started work.
Their young adult children are not required to contribute to the household in any way. Oh dear.

Gelisajams
Cutting off your nose TO SPITE your face...is the expression

I didn’t enjoy most of my teenage years. I was quiet and shy and didn’t really have any friends. I spent most of my free time in my bedroom listening to my records. My life changed for the better when I met my lovely husband at 17 😊.

Another Woolworths Saturday girl here. 1 /6d an hour in 1953. Amazing how much you could buy for that small wage now.
I left school 1953 age 15 and stayed full time at Woolworths for 2 yrs.
I was given the make up counter after a short time. Centre Isle 1 side and 1 length. The other side and end was shampoo powder in little paper sachets,tooth paste, toilet soap, combs in many sizes. Hated reordering the comes on the checklist to go to the stock room.
Little dark blue bottles of Evening in Paris perfume, Californian Poppy another.
Off topic but at that time a lot of American ladies used the store. 1 asked me where were the Douche bags..I'd never heard of such a thing which seemed to surprise the lady. I do now know it was a rubber bag to hold fluid, to douche to clean certain lady orifaces..

For pleasure along with friends we liked nothing more than dancing at every opportunity. Rock and Roll..I won a competition for jiving at the local jazz club. Now age 87 I struggle to walk from room to room..fantastic memories.
I'm still friends with one of our dancing crowd..speak most weeks the rest are sad,y past.

Never an adventurous teenager, shy and reserved, I had a Saturday job in Woolworths until I was 16 in 1964 when I left school. Did I enjoy Woolworths? Not often, mostly I was terrified. Put to work on the biscuit counter weighing out broken biscuits I was initially pleased to be transferred to haberdashery as I’d hated a day of the sweet, cloying smell of biscuits Well, maths was never my strong point and having to measure out and calculate the cost of lengths of anything was a very scary thing compounded by the temperamental till and working out change. The staff were all very kind to me, I was just too nervous to enjoy being there.

I can’t recall what I was paid except we used my mum’s formula. A third for my keep, a third to save and the final third for me. Seemed fair and we used the same formula with our own children. I vividly recall my pleasure when the first Christmas came along and I could buy gifts for my parents. It felt hugely grown up and was a very special thing to do.

Leaving school at 16, being too nervous to take advice to stay on at sixth form for ‘A’ levels and University , it was a clerical role in the Town Clerks department where I was pitchforked into a very serious, formal working environment. It was all Sir for the boss and surnames for my superiors. I felt a fish out of water, the work was no problem if boring, I was always pleased to be sent out with a list to buy lunch for people, freedom!

Never one for a straightforward path I achieved A level at evening class, moved on to more interesting work in libraries and then the civil service, began to have a social life and had more friends. With two male friends (they were quietly gay) I often headed into London’s East End to notorious areas without a care in the world. Dances and a youth club came into my world. Life was finally fun. I met Mr C and married at 20.

University finally happened when I was 44, I got there in the end and loved every moment

First job was aged 14 in the local bakery on a Saturday (1969). Got sacked because I gave my auntie extra buns! Next job in another bakery - got sacked because I messed up the donut maker machine while the boss was at lunch. My Mum said maybe shop work was not my forte, so then parents paid me to do chores - wash car, change beds, weeding, etc. Aged 15-16, hung around street corners and parks, smoking cadged fags, drinking cider, slipping into pubs for a Snakebite (“At a friend’s house…”) Aged 17 - passed driving test and got into University - whole new Universe!!

It was nice to hear what you all did in your teens, I loved the 60's, my friends and I were out most nights, when I was 18...age for drinking, I got a weekend job in a bar...£ 1 for working 3 hours friday night and £1.50 for a saturday night...then when my shift finished on a saturday night I was off up to the friday night dance,,,10 pm till 2 am...great memories

Home life as a teenager was horribly miserable so I was glad to escape to school, even though I was shy and got bullied. I spent hours alone in my bedroom doing homework and listening to Radio Caroline on my little radio. I dont remember any socialising. All that studying got me to sixth form and then teacher training college. At college my black and white life burst into technicolour. I discovered alcohol, discos, boys and parties, made the most amazing friends and had the time of my life. I never wanted to go home in the holidays and worked throughout all of them. In a chocolate factory in the summer, on the post at Christmas and in a department store at Easter.

I absolutely loved my teenage years in (late 60s/early 70s)! Lived in Malta and spent my time hiking, drama group, played table tennis at youth club, volunteered at orphanage run by nuns, swimming in the summer, and disco dancing in the evenings. Also took evening classes for A Levels as well as shorthand and typing qualifications. I had a Saturday job selling lotto tickets. For this I was paid 50 cents (say 50p) from 7am to 2pm, whereas my boyfriend who worked with me got 75c because he was a boy! By 19 I was married, and taking life seriously, working as a secretary and saving up for a mortgage. I felt I did so much in such a short space of time, but I have many happy memories.

I was born in 1958 and from age 13 had a very lucrative baby sitting round, which lasted until was 18.

I left school at 16, the went to Secretarial College and had a great time and made friends who I still have.

My parents gave me pretty free range and I was a Party girl. 💃
I would do it all over again given half a chance.

I saved up and bought a few ‘with it’ clothes. My favourite shoes were green sling backs with black heels.

I did all kinds of work until I could get to London. I worked as an office junior in a hospital cleaning contractors in Balham and just by chance I was in London this weekend so took a walk up the high street to look up at where the office was fifty years ago.

Oh do you really want my memories? I am writing about my growing up, on the edge of Dartmoor, no bus service, just village life, but in writing it was ok. I worked in the village shop prob when I was 15, which taught me a lot about customer service and being able to add up, answer the phone and take orders for delivery, cleaning shelves etc. I would walk most places, to bottle milk! Walk home no one worried about doing that, picked up a couple of times by someone on a motorbike and also in a car! It was really dark but I just did it. My school was 6 miles away and I could not go to discos etc..... understand now why? But I had Radio Luxembourg! I left at 17 to go nursing. Still a teenager but enjoyed those times.

I spent my teenage years (and a few more after that) trashing all the opportunities and advantages that I had been given having won a much coveted scholarship aged 11. I was a disappointment to my family, my teachers and eventually to myself. I look back on those years with regret and some astonishment at my complete stupidity but it taught me a valuable lesson. It's never too late to begin again and I did!

I spent my teenage years at a girls grammar school before going to uni. 1952-1959.