1950's Childhood.

I never understood why they were called 'bread and cheese' but we did the same. Blades of grass were put between the thumbs to do a whistle.

I remember going to a local cobblers with my father to buy a piece of leather to mend the family's shoes with, and then watching him as he cut and shaped it and nailed it into place. I think he missed his vocation! The cobbler he bought the leather from didn't seem to think there was anything amiss about dad's DIY doing him out of some business. It seemed to be quite a common occurrence then.

Segs were small and Blakeys were big! My colleague and I are doing a mini exhibition at the Ashwell at Home day on May 10th,called 'Memories of Childhood'. It's been quite exciting searching the attic for all the 'stuff' . We now have about half a dozen boxes full, waiting to go. Skipping ropes, skates, photos, toys, games, books........ What fun!

We had a wartime gasmask in our toy cupboard, smelt lovely and rubbery, I can still smell, and feel, it now.
And I don`t know where it came from, but we hd one of those ticket clipping machines that bus conductors used, we made our own confetti for weddings with it.

I had a Mickey Mouse gas mask. I don't know if I'm really remembering it or if I know about it because my parents told me. I was just 4 1/2 when the war in Europe ended.

But, number please, you did survive! My grandson would immediately have his hands mediwiped if he ever chanced to do that!

Victory party for kids when I was 4; a big boy snatching a precious jam tart, the last one , from my hand

Yes know the divi number. 18391. I don't use for passwords.

Our south suburban coop used to despatch the money in an overhead pulley system, change coming back by same method.

Dripping on bread for tea

Mum made all my clothes and knitted all jumpers and cardigans. Unfortunately with no great skill in either craft. She baked lovely cakes though.

Mickey mouse mask. I can still smell it. I found it quite scary,
We had an indoor shelter in the back room and my brother and I slept there. He used to call me twerp! Now 82 and very polite to me!

In the 50s I cycled to secondary school two miles away. A convent. The nuns wouldn't get away nowadays with the things they told us, but they were trying to warn us of the evils of the big bad world. We did our best to find out what those were.

Dad grew all our veg. Cauliflowers and cabbages having creepy crawlies washed from them.

Endless comics as mentioned, and the wonderful Enid blyton ! No telly as yet.

We often found a caterpillar in our salad!
Lettuce straight from the garden, quick rinse under the tap and on the plate.
Bottle of salad cream was always there. Salad was just lettuce tomato and cucumber, sometimes a hard boiled egg to go with it.
Life was simple then.....

It was, mrsmopp!

I would have kept my Chalet School books had I known!

Interlude on TV. You would watch a potters wheel for ten minutes between programmes. Time to make a cuppa!

This is not from the 1950s, more the 60s, but I do remember the tv going off in the very late evening, with the green spot gradually disappearing. Then, in our area, we would hear a disembodied voice saying 'Nos Da' (good night in Welsh).
We lived in the South West of England at the time

Sometimes the potter's wheel came on with the statement: "Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible". These glitches were quite common in the 1950s.

Chapped knees
Smell of freshly baked bread and baker with basket at the door
Grocery delivery in big cardboard boxes
Magic Faraway Tree
Beech nut fairy houses
Handfulls of cowslips
The smell of ether - yuck !

Who remembers Spanish wood ?

Liquorice root, wasn't it? Looked like a wooden twig and we chewed it till it frayed. It did taste of liquorice.

It was lovely till it got all frayed and stringy.

I loathed liquorice in any form (and still do), but cinnamon sticks - quite another matter. Great to chew all the way to school.

The Chalet School stories, how I loved them, they were a huge part of my childhood.

Mumsnet has several discussion threads on the subject if anyone is looking to idle away an hour or two.

I loved the Chalet School books in the 1950s. I lived in a low rise council flat at the time and it was a view into a world I knew nothing about. Also loved Jennings Books which used to make me laugh out loud and Just William.

I belonged to the Chalet School club. I can't remember what it was called, but you got newsletters.
Loved Jennings, Just William and the Arthur Ransome books.
Seemed to read lots of books about ponies, ballet and nurses and enjoyed them although I didn't have a real interest in any of it.

I was born in '54. Am I the only one who doesn't remember The Chalet School books ? Although I did read a lot.
I posted on page 1 but having read all those that posted after me I'm now smiling to myself over the rekindled memories.

Ballet shoes was one of my favourites, still love it, also White Boots about ice skating.

There are lots of memories on here about Bunty but I was a huge fan of School Friend. The Silent Three and Dilly Dream the Lovable Duffer.

I was too old for Bunty when it came out and had gone on to read Valentine which had wonderful drawings of teenage boys and girls. There was another comic for young teenagers called Romeo.

The chap in the newsagents actually asked me how old I was when I bought Valentine and Romeo for the first time - those were the days when a newsagent acted as a sort of moral guardian.

@Pompa - Spanish wood - I'd forgotten that! It was horrible... but then I was never a licorice fan - not one of Bertie Bassett's fanboys...

I don't remember the Chalet school books either. I was born in 1949.