1950's Childhood.

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.

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

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

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

It was, mrsmopp!

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.....

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Nearly forgot, eating "bread and cheese", our name for the newly opened hawthorn leaves, they tasted delicious. And elderberries as well. I also used to pull off the individual petals on clover flowers, and suck the nectar out of them, so sweet. And the ends of grass, the bits nearest the ground, were so crunchy and sweet, it wasn`t till I got older and realised how many dogs had probably pee`d on the grass that I wondered how I survived childhood!

On Saturdays, I had to go to the local newsagents to collect and pay for our comics/magazines for the whole week.
The People's Friend (for Mum)
The Bunty and the Judy (for me)
The Hotspur and the Rover (for my brother)
and the TV Guide which was a large newspaper affair.
My dad used to pick up his daily paper every day and it got added to the bill.
Can't remember the cost, but don't think it was expensive.

Ketchup butties.
Chalking numbers on paving flagstones to play hopscotch.
Torchy the Battery boy.
Desperate Dan.
Korky the Kat.
The Bash Street kids.
Playing cats cradle with a piece of string.
Making a two way radio with a piece of string and a couple of tins.
Kicking a tin can in the street because we didn't have a football.
Hula hoops- how long did you keep yours going?

The more I read these posts, the more the memories flood back.

Yes, my Dad used to put blakies in the heels of our new shoes to stop them wearing down. He also used to cut the toes out of our sandals so we could wear them a second year. I can still remember that marvellous day when we were allowed out wearing sandals and blazers instead of shoes and winter coats.

Other memories:

Green knees from kneeling on the grass.
Catching newts and keeping them in a tank.
The smell of privet.
My mum making fishcakes from left over fish - for breakfast.
Sugar sandwiches and dripping toast.
Summer holidays - Pontins holiday camp or on a farm.
Walking to school and not treading on the cracks in the pavement.
Seeing my first black person ever - a very tall gentlemen in a raincoat.

I could go on...........and on...........:-)

Blakeys!!! I knew we didn't call them segs. How I wanted some. Only one girl in my class had them, and we all envied her. She could tap dance as well, so was not hard to track down, and she hopped and tapped her way everywhere.

Were 'segs' what I knew, and envied, as 'Blakeys'? Striking sparks from the paving stones I cetainly do remember...

Of course the kids from the wrong side of the tracks (in this case, the Piccadilly Line) wore boots instead of the shoes we 'nicer' family members had!

Yes mrsmopp I know!

My uncle used to put Segs on the heels of our school shoes and it was great fun striking sparks on the pavement. I remember the accumulators vaguely. Could he have taken them on his bike for refilling? I think I can remember something of the sort but surely they'd be too cumbersome! In our house we had a plug-in radio with the names of dozens of continental stations that in theory you could tune into. I was fascinated by these foreign names.

Yeah but you don't know my real name though do you?.
I am only mrsmopp on here, not in real life!

I meant to put BUT now you have told Gransnet!

RoseQ...

mrsmopp - I think using the divi number as your password is a great idea now you have told Gransnet I too can remember muttering it over and over again and woe betide me if I forgot to use it. Am I recalling correctly that they gave you a little slip a bit like a raffle ticket when you gave your number? I can also remember going with my mother to collect the divi when it was due. I think she had a little brown book and we went to the Co-op offices to collect the much needed money.