General Chat

With cardboard milk bottle tops you put two together and then wound wool around and around as thick as you could get it - until the hole in the middle was full. Then you got a pair of scissors and cut the wool between the two bottle tops, tied a piece of wool around it and lo and behold you had a lovely pom pom!! Our milkman came with a horse and cart, Ginger the lovely old horse, a few churns on the cart and a pint and a half pint measure hanging on the side. Milk jug on the doorstep with a saucer on top.

Dad used to send me out in the field alongside our cottage with a tin bucket to collect sheep, cow and horse manure for the garden as he grew all our veg. We had no flush toilet, just one round the side of the house that had to be emptied every couple of weeks. This was also good for the garden and in the summer when we had been eating tomatoes, the seeds in the toilet would germinate in the garden and we had tomato plants. Now that really was recycling at it;s very best.

Dad mended all our shoes on his last and always put stick on soles on his own shoes and little things called segs on the heels. I don't think the actual sole of any of his shoes ever touched the ground!

He shot most of the meat we ate - pheasants, pigeons, hair and rabbit. Always a row of little lead pellets around the edge of the plate when you'd finished eating.

Mum made jam from crab apples and blackberries picked in the fields and we knew where all the best mushroom fields were. In fact I still go mushroom picking in the same places but the fields are now part of the city's crematorium!! People must wonder what on earth I'm doing picking my way between plots collecting mushrooms. Most people would never pick them cos they are afraid they'll be poisoned, but I know which is which.

My mother used to stain the floorboards with a solution of potassium permanganate as proper stains were unobtainable. This loses its colour over time and has to be done again. You used Dolly Blue to keep your whites white in the wash. The sheets were laid out on the hedges on asunny day so that the sun could bleach them. A common accident was the mangle handle comig off and landing on someones foot. The mangle was a very large contraption taking up a big space in the scullery or washhouse. The washhouse was often a corrugated iron shed, freezing cold in the winter, and you had to boil all the hot water, so rinsing was often done in cold, especially if you had to carry the hot water from the kettle on the range in the kitchen! I remember the liberty bodice which no girl went without. People were much more worried about keeping children warm than they seem to be now. I did not wear boots, though some children always did, not fancy ones either. I am talking about a junior edition of the working boot. We had Blakeys on our heels and toes and made a racket if we walked on pave ments. Little boys wore their older brothers old trousers cut down into short ones. They looked so cold in the winter and often got chapped legs. Girls were luckier with their wool or rayon stockings. I still have an old knitting pattern book with patterns for knitted vests and pants, Balaclavas, stockings etc. Cant get the right wool anymore. Jean

Girls.....who remembers long black or brown thick stockings in the winter attached to the suspenders on your liberty bodice?....and the navy knickers with a pocket in for your hankie!
Men wore shirts without a collar attached,so you could wash the collars to save them changing their shirt everyday.I can picture a bowl of white collars soaking in starch and dolly blue,after being scrubbed.
The old galvanised wash tub and ,as we called it in the north a posser,which was like a big plunger that you squeezed the clothes with.Ours was made of copper.some people had a "dolly",which was a three legged contraption with a long handle that you moved the clothes around with.There was also a washboard that you rubbed the clothes on.
Washing day was a Monday,ironing on a Tuesday.in fact these old housewives had a day for each chore.
My mum used to sometimes take up the lino,and scrub the floor boards!
As someone said,no fridges,and in hot weather,even though we had a cool slab in the pantry,she had to boil the milk when it came to stop it going sour.I never liked that as it had a skin on top! I never liked sterilized milk which a lot of people got for this reason,but it made a nice rice pudding.
Yes, I do recall making bobbles for hats with the milk bottle tops.We managed to find a use for everything,so I suppose we could use our imagination more than today's youngsters!
It was good training!

Not boring at all Mick

Your trip was to Southend, Our school trip every year was to Littlehampton, 50 miles from Isleworth.

It was the only trip we had in each year and everyone really looked forward to it

We always stopped at the Half way House, next door to the Wheatsheaf Pub on the way, I'm not sure where it is, but its amazing that I still remember the name today.
On arrival at Littlehampton we were given tickets for the Butlins Fun Fair on the front after we were gathered on a spot on the beach, we were told explicitly the time we had to be back on that spot and anyone who wasn't would be left behind
After the funfare it was back to the beach and we were formed up like soldiers and marched into town to a hall where drinks and food was laid on

After this it was another march back to the beach for a final set of games before the bus came to pick us up and take us back to Isleworth

It was always a quieter journey home as everyone was Kna----ed, many of them falling asleep

Mac

I remember the trees that lined the road through Dulwich Village going towards North Dulwich Station. There was a wide grass verge between the roadway and the pavement where the trees grew. All the trees had white lines painted around them in an attempt to make them more visible during the blackout. A few years ago my sister was visiting from Australia and we made a trip back to Dulwich Village and our childhood memories. I did examine the trees and although there are no visble painted white lines around them now, if one carefully looks in the cracks in the tree bark, flecks of white paint can still be seen. It's just another of those wartime things that's long been forgotten unless you know where to look.

All the cars, (very few of them privately owned), had running boards along the sides and most of the headlights where stuck on the outside wings almost like an afterthought. When the first cars appeard without a running board it was another one of those things my father said would never catch on. That and cars without starting handles.

Dulwich Park is quite large, it even appears larger when you are small. Fathers used to take their children kite flying there at weekends. None of the kites were like the modern ones, either they were triangular shaped with a tail of ribbons fluttering from the bottom or they were long box shaped oblongs with material wrapped around the ends. I remember seeing as a small tot one of these oblong shaped kites that had a small dog stretched out on the inside of the kite. The dog had it's front and back legs resting on the material at the ends. When the kite landed, the small dog jumped out for a while and then went back inside the kite awaiting it's next flight. The dog seemed to enjoy it but I have always wondered how the dog ever got inside the kite for the first time.

It was a long time before I learnt about pocket money, I think it's existance was deliberatly kept from me. When I did start to get my own pocket money it was only a few pence a week. Some of that I had to save by putting into the piggy bank. It was some years before I discovered that the piggy bank was actually the gas meter.

The family took a trip to Southend in the early fifties to see the lights. It was a hire car with a chauffer. It's not that we were a wealthy family, quite the reverse but everyone had chipped in towards the cost. Private cars were still pretty much non-existant at this time. I remember my brothers and sisters being dragged around the Westcliffe side of Southend where fairy lights had been set out on the grass slopes. It all sounds quite tame now but there were crowds of people there. Britain was still very much an austere place at the time and some rationing still existed. All one could hear all evening was the Oooo's and Aaahs from the adults as another illuminated fairy cottage came into view. I do recall the tide was out while we were there but I was at an age when I did not understand why. I recall inquisitively asking my mother where the sea had gone and she instantly told me, "It's the other sides turn to have it." I guess on reflection, she did not know why the tide went out either.

Most of these are quite silly anecdotes but this thread has suddenly brought memories flooding back to me. I guess I should stop before I get too boring.

Michael

The rag and bone man used to come around on a horse and cart too, rather like Steptoe. As he came down the road he would ring a bell and cry out "Old rags and lumber." After years of calling out this verbal advertisment the words became abbreviated and distorted and moulded into one continuous sound. In the end it sounded more like "Ol ags und umber.", all said in a croaky and gravely voice.

Michael

There were no domestic fridges during and just after the war unless you were very wealthy. I remember in hot weather the milk bottles were stood in a bowl of water with a wet tea towel draped across them. As the water evaporated from the tea towel, it kept everything undeneath cool.

Our house did not have electric just gas lighting. My father used to tie a soft cotton mantle around the gas lamp, it looked like a little cotton sock. When the gas was lit, the mantle shriveled up into a small white ball that glowed incandsently. Even after the war when power cuts were still a common occurence, we still had light when surrounding houses did not. My father sweared that electricity would never catch on.

Cooking was done on a oven range. half the range was a coal fire, the other half the oven. My Grannie used to Zebo it once a week.

In the scullery there was a copper boiler set in concrete supposedly for boiling the whites. This as well as a scrubbing board. A seperate fire had to be lit under the boiler. I never remember seeing the copper boiler used for anything other than cooking the Christmas pudding.

In an outhouse in the garden was a mangle with an enormous wheel. I suppose because I was so small at the time it made the whole thing look bigger. On washing day, the childrens job including myself was to put the clothes and sheets through the mangle to wring as much water out of them as possible. Being kids, we would turn the cranking wheel as fast as possible to see which one of us could make the whole thing go the fastest. My sister used to feed the clothes through the roller. One day she let out an almighty scream as I was making the thing whizz around. Her fingers had gone through the rollers. Fortunately no harm was done but the whole excercise cost me a clip around the ear from my mother.

The milkman used to come around with a horse and cart. It was quite quick really as each time the milkman delivered milk to a doorstep, the horse knew it had to walk forward without being told to the next doorstep. Every house in the street had a shovel and a sack behind the front door. If the horse decided to leave it's droppings in the road, there was a sudden mad dash from every house with people running and carrying the sack and shovel to get the horse manure for the roses.

The bigger kids in the road used to have scooters. These were made of two planks of wood with metal ball bearings for the wheels. I can remember even now the distinctive sound these scooters made as they came rumbling down the road.

Michael

Eagle came about 1950/51 followed soon by Girl - I have a photo of me in school blazer with the 'gold' Girl emblem in lapel!

Adventure; Rover. Champion - Rockfist Rogan and those dirty tricks the Germans used to play on him(I've still got one of those)
Dear old Knock-out with Billy Bunter. Was Sexton Blake and tinker in that one?
My own favourite was Wilson of the wizard. Think someone mentioned Chicks Own.
Anyone remember the adverts. stamps on approval. Charles Atlas - nobody threw sand in his face)

Happy days

I remember those shopping bags made from wool wrapped round milk bottle tops.
What about those woolen pixie hats that were knitted and went to a point on top.
Also anyone remember gaiters in the winter?
I had some leather ones,really smart,with buttons all up the side and over the top of the shoe.They were red.This was before boots,and now I think about it was about 1938.
Who remembers children wearing clogs to school?I never did,but I remember a girl swinging them around by the laces and hitting me with them.She was a real bully
Still remember her name(Joan Bristow)hope you are not a member as you owe me an apology!!!

What a facinating thread, thank you every one for their memories and stories
I've really enjoyed reading them.
I was born in 1963 and remember having cod liver oil & malt every sunday when i was a child.

We swapped commics too Mac and loved it when one family had American comics to swap don't know where they got them from but could now hazzard a guess..

Film Fun
Comic Cuts
Dandy
Beano
Wizard
Hotspur
Eagle came later

All my friends bough one or two and we used to go knocking to SWAP them

Mac

With two friends I used to make wool boble using milk bottle tops joining four or five together by their cords used togther with plastic thimbles with ribbon threaded through a hole in the top punched in by adult for decoration on babies prams. Wool gollies ( not banned then) made into broaches with a small safety pin in the back. we had a little tray made out of a cardboard box with string through around our neck, turns each and went house to house on the estate where we lived selling them for the Red Cross.Friends father was an air raid warden and had a notice board in the front garden and put the receipts in for everyone to see. we felt very important!!!. Dad worked on munitions not being A1 for the forces and worked regular nights, brother and I slept in bed with Mum who read Film Fun and Radio Fun commics to us I liked stories of Goofy the Ghost best.

My sister made a shopping bag with raffia blanket -stitched round cardboard milk bottle tops, then stitched together into a shape. Lasted quite a long time. We had colouring books for presents at Christmas and water paints. I still have a baby doll, much the worse for wear, which was in my stocking the year I was 6. It was made out of some sort of hard composition materiel and has closing eyes. My brother was given an aeroplane that our older brother-in-law had made out of a chunk of wood, cardboard wings and shoe polish tins for wheels. He loved it. Jean

Can you remember any of the products you don't see anymore

Beechams Pills
Carters Little Liver Pills
Virol
Oxydol
Lots of Beers, Watneys, Coombe & Reids,
Hammonds, Phipps, Courage, Barclays & Simmondswere some of my local ones, but I bet there are many more in your areas
Lots of Cigarettes, Du Maurier, De Reske, Players Navy Cut, Strathmore, Turf, Weights, Park Drive, Capstan, Sobranie, Senior Service, Three Castles, Ship, Woodbines, Joysticks, RN,
These are some I remember, can you remember more??
Some of them may have come at the wars finish like Strand
Doctor Collis Brown Mixture (contained Morphine then)
Gibbs Tooth Powder,
Smokers Tooth Powder
Lifebuoy soap
Euthymol Toothpaste
Cars & Motorbikes, Someone else can name them better than me

My brains going

Keep them coming

Mac

I always get lost on here as so many people add their lovely stories.

Ann the cotton reel and nails, I remember them so well, they were such fun and I remember feeling SO CLEVER when I knitted a cord....

When my children & then grandchildren came along and I told them about it.... I had to BUY them.
Nice little dollies with the nails in the head... Not the same type of fun as uncle William making them for us.

Enid Blyton my favourite authoress.
When I had my children I still had a few books left and the girls read them. When i had my youngest son (1971) and he turned out to be an avid reader at an early age.... I bought him the ENID BLYTON famous five, and the seven books which I can't quite remember.... he HATED THEM.
Said they were..... wait for it.... SILLY!
I ask you Ann....? ;-0(

Brenda, we made pom poms like that too, my sister and I.

Mac.... I remember BEECHAMS little liver PILLS still around in the 1970's.... and then they went off the market. I missed them.

Do any of you girls remember the little cotton socks?
They were a silky material (knotted of course) and when you put them on they stretched and hung down on our ankles.... my mum used to go daft at us.... !
How did she manage to do it and NOT stretch them?

Then one day granny showed me how to put socks on properly..... I showed all my children a how to do that too. BUT the war time white silky socks STILL stretched when I did them granny's way!!

I love this thread, we should try and have certain threads kept on page one.

Deanna X

Oh yes Mac.... malt... mmhmm

I don't remember Cod liver Oil, But the lady upstairs, as a treat used to give me Cod Liver Oil and Malt, she said it would keep me healthy

I loved it

Mac

I had ago at hoops and sticks at Beamish museum, not easy at all it is amazing how many children had a go but soon gave up as it was boring . i still have my french knitting although i called it a knitting nancy . i used to nit toys for my kids when they were young out of scraps of wool .I was born after the war but my parents were always very careful not to waste anything .I loved the bramble picking .and then all the lovely jam quince jelly and crabapple jelly .then gathering the chestnuts in autumn . Maz

Ann,
The Annuals I got every Christmas during the war(and I suppose a problem for my mum to get)were.....Tiny Tots,Chicks Own, Rainbow,and Playbox.Then Rupert Bear,Dandy and Beano.
I also did French knitting.
Brenda x x