Eating in England in the 60's

[Fatcatsplat]

 

Why? Were you a bit of a Gok when you were young?

Not a Gok, but it sounded like it!

[malkiserow]

Melting hand prints in the frost on the inside of the bedroom windows. You had to be careful you hand didn't get stuck. There were some amazing frost patterns in the Windows.

Building igloos in the garden. We could get the curved wall to start, but never could get the roof finished fully as it always collapsed.

 

In the Summer making Daisy chains on the Church Lawn at the top of the street. You can't get on it now as it has a 6ft high fence and most of the lawn is car park.

 

P.S What's a Gok. Is that a local Walmington on sea term.

 

No, but "they don't like it up 'em" most definitely is a Walmington-on-Sea term.

[loriusgarrulus]

Dad's Army fan I see. Good man.

[SHOOTEMUP]

Remember 1963 when it snowed and froze and we had no water so as next door had water dad would run a hosepipe across between the houses and we would fill the bath which was at the rear of the house in the flat that we lived in. then the neighbours froze up and we really had to make the water last and we seemed to go for weeks having strip washes and rationing water and I remember the council or whoever coming round and setting fire to the pavement by the stop cocks to try and thaw it and amazingly it once worked and I can remember every pot and pan plus the sink and bath being filled by my dad and it makes me wonder if we ever had such extreme cold again if anyone from authority would make such efforts to get the water moving again???

 

Great Thread

Edited September 16, 2014 by SHOOTEMUP

[PhilR]

I remember the big freeze of 1963, the Welsh Harp lake at Neasden was frozen over and we went skating on it. One of the kids from school went out on it when it was starting to thaw, despite us all being warned to keep off, and went through the ice and failed to return.

 

We also had heavy fog/smog in the early 60's some days it was so bad the school was shut as the teachers couldn't get in. I was walking to school on one such day and I heard a bus creeping along the road beside me, it wasn't part of a bus route. The driver shouted out to me did I know where he was as he couldn't see any landmarks, he'd missed a right turn about 1/2 mile back.

[Kes]

In the freeze of 1963, Ellesmere was frozen enough for cars to drive on it - which they did. I remember we had a crop of brussel sprouts and the woodies literally froze on the top of them, too weak to feed, terrible loss of wildlife.

We also had an outside loo which wouldn't work except when we installed a small paraffin heater to thaw it out slowly. Even the inside loo froze overnight, no central heating then.

Back then you just got on with it. I wonder how many old folks kicked the bucket in the cold - never mentioned then?

[Alpha Mule]

Ice on the inside of the windows.

EVERYBODY walked to school.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Alpha Mule

[Scully]

In the freeze of 1963, Ellesmere was frozen enough for cars to drive on it - which they did. I remember we had a crop of brussel sprouts and the woodies literally froze on the top of them, too weak to feed, terrible loss of wildlife.

We also had an outside loo which wouldn't work except when we installed a small paraffin heater to thaw it out slowly. Even the inside loo froze overnight, no central heating then.

Back then you just got on with it. I wonder how many old folks kicked the bucket in the cold - never mentioned then?

You had an inside loo in 1963? Wow, proper posh. I can remember our bathroom being built on top of the kitchen in the summer of 1969 when I would be 10; no more peeing by torch light! Even so, my Dad kept a gazunda for when he had to get up in the night until his dying day.

[Kes]

You had an inside loo in 1963? Wow, proper posh. I can remember our bathroom being built on top of the kitchen in the summer of 1969 when I would be 10; no more peeing by torch light! Even so, my Dad kept a gazunda for when he had to get up in the night until his dying day.

We had gazundas too - the loo was in the bathroom - a long walk in the cold. The outside loo had a door with a 5" gap at the top and a 12" gap at the bottom. I think it was so you could see if it was occupied, apart from the obvious ventilation issue. The vent pipe at the back always had a great tits nest in it and to get the eggs and remove the nest required a cane and a bent teaspoon. Interesting times !

[malkiserow]

my first house had groundfloors of bricks laid on the soil...... it wasn't damp ..... it was all wet!

 

There was no bathroom but there was a toilet outside. We used a tin bath for a bit before a proper bathroom was installed downstairs.

Edited September 17, 2014 by malkiserow

[rabbiter]

excellent post,i was born in 1970,but this has brought back some memories,especially the dipping bread,and the things we got up to in the summer holidays,tin can wallop,hide and seek,british bulldogs etc etc,brilliant...............DAZ

[Scully]

I remember always having cold feet in winter, always. We made slides on the slope of the playground on frozen snow which we polished to ice with constant use, which were so long none of us could make it to the far end as by halfway we'd started to turn round and ended up going backwards. Woolen hats which caused a rash on your forehead and woollen mitts which would suck up the entire contents of anything wet you touched and would then take about three weeks to dry out.

Power cuts and playing board games by candlelight. Them were the days........

[loriusgarrulus]

Dad (carpenter and joiner) making us a sledge out of oak with metal on the runners. It weighed a ton, but lasted my sister and I all our childhood. I think it was passed on to a younger cousin.

 

Running through a garden sprinkler on the path in the summer because we didn.t have a paddling pool. Going to Laneham Ferry, Swimming in the Trent when it was clean when we were older.

[Scully]

Dad (carpenter and joiner) making us a sledge out of oak with metal on the runners. It weighed a ton, but lasted my sister and I all our childhood. I think it was passed on to a younger cousin.

 

Running through a garden sprinkler on the path in the summer because we didn.t have a paddling pool. Going to Laneham Ferry, Swimming in the Trent when it was clean when we were older.

Blinkin' 'eck, we could have been neighbours! My sister and me had a sledge just like that made by my Dad, which was only any good on heavy packed snow as it was so heavy it would sink like the Titanic. He also (bless him) tied the brass rose from the watering can to the end of the garden hose in summer and then tied that to a down spout and turned it on; we thought it was great, which of course it was.

There was an open air swimming pool down town which was always full of dead insects ( I was in my 30's when it was eventually converted into a thoroughly modern swimming pool, but the diving boards were never reinstated ) and at the bigger town the official council run pool, complete with diving boards was literally a stretch of the river Eden. It wasn't uncommon to find the odd dead sheep wedged under the banking after being washed off the Fells. I still bear the emotional scars of getting changed after swimming there, and finding that the last two coins I needed to complete my set of Esso 1970 Mexico World Cup England team coins had been nicked from my pants. No lockers back then. Think I need therapy.

[loriusgarrulus]

. Think I need therapy.

Have a drop of Malt it will do you more good. The Whisky I mean not cod liver oil and malt.

[Scully]

Have a drop of Malt it will do you more good. The Whisky I mean not cod liver oil and malt.

Will do.

[SHOOTEMUP]

Can anyone remember Paraffin heaters and the strong smell they gave out as my gran had one in the bedroom if I stayed with her and every item of clothing smelt strongly of Paraffin the next day and now I see they could be dangerous if used in a house, my word we never even thought about things like that in those days mind you they were really warm if I remember correctly??

Edited September 18, 2014 by SHOOTEMUP

[loriusgarrulus]

Dad had one in the garage to keep the car warm in winter. Little flat round thing used to reek.

Remember Esso blue bmmm bmmm bmmm bmmm

Edited September 18, 2014 by loriusgarrulus

[Scully]

I remember paraffin stoves and the smell, but can't remember everything we had smelling of paraffin. We had one in the kitchen underneath the clothes maiden to dry the clothes hanging there. Think the wick had to be changed on a regular basis, and my Dad was particular about his fires, so that's maybe why we didn't smell !

I can still chop kindling pencil thin if needed; learned from a very young age in the 'top shed' along side me Dad. He also had several huge cross cut saws from his days as a Sawyer alongside his brother in the woods at Lowther pre conscription. As small boys my cousin and I would try and help by getting on the other end but usually only ended up being pulled and pushed by our Dads across the saw horse! I can still recall marvelling at how easy and smooth they made it look. I still have one in my shed, couldn't bring myself to part with it when clearing out his stuff. The only ones you see nowadays are hanging on the walls of 'theme' pubs or in Beamish Museum.

[loriusgarrulus]

I can remember chopping kindling. We had a billhook for the sticks and used a big oak log to chop stuff on. Had a full size axe for the bigger stuff. Used to roll news paper up into tight tubes and knot them for fire starters and often held a sheet of newspaper over the front of the fire to get it to draw.

[Scully]

Used to roll news paper up into tight tubes and knot them for fire starters and often held a sheet of newspaper over the front of the fire to get it to draw.

Yep, remember it well. Many was the time when the sheet would suddenly burst into flames when I wasn't watching what I was doing. The alternative was sitting on the sofa with no eyebrows after me Dad had thrown some aforementioned paraffin on to 'get it going'.

What were those little games called; the ones which consisted of sliding little squares around inside a frame which held them all? They had either numbers or letters on. My Grandma had two, one with numbers 1 to 9 and another bigger one with the alphabet on. There was only one space within the frame in which to move each letter in turn around to get them in sequence. Never could do it.

We played cards ( my kids still do ) and dominoes, blow football, snakes and ladders, ludo etc from a box on which was printed 'A Compendium of Games'!! I remember having a 'Spirograph' and "Spinning Tops' which my kids in turn played with some years ago, amongst other games no longer available, and enough Lego to build a house...so did.

[loriusgarrulus]

I had a spirograph. Didn't have Lego, there was another make out called Montini building set very similar to Lego that I had.

[malkiserow]

I bet you all sang Christian songs in school assembly in those days.

[loriusgarrulus]

Yes we did and down to the local church for a carol service at Christmas.

[TriBsa]

I bet you all sang Christian songs in school assembly in those days.

 

Yes, often Onward Christian Soldiers. Don't they sing it in schools nowadays then?