Memories From Childhood

[curlyfries81]

What lovely things do you remember from your childhood that you just don't see today?

I remember going out picking elderberries to make wine for the "oldies", going to the shop for a 10p mix and taking the bottle back to the cornershop to get some pennies back.

I used to hate christmas pudding but remember the elation when I found 20p in the pudding. 

I remember going outside to play and joining in with all the other kids in the neighbourhood with skipping games and so on and then eventually being called in for my dinner - sadly those days are gone.

What are your fondest memories of childhood that you don't see any more?

[DTCwordfan]

no, but I was soaked from head to feet and probably 'armed' with two trout, one perch and a pike! And no shittt in the water back then - that we knew of.

[jourdain2]

NJ 17.31 - Mum had saved some silver threepenny bits which we always had in ur Xmas pud - wrapped in a bit of greaseproof paper.

[Karamia]

I loved it when you heard the ice cream van in the distance playing music, knowing he stopped at every road, and all the kids running in from playing in street to get money for ice creams. I would always get a screwball - my favourite! (Plastic cone with ice cream and colourful bubble gum in bottom)  

[Buenchico]

Memories from childhood

Well, these for a start!
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/30/2d/86/302d8622ba929b3128f7414fbe85be04.jpg

Dads always wearing a collar and tie, even when relaxing:
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2B8J2R3/1950s-historical-a-british-family-with-their-trousers-and-dresses-rolled-up-pose-for-a-picture-standing-in-the-shallow-seawater-at-the-edge-of-the-beach-england-uk-2B8J2R3.jpg

Buses with no heaters.  (Freezing cold in the severe British winters of those days!):
https://live.staticflickr.com/4087/5165792228_35e674b348_b.jpg

[curlyfries81]

I do remember colder winters from my childhood. I also remember the sea being freezing cold, even during the warmer months.

[Maydup]

Learning all the different embroidery stitches and creating a colourful sampler. 

[curlyfries81]

I used to love embroidery at school. I wonder what happened to all my creations. 

[zebo]

bhg, your post about watching Wolves makes me feel a bit guilty, in 1958 Bolton beat Wolves in, I think, the quarter final of the FA Cup, Billy Wright was crying in the Wolves team bus waiting to leave and we were leaping around jeering at him.  As a season ticket holder I got a ticket for the Final versus Manchester United but I made the mistake of saying Bolton should let Man U win because of Munich so my Dad sold my ticket to someone else!

We would go to Farnworth Baths and use our bus fare t.o buy a pasty then sit upstairs at the very front, crouched down so the conductor wouldn't see us

[zebo]

//I would often be sent there to buy a sandwich loaf for something like 8p. So much nicer than supermarket bread//

I recall buying a Hovis penny loaf walking to school, still warm and delicious, an old penny too.

[Atheist]

We would take the bus to Wigan town centre (I can't remember why) and then walk back so that we could spend our return bus fare on a pennyworth of kali and a ha'penny spanish.

In Wigan we would watch the market men selling plastic plectrums which would puff into delicious crisps when they were plunged into hot fat, and men who would rattle plates  and dishes at knock-down prices which occasionally shattered, and men selling lino by holding up sheets of it which they whacked with their hands and which now and again gave way and let a hand smash a hole in the lino and they would always come up with an unabashed one-liner to cover their shame.

Lovely days.

[jourdain2]

Being wheeled by Dad on top of a lot of weeds in the wheelbarrow; playing 'cricket' with him (remember we are Yorkshire) on the lawn as he bowled - Oh so gently!- at us, his daughteres - he would have loved a son.

Driving my tricycle alongside Mum pushing my sister in her pram down to Shipley market (I now know that it was about 2 miles) and having a stone of potatoes loaded into the back of my trike for me to pedal home.....

Our pony tethered on the Green and coming home in Winter from Junior school to bring her in to stable (after mucking-out and spreading fresh straw) before feeding her a linseed mash (boiled by Mum) and filling her hay-net.  Then getting into the kitchen, emptying my wellies of snow and finding my slippers toasting by the fire.  So very many - you've got me started....

[Atheist]

jourdain: You had a pony!

[bhg481]

zebo - coming from a small town about 10 miles from both Blackburn and Burnley, so all the boys in my class supported one or the other, Wolves beating Blackburn in 1960 was interesting for me.

I have a very good friend who was brought up in Manchester and he never forgave Nat Lofthouse for that goal.

[jourdain2]

Atheist - yes!  The RSPCA loaned them out to be cared for and there was a small outhouse attached to our garage which we turned into a stable.  We ended up with 2.  Milly (a rotund, skewbald Shetlie who regularly invaded the house) and Gypsie (an elderly Fell).  It was a sensible idea of the RSPCA in those days. We could graze them on the Green.

As a result, my sister now has her own 'stables' and my niece trains and is also a RHS Dressage Judge (she knew the late Queen and cared for and showed some of Her Maj's . Mountain & Moorlands). :)

[Atheist]

jourdain. I'm impressed!

[curlyfries81]

I've really enjoyed reading about your treasured memories.

 

Jourdain2, you've reminded me of the pets we had in the classroom. At weekends the children were allowed to take the pets home in their cages and look after them until Monday. I particularly loved the experience of taking the Guinea Pig home for the weekend and letting him out for a roam and feeding it. 

My eldest now wants a hamster but I've said no for the time being. She will turn 12 in December and we will start giving her proper pocket money at that stage which she can save up towards the pet of her choice and all the various bits that it needs. We're just unsure about how much pocket money is the norm for a 12 year old these days.

[jourdain2]

 My 13-yr-old granddaughter has progressed from hamsters (v. limited lifespan, but the kids learn) to guinea-pigs.  Grandson, got fed-up of hamsters dying and now has a snake!

Caring foranimals teaches children a lot. Let her have, care for and pay for her hamsters -but tell her about the life span.

[curlyfries81]

We will do but we've been reluctant up to this point as her cousins have all been allowed to have pets and then not bother with them once the novelty has worn off, so we wanted her to be a bit older before having a pet of her own.

[Buenchico]

>>> We're just unsure about how much pocket money is the norm for a 12 year old these days

See here:
https://www.thetimes.com/money-mentor/family/raising-children/exclusive-survey-children-pocket-money-spending-habits-lloyds-bank

. . . and possibly also here:
https://www.natwestgroup.com/news-and-insights/news-room/press-releases/financial-capability-and-learning/2024/may/kids-economy-2023-24-annual-study-reveals-just-1-in-3-families-s.html

[renegadefm]

I seem to remember spending most of my childhood at my Grans farm, which Dad ran. I really miss those days. 

Television wise I loved Dukes of Hazzard, Top of the pops, Starskey and Hutch, Swapshop, Crackerjack. 

Oh playing records in my bedroom, I only had a tiny Bush record player, but it gave me hours of fun. 

 

Remember first riding an offroad motorbike with my best mate. Just so many memories, and it seemed to rarely rain, why is that? It must have been drier as I spent most of my time outside.