OneGuyFromBarlick

We made tanks & guns too. Pipe cleaners were perfect for making dolls or animals, wrapped with wool and dressed in scraps of fabric.

The old waxed cardboard milk bottle caps were a useful bit of kit as well.....

Foil milk bottle tops became instant "flying saucers" if you had the knack of the "two finger flick", it was beyond some kids.

The larger wooden diabolo shaped cotton reels were the best for the tanks as they gave best underside clearance for negotiating obstacles.

PanBiker wrote: ↑09 Jun 2018, 08:38 Foil milk bottle tops became instant "flying saucers" if you had the knack of the "two finger flick", it was beyond some kids.

Thanks for that - file under - 'things you had forgotten that you had forgot'

Walter Pitcher, a jeweller who had a shop in the Tommy Market at Oldham and shared our Anderson Shelter with us at Norris Avenue used to keep us occupied by making little animals out of candle wax during the air raids. Us kids tried it but we were nowhere near his standard!

Stanley wrote: ↑10 Jun 2018, 03:21 who had a shop in the Tommy Market at Oldham

Let's have it right - its Tommyfield

I know I've told this before but it fits with Stanley's candle wax story. It's a serious case of Unintended Consequences. Mrs Tiz's father worked for the P&G soap company in the early 1950s. As the company chemist he was passed a letter from a Northumberland man complaining that something had changed with their Fairy Soap and it no longer performed as expected and had caused him a big problem. Father drove to the man's house to find out what the problem was. It turned out the man carved little animal figures out of green Fairy Soap and stored them for a few months during which time the animals would sprout green fur. Then he sold them as a novelty. But his latest batch were still bald after three months! Unfortunately he was taking advantage of a characteristic of the soap which was regarded by consumers and P&G as a quality defect - a fraction of the soap migrating to the surface and recrystallising there. P&G had changed the formulation of Fairy Soap to prevent this happening - and ended the man's business as a manufacturer of green furry animals. I suppose what the man wanted was not Fairy Soap but Furry Soap!

I remember playing Elastics which involved a lot of jumping and singing. (Gosh the energy we had) Also hoola-hoops and Coca-Cola Yoyo's. Skates with metal soles that you adjusted to your foot-size. Playing Jacks on your knuckles. Hopscotch.

You're right David, put it down to a senior moment.
I like 'Furry Soap'..... If you were heavily into showing cattle you let Lifebuoy soap dry out on a shelf in the open and then used it to finish off the coat of your cattle by rubbing it against the grain. They changed the formula and it was less fatty and was nowhere near as good.
Metal adjustable roller skates Cathy.... I had them as well but kept falling over!
Hop scotch.... an essential item of the pocket tool kit was always a supply of coloured chalk. I see it's still used today by the kids in the back street which, being a dead end, is a safe space. Lots to be said for the old technology as a shower of rain cleans it all off. Nice!

I often wonder how much a wartime childhood differs from today's kids experience. Our sensory input included things like being aware we were in danger of occupation, aerial bombing and the effects of food rationing. We soon became experts on invasions, bomber identification, the dangers of falling shrapnel and the fact that if we saw something edible we ate it and didn't waste anything. There can be little doubt that this coloured our outlook and later life.
Today from what I can make out branded clothes, the latest electronic games and celebrities loom large in children's minds. They are used to food on demand and the way it is scattered about the streets makes me think that waste isn't uppermost. Even small copper change is thrown away. Then there is the influence of advertising and what they can access on the internet.....
So my question is, what effect will this have on them in the long run. Is this at the root of the evident disconnect between their attitudes and mine? Who had the better childhood experience and hence the stock of memories?

Everything belongs to it's own time Stanley and that's one of the influences that makes it special. I'm sure each generation has it's own great memories.

You're probably right Cathy but I wouldn't swap.....

Remember as a youngster being allowed to take your own photos, counting down how many were left on the film then having to wait for your camera's film to be processed, opening up the packet, negatives in the back, and the excitement of seeing your photos for the first time and actually being able to hold them (while being told not to put any fingerprints on them). Very exciting

Again Cathy, I have to agree. There is a magic connected with film that is missing now with digital. All right it was more trouble especially if you did your own processing but watching images develop in the dark room was pure joy. I have been told that for forensic purposes they still use film because the image can't be altered on the negative once the shutter is actuated.
Gob stoppers that lasted for ages and changed colour and flavour as you sucked them.

I remember when I got my first bike in 1947. It was a Royal Enfield 'roadster', 'Built Like A Gun' and twice as heavy! It had a Sturmey Archer 3 speed gear hub and my first impression was that there was something wrong with it because it was much harder to pedal in high gear than low! It took me a while to work out why this was......

I've always thought that the greatest gift we give our children is stability. At one point when I was about 12 years old my mother disappeared. We had no idea what had happened and father never explained it to us. We had to adjust and it was painful. Then after about 3 months I think, she suddenly reappeared. Years later I found out that she had got into debt with the local grocer because we were always short of money for an obscure reason that didn't become clear for another 20 years. She had gone to Blackpool and taken a seasonal job during the summer. It was never discussed and we soon got back into a 'normal' life but looking back I suspect it had a big effect on us kids. It certainly coloured my attitude towards our own children later on.....

I feel for you Stanley and can relate. Both our parents disappeared within a week of each other (never to return to bring the family back together tho). My first job was working for a debt collection agency, I was able to see every record on their books in the form of cards. I came across a card for our Dad and (naughty me ? aged 16) I removed it. I probably still have the card somewhere.

Does anyone remember wearing Children s Harness and Reigns as a child? They are a rare sight over here but whenever I see them being used I always think "What a good idea".

All our kids and the grandchildren had reigns. The latter as they got a bit bigger, little rucksacks with built in extending dog type leads.

I also remembr having them, I have a photo somewhere of me wearing them when I was toddler.

My youngest grandson has the 'rucksack with a lead', he will hold your hand 99% of the time but it's good to have it just in case.

Cathy, I thought you and Maz might know how we felt..... I like the idea of reins on kids, they tend to dart!
Remember the gloves that were tethered together on a string through your sleeves?

Companion sets as in Big Kev's fireplace picture.


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One of my mates in Scotland had three large chrome-plated horseshoes on the grill of his cattle truck and when I commented on them one day he told me that were off spare fireside companion sets he and his wife got when they were married. He said they got six.....



Mine is less ornate and yes, it all needs a good clean!

I posted this on another topic but I'll bet it brings back memories for many of you.

Oh gosh yes. High school, black, used to get very heavy. I also remember that every so often I would sneak to the school incinerator and empty it of all the jam sandwiches I hadn't eaten, haha.