Web Page 1156
16th June 2013

Top Picture: Frozen Milk bottles 1963

Bottom Picture: Remember Ilford Films?

Even More Memories

I remember my first year at senior school, Court Lane Secondary, when my mother insisted that I was still a child even though I was going to senior school so I had to go to school in uniform grey short trousers with grey long socks with garters that did not work! I remember those socks because there was always the uncomfortable feeling in my shoes all day long when the socks had been darned!

Life was very different then. When we went out Dad always wore a jacket and collar and tie even when shopping and it was here that our parents actually talked to people over the counter and were served by shop assistants who knew their products. On cold winter mornings the milk on our doorstep was frozen with the tops pushed off the bottles, it was touch and go to get to the bottles before the birds did! These were the days of being satisfied that Santa had actually come instead of how much he'd brought. When we look back we realise that everyone’s Grandmother and Grandfather always looked old and Uncles and Aunts were always called Uncle this or Aunty that, never by their Christian names. 

In the winter our bedrooms were always freezing cold with a lino floor and just a small rug to put our feet on when we got out of bed. There were no such things as Continental Quilts or Duvets just sheets, blankets, eiderdowns and counterpanes.

Life ran to timetables. Time to come in for tea, time to come in for dinner, time to go out and play and time to be home and whoa betide anyone who was late for any of these fixed points! Pocket money was just that, a few pence in your pocket to buy sweets or a comic, but I can remember getting a ten-bob note for my birthday one year, it took me two weeks to decide how to spend it.

On the sport side we wore long shorts and had high sided heavy brown football boots until the black and white low cut continental style came in. Our footballs were leather with laces and these laces really hurt if you headed the ball and caught them on you forehead.

As we progressed through the Sixties employment reared its ugly head and the change of direction in life when we left school. Some went, as I did, went on to study at college, some went into the Services and some out into the wide world of employment where an unskilled labourer could earn as much as £4 a week which was considerably more than the dockyard apprentices who were earning just £2/10 shillings per week! But they were told they were learning a valuable and traditional trade.

Around 1962 a few people started growing their hair long and caused much amusement, but I was under instruction from my father who had given me the 1s 6d to go to Mr. Hember, the barber, and have a decent haircut with a neck shave.

Looking back to the early 1950’s and attending Junior School I remember the scary, cold outside toilets with fixed wooden seats and high level cisterns with deafening flushes, Izal hard toilet paper and pink disinfectant that magically appeared in the loos every morning. In class we would read the Peter and Jane Ladybird books, they always seemed to have such an idyllic life, helping Daddy sort out apples in the hayloft and going on trips in the "motor car".

It was a time when all elderly people were respected, where teaching had some integrity and teachers were smartly dressed and well thought of and where there was one gun related murder a year and the culprit faced the death penalty. No cars had synchromesh in first gear and the police cars and ambulances had electric bells and the fire engines hand operated bells on the roof of their cabs. Oh! and Policemen all seemed to be well over six feet tall. All over the place we could see hand drawn posters for Whist Drives, Jumble Sales, Rummage Sales, Garden Parties, Sales of Work all to raise money for some good cause or other.

Just one other thing who remembers double summertime daylight saving? This was used during the war years but from February 1968 to November 1971 we kept daylight saving time throughout the year mainly for commercial reasons and because of power shortages. Although some said it resulted in fewer road traffic accidents, others said that it was a disadvantage for children leaving homes in the dark mornings to attend school, it was common place to see children walking to school with brand new Florescent bands or belts. The experiment was abandoned in 1972 because of its unpopularity, particularly in the north.

More and more memories, I really must be getting old! Only 2^1/₂ years to go and I will be 70!!!!!!!

Stay in Touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

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News and Views:

On this day 16th June 1960-1965

On 16/06/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Arnold Palmer wins US Golf Open.

On 16/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 16/06/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 16/06/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was Cassius Clay defeats Henry Cooper in London.

On 16/06/1964 the number one single was You're My World - Cilla Black and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 16/06/1965 the number one single was Crying in the Chapel - Elvis Presley and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was UK drink-drive alcohol limit to be introduced.