Web Page No 2268
3rd
June 2016
Top Picture: Conkers
Third Picture: Five stones
Forth Picture: TV watching 1950s style
When we were young
Even though my mother was the worry Queen of the Century, I had a remarkable
amount of freedom as a child, as most of us did. We would play on the slopes of
Portsdown Hill, in the copses along the top of the hill, in the chalk pits and
old gun emplacements. We along the shores of the creek, on the mud flats and on
any old piece of spare waste ground that we could find.
In those days the girls would go out and pick bluebells, primroses and
snow drops and bring them home to mother, they would go horse riding and to ballet
classes and the boys would throw stones up into the horse chestnut trees to
collect the conkers. I never had to do this as against our hedge our neighbours
had an enormous horse chestnut tree and so the conkers were actually delivered
to my doorstep, so to speak. In fact most years I had so many that I could
carry them to school in paper bags and sell them! As they say a nice little
earner!
No one seemed to be as frightened for their children as they are now, I
know there was less traffic about and so crossing the road was not the
near-death experience that it can be today in some places. But we did play
Tarzan in the woods and swing through the trees yelling and shouting and as far
as I was ware we never came across the odd flasher wandering the streets and woods.
The grown-ups didn’t seem to panic about our play and safety and the
only thing that stopped us going out to play was rain, we even went out in the
snow! Nothing stopped our parents from letting us out to play. They seemed to
understand the need for children to take risks and learn the basic life lesson
that actions always have consequences.
So what did ‘play’ mean then? There was barely any telly, we had only
the simplest of equipment: jacks, marbles, skipping-ropes, model cars, dolls
and prams, bats, balls and bicycles.
Most of the time, my friends and I made our own games up war games,
pirates, cowboys and Indians and explorers, we brewed ginger beer, held snail
races, picked blackberries, made dens in the woods and back gardens and in the
right season went scrumping for apples.
In fact, it seemed that we were left to our own devices most of the
time. No after-school clubs for us, it was home, then homework, change clothes
and then out to play. We used our imaginations, we had to, there wasn’t
anything much else around.
This must all sound so primitive to our grandchildren. How would they
cope with just two channels of black- and-white telly for only a few hours a
day? And just the one rotary-dial telephone in the hall? That was probably on a party line as well.
For us, new technology meant a lever fountain pen, probably an Osmiroid
which were made in Gosport or maybe a Parker if we were lucky. No cartridges
then, just Quink, Stephens or Watermans inks and acres of blotting paper.
When you think about it, our mothers were the first recyclers in an
earlier age of austerity; darning socks, turning lights off and repairing
sheets, collars and cuffs.
Who makes home-made chips anymore? Hardly anyone.
Washing was done with the aid of a mangle.
We mightn’t have heard of avocados, but we hardly ever heard of obesity
either. We didn’t appreciate that contentment at the time, though.
My father, like most husbands then, came home and expected his dinner to
be ready. In those days, wives didn’t often have careers. And leaving your
husband for another man was almost unheard of and the wife wouldn’t necessarily
have been allowed to take the children with them, and living in sin was a
terrible thing to do.
This world of the Fifties that we knew is gone for ever, of course, along
with the police station with its blue light, the sweet and toy shops, and the
tradesmen who used to call at the house.
Congratulations to all my friends who were born in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
Even though all the shops closed at 6pm and didn’t open on a Sunday, somehow we
didn’t starve to death! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth
and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. And only the girls had pierced
ears. We could only buy hot cross buns and Easter Eggs at Easter time and Christmas
started in the second week of December.
Keep in touch
Peter
You Write:
News and Views:
On this day 3rd June 1960-1965
On 03/06/1960 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 Wagon Train (ITV) 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.
On 03/06/1961 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 03/06/1962 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 03/06/1963 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 Coronation Street (Granada)
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.
On 03/06/1963 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 Coronation Street (Granada)
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.
On 03/06/1965 the
number one single was Long Live Love - Sandie Shaw
and the number one album was Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan. 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.
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