Web Page 2006

7^th December 2013

Pictures: A Duncan’s Walnut Whip

Lower Picture: Exotic wheels in our day!

Things ain’t what they used to be!

Have you ever notice how things have either changed or shrunk over the years? Lets take a look at a few of them.

Firstly, one of the latest fashions for kids today are scooters, but they are not scooters as we knew them, apart from the footboard almost everything has changed. Our handlebars did not fold over and form a carrying handle nor did the wheels have sparkling lights in them and whilst we are talking about wheels ours were good solid 6” metal jobs with rubber tyres, today’s are tiny nylon things. But some of us did have a pump action on the back wheel of our scooters to help to go faster, I have not seen that on the modern ones yet! And the modern ones have brakes, unheard of in our day.

Now .think, when was the last time you saw some kids playing Cowboys and Indians, Pirates or girls with a dolls pram or skipping rope? Things have changed.

To us roller skates were a great toy, although I could never really mastered the art of skating. We did not have in line skates or skateboards. We had the choice when we were small, fibre or steel wheels, I never had fibre ones just steel wheels that made a terrible noise as I skated along the pavement, I was never good enough to invest in the softer wheels.

Things have even changed shape! The good old Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar used to come in handy blocks with rectangular chunks pressed into it but since the company has been taken over by the American Chocolate giant Hershey these blocks are now oval, not at all what we expect at all.

Another take over that ruined a product was when Fry’s took over the making of Duncan’s Walnut Whips. The filling of the modern Walnut Whip is far inferior to the nice creamy one we all got used to.

Now a real gripe because whatever the modern  company Burton’s say I am sure that Wagon Wheels have got smaller than when they were made by Weston’s and now they come in a sealed packet not a loose envelope that we all enjoyed.

Actually the subject of Wagon Wheels is quite interesting; they were invented by Gary Weston and were a worldwide product. Today they are produced and distributed by Burton Foods who separated from the Weston connection in 2000. The original factory was in Slough but during the early 1980s production was transferred to an updated and modern factory in South Wales.

There have been many debates amongst fans of the biscuit about its size. Wagon Wheels have shrunk in size as time has progressed, and Burton’s Ltd have now admitted this. It has been suggested that the supposed shrinkage is due to an adult's childhood memory of eating a Wagon Wheel held in a much smaller hand.

The original factory in Slough produced the biscuit with crinkled edges and although the UK Wagon Wheel has barely shrunk, it is still noticeably smaller than the Australian equivalent. As of 2006 the diameter of the Australian version is measured at 88 mm which is 14 mm larger than the UK version, while the UK Wagon Wheel is thicker by 4 mm. As of 2006, the Canadian Wagon Wheel measured 67mm x 18mm and as of July 2010, the Canadian Wagon Wheel measures only 65mm x 16mm.

Previous slogans for the product are interesting:

·                    "A taste for adventure."

·                    "If there's a bigger bite, it can't be found."

·                    During the 1960s the slogan in Australia was "It's more than a biscuit, it's a mighty big snack!"

The current slogan is "You've got to grin to get it in".

I hope that’s all clear, however I still think it is smaller!

There are also name changes that happened for various reasons. I still think of Opal Fruits as Opal Fruits and not Starburst, Opal Mints are now called Pacers (never heard of them), Marathon is still a Marathon to me and not a Snickers bar and Treets are still Treets and not Minstrels.

Still Penguins are almost the same as are Mars Bars and Milky Ways. But some bars have disappeared completely, bars such as the Five Boys Bars, Tiffin Bars, Newberry Fruits and Logger Bars?

Am I old fashioned or just a traditionalist.

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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Did you know that the Coca Cola illuminated lorry is in the Guildhall Square from 12.00 until 8.pm on 19^th December? See you there, free Coke all round!!!

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