Web Page 2066

29th June 2014

Top Picture; Hot Buttered Crumpets

 Second Picture: Pinky and Perky

 Third Picture: 1960’s radiogram

Bottom Picture: Bottled Fruit Jars

Memories from Home

For those of us of a certain age the 1960’s covered not only the later part of our childhood in the early years but also on to our growing up teenage years and eventual courtship and marriage and more permanent relationships.

In 1960, I was fourteen and was well and truly too old for things like the Tufty Club, Blue Peter and Pinky and Perky and was far more interested in the up and coming pop music scene, much to my grandmothers disapproval (such strange noisy music) and the latest fashions and most of us lads all heard the cries from the older generation saying that those pointy shoes will damage your feet or your hair is too long. Also for the girls it was too much hairspray will give you asthma, modern make up is unnatural, you also suffered from the phrase ‘those pointy shoes will damage your feet’ but in your case it was not just the pointiness of the shoes but the stiletto heels as well which were all condemned as being injurious to your foot health. Towards the middle of this period when ankle jewellery became popular how often did you hear an older person say ‘only a certain type of girl wears a bracelet round her ankle!!!!!’

We were all growing up fast and to some extent the cry in many houses was ‘Oh! Mum/Dad, everyone is doing it!’ this applied to everything from clothes and the way we dressed, to modern dances, to the time we had to be in at night. But there were still some home-grown compensations that were strictly for the family.

Toasting Crumpets on an open fire was one such compensation. Nothing beats sitting round an open fire with a toasting fork, a pile of crumpets and a large packet of Anchor butter and a pot of Mum or Grandma’s home made jam. It was a real social event and everyone had a turn at toasting his or her own tea, it did not seem to matter if the crumpet dropped off the end of the fork into the fire, the ash added to the flavour! Ahh! what times crumpets toasted in a toaster or under a grill were never quite the same.  Nor is electrically cooked toast.

The other social thing I remember in our home at this time is sitting down for Sunday tea with a bowl of a pint of freshly cooked shrimps, bought from Sidney Slape the fishmonger in Drayton, and peeling them and eating them with bread and butter, this was Sunday tea and was followed by tinned fruit and Carnation Milk plus tea of course in the best china complete with milk jug, tea strainer and slop bowl.

We had a large garden with pear, apple, plum, damson and cherry trees, plus white currants, red currants, gooseberries and blackberries and come the harvest season both my mother and grandmother were heavily involved with bottling fruit in a range of Keilner Jars or making pots and pots of jam to see us through the winter. We also had a row of hazel nut trees but as far as I remember these were never harvested (only by me when I was at the top of the garden!)

Whilst thinking of life at home in the living room we had an enormous radiogram, do you remember these? I bought ours from a Jumble Sale at the local Scout Hut and somehow managed to lug it home. This machine only played 78’s and was built way before the days of the transistor. Having got it home my father and I (he did an apprentiship  as a radio engineer years before, took the old deck out, up dated the valve amplifier and fitted a modern BSR record deck which could play anything from 16 rpm to 78 rpm. Being an old piece of furniture it was built of wood and had one very large speaker in the very centre of the unit. Being surrounded by wood this speaker provided a fantastic tone. I covered the face of the speaker with a length of gold cloth that I found somewhere in the house. However within the first week of having this system up and running my girlfriend at the time was sat on my lap in the chair next to the radiogram and somehow managed to put her stiletto heel through the gold cloth, luckily she missed the sound cone inside. This machine I used until I got my first pay packet and went out and bought a brand new Fergusson record player of my own a machine that I could keep upstairs in my bedroom.

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

You Write:

Christopher Writes:-

Just found your blog today. I was reading 'Stephanie writes:' I did paper rounds for Ed and Isobel (I believe) Bryant. For extra I cleaned their car on Saturday morning (Triumph Herald). Loads of straw in the car - Steph's horse? Although I think I recall a younger sister. I see the ATC features, I think Ed Bryant was involved with it.

There was always a bit of rivalry with the kids of the other shop - Flemings.

I think I can add some names to a couple of photos.

1st, MC tennis team sent by Christine. Anthony Davis centre back row, 3rd back row Gary Buckner.

2nd, School picture from Michele pictures by Ian Marshall. The 'hair' just  behind Mr Folland's rt shoulder I reckon is Derek Dacre. The faces behind Jane Merrit, on her right Michael Dewey, on her left is John Brailey with Glynn Jones just behind and David Cookson next to John.

John Brailey's dad used to drive the little bus featured (No.22) I used to catch this to CPH annex before moving on to Court Lane then MC.

Memorable teachers for me Maurice Jones, Mr Stephens, Mr Sexton, Mr Spinney and outstanding Ken Wells and Solent Road Mr Brooks who went on to became head of Highbury 1st and Middle. Inspirational the last two. Head teacher at SR (Mrs Bellinger his sec) could swing the cane, I can almost feel the sting in the fingers on each hand.

My two brothers followed me through school, 2 & 9 yrs behind me.  Both my boys did Springfield as it became after Court Lane. The youngest Adam now 35 may still hold the school mile record.

I left school at Xmas '63, in my 5th year for a Dockyard apprenticeship, the last of the Xmas entries.
Also around goodness where are photos entrants in the Dockyard and Portsmouth Polytechnic undergrads.

All very interesting, regards

News and Views:

On this Day 29th June 1960-1965

On 29/06/1960 the number one single was Three Steps to Heaven - Eddie Cochran and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) 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 29/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Harpers West One (ATV) 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 29/06/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley and the number one album was West Side Story Soundtrack. 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 29/06/1963 the number one single was I Like It - Gerry & the Pacemakers 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 29/06/1964 the number one single was It's Over - Roy Orbison 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 29/06/1965 the number one single was I'm Alive - Hollies 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.

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22nd June 2014

 Top Picture; The only picture I can find of the original Big Chief I-Spy Charles Warrell.

 Second Picture: The Second Big Chief I-Spy Arnold Cawthorn

 Third Picture: I-Spy Record Card

Bottom Picture: I-Spy Code Book

Big Chief I-Spy

Inspired by a magazine article that Keith handed me sometime ago I have made a couple of searches into someone who had a great deal of influence to many of us as kids but none of us knew his real name. The name of Charles Warrell does not immediately ring any bells with most of us but the name Big Chief I-Spy does. Very few people can have given so much pleasure to so many young readers over the years.

He was born in 1889 and eventually became a headmaster first of Higher Wych School, in Cheshire, then of Pleasey Hill School, in Nottinghamshire,. He always believed in active learning. After earlier publications including the "Warrell-Way" series of educational books in 1946 which were not particularly successful, he devised his first "I-Spy Spotterbook" in 1948, taking the title from a suggestion from his wife, Marian, in preference to his own more sober notion of calling the series "Learning from Life".

After failing to impress eight different publishers, he decided to produce his books himself. He then chose his local branch of Woolworth's, Mansfield, as a main outlet, drawing on a friendship with that firm's principal book-buyer; the friendship was based originally around a common interest in breeding pigs. Swift sales led to many more books, plus serialisation for two years in the Daily Mail and then, for a longer spell, in the News Chronicle. By 1959 there were 37 different I-Spy books on the shelves, plus eight others with colour pages! The whole series was to last till 1986, since when it has re-appeared under a succession of different publishing houses.

His I-Spy books combined simplicity of design with a great deal of accurate and often ingenious, research. Costing only sixpence, or a shilling in colour, each paperback concentrated on a particular topic ranging from The Seaside to People in Uniform. Every one of the 40 or so pages would have a picture at the top followed by a short verbal description within which the author would share his own lively enthusiasms with his young audience. But the real fun was still to come. For at the bottom of every page there was the I-Spyed challenge and an accurate sighting of these special features, noting carefully both when and where in the appropriate box, was worth 30 points. When the book was filled the reader could send it to Wigwam-by-the-Water, Bouverie Street, London EC4.(now that must have caused some head scratching in the Post Office!) In return he or she would qualify for a Special Order of Merit franked by Big Chief's very own seal and a coloured feather for the ceremonial headdress.

For sixpence any "pale-face" was welcome to the Great Tribe of Red-skins, receiving, through the post, a large manila envelope which contained an I-Spy badge a Secret Code Book for deciphering the daily secret messages contained in Charles Warrell's regular newspaper columns, the secret ‘How’ greeting to other redskins plus a letter from Chief I-Spy himself telling the recipient that they were now a redskin and a member of the I-Spy tribe. Several educational outing were arranged and on more than one occasion mass theatre outings were organised, with in excess of 8,000 children on one occasion enjoying an I-Spy day out in London, travelling around in 80 hired double- decker buses. (that works out at 100 per bus, today it would be classed as overcrowding and dangerous!)

At its height, the whole I-Spy operation involved over one and a half million young Red-skins, with two women assistants employed solely to answer members' numerous telephone and written questions.

Always happy to appear in his chief’s head-dress on special I-Spy pow-wows in different parts of Britain, Charles Warrell eventually opted for a quieter life at his home in Budleigh Salterton, where he walked and gardened almost to the end. It was then that Arnold Cawthrow took over as the Big Chief. Charles Warrell’s birthdays in later years became something of a rallying point for Red-skins both young and old, happy to honour their still surviving Big Chief in his well-earned retirement.

After virtually dying out in the 1990’s Michelin Travel Publications re- launched 12 new titles of I-Spy in 2009 and a further 12 in spring 2010.

Known affectionately as Big Chief by the nursing home staff where he finally ended his days, Charles Warrell died aged 106 in Matlock, Derbyshire, in November 1995.

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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Mary Writes:

Last week`s blog brought back a few memories of the coalman! Ours was a cheery chap and some people used to say that you should count the sacks as they were brought into the coalhouse . We never did as he was an honest person and as you rightly say was rewarded with a hot cuppa in the winter or a cold drink in the summer. My parents did take advantage of summer prices. Once he arrived at our house and told my mother he`d seen her walking along the Havant Rd and how smart she looked. At home my mother wore an apron, not exactly haute couture, but after lunch it was quite different. She always looked good. At this point my father appeared for his lunch and said "If you felt that enamoured why didn`t you give her a lift in your coal lorry?" My mother was quite shocked as my father was an easy going man and not prone to jealousy. However sometimes there was a glimpse of it! Hope you have a great time at your lunch. Wish I could be there but am very happy here (France) with the 2 dogs, cat and 7 chickens! 

News and Views:

Gerry Goffin, one-time husband and lyricist for Carole King, who wrote scores of hit records both with and without her, died Thursday (June 19) at his Los Angeles home. 

On this Day 22nd June 1960-1965

On 22/06/1960 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.

On 22/06/1961 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 22/06/1962 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 22/06/1963 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 day was USSR puts first woman in space.

On 22/06/1964 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 22/06/1965 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.

Web Page 2062

15th June 2014

Top Picture:  Postman

 

Middle Picture: Dustman

Bottom Picture: More Coal Delivery

Delivery to Your Door

Way back in February on a bright but cold day I spotted the postman walking up to my front door. There he was in a light blue sleeveless shirt, body warmer and shorts and trainers (in February!!!!) and it got me thinking. When we were young the postman, sometimes very occasionally post women, would arrive in a single-breasted blue serge suit with polished shoes, blue shirt with a navy blue tie and he always wore a peaked cap with a Post Office brass badge on the front. Maybe I am now living in the past or possibly the postmen and women today are made of far sterner stuff than those 60 years ago. I don’t think so. Even when I did Post Office Relief during the Christmas Period in the early 1960’s, despite not being in uniform (we only had an arm badge with Auxiliary Postal Worker written round the out side of a circle with a reporting number in the centre) we still had to abide by the strict dress code laid down by the Post Office.

This got me thinking about the past yet again. When I was a child the dustman arrived punctually on a Monday morning early before I went to school. As we lived in a semi detached house, the dustman would walk up the drive, round to the back of the house, where he would hoist the dustbin onto his shoulders and carry it down to the dustcart standing on the road. Then he would carry the empty bin back again and replace it. None of this once a fortnight collection and the bin having to be wheeled round to the front of the house or it would not be collected. I have a vague recollection of a pig swill bucket with a lid on for all the raw kitchen waste and this also would be collected once a week but I cannot remember who undertook these collections. I think this must have been the residue of the post war food campaign!

Coal deliveries were something else that were delivered to the back of the house. Almost everyone in those days had some form of open fires and to store the coal that would be needed throughout the winter months we all had coal bunkers. Ours doubled as a pirate ship, space rocket, WW2 gun emplacement or anything that the fertile boys mind could conjure up, but we never played inside them that was asking for a clip round the ears and mother having to do a lot of extra washing!  Our coal bunker was round the back of the house and after the knock on the back door, for his cup of tea, the coalman would carry the sacks, on his shoulders, from the road in front of the house, right round to the bunker where he would empty the coal into the bunker and place the folded sacks to one side so that they could be counted. Every coal wagon, by law, had to carry a set of scales capable of weighing a full sack of coal. One of our neighbours must have been very unpopular with the coalman as she always insisted that every fifth sack was weighted in front of her so she could see that she was getting the right weight of coal and not being cheated. Most of our families had coalbunkers which they stocked up to the top throughout the summer because the summer prices of coal were a lot cheaper than the winter ones and this coal would hopefully last us all through the cold winter months.

The only other delivery person that would happily walk round to the back of the house was the paraffin deliveryman. Back in the days before central heating most household had at least a couple of paraffin stoves alight during the winter evenings. I know ours were in the bathroom and in the hall. Our cans for paraffin were stored in the garden shed which was half way down the garden and the deliveryman from Nappers the ironmongers in Drayton would walk into the garden, collect the paraffin cans and fill them up from the large tank in the back of his Bedford van. He would then deliver the cans back to the shed and knock the door for payment. All this was cheerfully done with a lighted cigarette stuck into the corner of his mouth!!!!

As I have said before, ‘It was a different world then’.  

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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Bobby Rydell and Anne Margaret 1963 and 2011

On this Day 15^th June 1960-1965

On 15/06/1960 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.

On 15/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Probation Officer (ATV) 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 15/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Probation Officer (ATV) 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 15/06/1962 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. The big news story of the day was Brazil wins World Cup Final.

On 15/06/1963 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 day was Prince Charles (14) buys cherry brandy.

On 15/06/1964 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 15/06/1965 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.

Web Page 2060

8th June 2014

Top Picture:  Brian Auger Trinity

Bottom Picture: Julie Driscoll today.

Brian Auger

Brian Auger and The Trinity with Julie Driscoll was a band that regularly appeared in many of the Portsmouth music venues but today seems to have faded into obscurity.

There music was an led by an accomplished jazz-rock organist and under his leadership the group had several different manifestations over the years. They had several hits over the years including Fool Killer and Green Onions. But their biggest success came in 1965 when the group teamed-up with Julie Driscoll to record Bob Dylan's ‘This Wheels On Fire’. As we all know this tune used as the theme tune to BBC TV's Absolutely Fabulous so prolonging its popularity. Venturing into more and more ambitious musical projects, Brian Auger never maintained the prominence he once had.

He began his music career as a jazz pianist in the early 1960s, playing in clubs in and around London. However by 1964 he had purchased himself a Hammond organ, and formed a new group called The Trinity with bassist Rick Brown and drummer Micky Waller, both previously of Cyril Davies' R&B All-Stars. This group hit the right combination and saw far greater success when they played the harder R&B styled music. In 1965 they became part of a concert programme called The Steampacket and it was here that they met up with and played with singers such as Rod Stewart and Long John Baldrey and Julie Driscoll, plus guitarist Vic Briggs.

The Steampacket were an early form of  'supergroup', but unfortunately they never recorded a complete album and soon broke up. After the break up Brian Auger retained Rick Brown, Julie Driscoll and Vic Briggs, and formed a new version of The Trinity with a new drummer Clive Thacker. Rick Brown and Vic Briggs left before very long, and so when they came to record in 1967 the band consisted of Brian Auger (organ/vocals), Julie Driscoll (vocals), Gary Boyle (guitar), Roger Sutton (bass) and Clive Thacker (drums).

The record Open was released in 1967 and was credited to Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity. It turned out to be an interesting, experimental record, mixing jazz, R&B and rock, the band being augmented with a horn section. The first side (labelled 'Auge') featured the band without Julie Driscoll, and was mostly instrumental except for one track on which Brian Auger sang (one of the tracks was also a solo piano performance by him). On the second side  (labelled 'Jools'), Brian Auger took a backseat and Julie Driscoll sang. Despite being such an interesting release, Open did not sell well initially, probably because most people couldn't quite work out what to make of it. However in 1968 the band had a no. 5 hit with a cover version of the Bob Dylan / Rick Danko classic "This Wheel's On Fire", which became the best-known version of the song in Britain, although this version was re-recorded in 1992. Subsequently the album sold much better and went on to reach No. 12 in the LP charts.

In 1970 he formed Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, after abandoning a " jazz-fusion commune in a small suburb of The Hague. The Oblivion Express proved the starting ground for several musicians, including two  future Average White Band drummers and one guitarist. In 1989, Brian Auger was musical director for the thirteen-part film retrospective series Villa Fantastica, made for German TV . He then toured with Eric Burdon in the early 1990s, and recorded the live album with him in 1993. After several projects, including albums with family members, he reformed the Oblivion Express in the late 1990s, with a line-up that eventually featured both his son and daughter.

The Oblivion Express was revived with a 2005 recording and subsequent touring. The group featured Brian Auger, his son Karma Auger on drums, his daughter Savannah Auger on vocals, and Derek Frank on bass.

He has just completed a new album that was released in April this year.

What of Julie Driscoll? She was born on 8th June 1947 in London. Since the 1970s, she has concentrated on experimental vocal music, married jazz musician Keith. She participated in his big band ‘Centipede’ and in 1974, took part in Robert Wyatt’s's Theatre Royal Drury Lane concert; released a solo album, Sunset Glow in 1975. Later in the 1970s, she toured with her own band. In the early 1980s, Her last recorded work was ‘Serpentine’ released in 2012.

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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Jonathon Writes:


Hi Peter, your description of eating sweets from yesteryear prompted a memory from my Carol (Winter). She remembers Frys Chocolate Cream, the ones with all white fillings not the various colours that were also sold. She would suck just one segment at a time and try and see how long she could make it last until it was just a tiny tiny sliver that finally went. She used to time it to try and break the previous record. She is certain that she managed an hour and a half. Do you remember those pink prawns sort of firm mousse consistency, four a penny. Lemon sherbert drops that when sucked carefully would suddenly become a fizzy end. Then there were those penny chews that to our memory were enormous in fact the four a penny smaller ones were more manageable. What about that rough honeycomb ....chocolate covered and on a stick for a penny. Walnut whips were another favourite but to our memory rather more expensive and only occasionally bought. Liquorice shoelaces, spanners, tapes around a liquorice allsort and the plain liquorice twist. Oh the list is endless.........no wonder our teeth had to be drilled to extinction in the butcher dentists of the period!!!!!!!

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On this Day 8^th June 1960-1965

On 08/06/1960 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 08/06/1961 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 08/06/1962 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 08/06/1963 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 08/06/1963 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 08/06/1965 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.

Web Page 2058

1st June 2014

Top Picture:  Remember the Coalman?

Middle Picture: And the Paraffin heater

Bottom Picture: Ted Heath and his band at the Savoy.

Cosham Memories

It’s the old argument or is it just a trick of the memory or are Wagon Wheels really that much smaller compared with the ones bought at the old FW Woolworth store that once stood in the High Street in Cosham?

Not only did the chocolate and marshmallow sandwich seem much larger but for fans of the biscuit there was the added attraction of being able to save up the wrappers and send off to the makers for an enamel lapel badge showing a covered wagon pulled by a team of horses. I never had one of those!

This was during the early 1960s when local youngsters - including me - would head off to Woolworths to spend their pocket money on a Saturday morning.

It was only a small store but despite its size this Woolworths seemed to sell everything its young customers wanted to buy before they walked up the High Street for the children's film show at the Odean cinema.

Sweets were always popular and Cosham's Woolworths had a wide selection to tempt the sweetest of tooth including bars of Fry's Five Boys Chocolate which featured five faces on the wrapper under which were the words: " Desperation, Pacification, Expectation, Acclamation and Realization It's Fry's.'' Trebor Sherbet Fountains were another treat and like a Wagon Wheel which were only eaten by nibbling off the chocolate first before tackling the biscuit, they too could only be enjoyed in a certain way.

Sherbet fountains consisted of a paper tube filled with lemon sherbet, and a narrow liquorice "straw". Theoretically, it was supposed to be possible to suck the sherbet up through the liquorice, but the stickiness of liquorice tended to make that impossible.

No matter you could just keep moistening the liquorice, dipping it in the sherbet and picking it up that way. Then, when the sherbet ran low, you could knock the last of it back as if you were finishing a drink, and then finally eat the liquorice straw.

As an aside, the name Trebor was acquired from the house Robertson & Woodcock, the original manufacturers, occupied in Forest Gate, London in the companies early years. As it also spelt the first name of Robert Robertson backwards, the location was regarded as particularly appropriate and a lucky omen.

However, the Woolworth shop in Cosham was not so lucky as a short story in the local paper stated that Cosham Woolworths, along with all the other outlets, was to close.

However, it was on the 27^th December 2008 that trading in the Cosham store came to an end. The Store Manager at the time said that, for her, it was the end of an era as she had worked for Woolworth’s for17ears following in the footsteps of her mother who worked for the company for 42 years.

Looking at the whole picture throughout the country 27,000 staff in 807 stores lost their jobs and all Woolworth stores were closed by 6^th January 2009. However that year they opened an on line store and, as far as I am aware, it is still going.

I know as a youngster I spent hours and lots of shillings in Cosham Woolworths buying toys, switches and batteries and all sorts of different items. It was the place to spend an hour or so on a Saturday morning. I am sure that I must have seen many of you in there at one time or another.

The other place that was a mecca for us when we were teenagers was the Cosham branch of Weston Harts. This was the only place in Cosham where you could buy genuine records, not cover versions as were sold in Woolworths. The company had several shops in the city but the Cosham one was our local. I bought my first records in there in 1958. They were 78’s ( I am that old) one was ‘Nairobi’ by Tommy Steele. This was on the Decca label and reached no. 3 in the charts and the other was ‘Swinging Shepherd Blues’ backed with ‘Raunchy by Ted Heath and his band and was also on the Decca label. Oh yes I also had to buy a tin of steel needles because the fibre ones we had at home tempered the sound down a little.  Getting two 78rpm records home in the saddlebag on my bike was a tricky job but I managed it.

Today I looked up the Tommy Steele record and it is now selling for £10.00 plus. I wonder what happened to mine?

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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On this Day 1st June 1960-1965

On 01/06/1960 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 0106/1961 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 01/06/1962 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 01/06/1963 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 01/06/1964 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 01/06/1965 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.