Web Page  No 2232a

29th January 2016

Top Picture: School Milk

 Second Picture: 1950’s Radio

Third Picture: Packet of Omo

Before the main page, we must be coming up to another get together at The George as by then a lot of us will be passed the three score years and ten. Any prefernces on dates?

The joy of a 1950s childhood

Most of us who grew up in Fifties Britain will have his or her own indelible memories of their childhood, from the first taste of welfare orange juice to the birth of rock' n’ roll. The nation was recovering from the Second World War and the friendliness of wartime was still evident throughout the country.

Despite the difficulties of day-to-day living people had pride in their country and shared a common purpose in life. Families stayed together even though things were hard and everybody knew their neighbours.

Children waking up on Christmas morning in 1952 had experienced nothing but rationing all their lives. It was normal to go without the sweets, biscuits, crisps and fizzy drinks;  sweet rationing ended in February 1953so  the most prized thing in your Christmas stocking would have been a small bar of chocolate.

We didn’t get our first black and white television set until the late ­Fifties. But it didn’t matter if you had no TV because you could go out and. Buses and bicycles were the most popular modes of transport and in 1950 there were under two million cars in Britain, the most ­popular models included the Ford Prefect 100E and the Austin A35 saloon.

Many of us grew up in houses that were draughty in winter with curtains hung behind the door to reduce the draught and of course frost on the inside of bedroom windows was the norm!.

But life was not all doom and gloom. You grew up in a safer environment than we can ever imagine these days. Children were able to enjoy the freedom of outdoor life. They played lots of rough-and-tumble games, got dirty and fell out of trees. The purple stains of iodine were always evident on the grazed knees of boys in short trousers as were Elastoplasts. There was no such thing as health and safety or children’s rights. We were taught discipline at home and at school and ­corporal punishment was often administered for bad behaviour.

No one mugged old ladies and people felt that it was safe to walk the streets. There was very little vandalism and no graffiti. Telephone boxes were fully glazed and each contained a set of local telephone directories and a pay-box full of pennies.

Youngsters respected people in authority such as policemen, teachers, and park keepers, knowing that they would get a clip around the ear if they were caught misbehaving. Home life was different from today. Everyone seemed to have valve radio in their front room and there were clocks all around the house.

The kitchen was filled with products such as Omo washing powder and Robin starch and a whistle kettle was a permanent fixture on the kitchen stove. Most adults smoked and there were ashtrays in every room, even in the bedrooms.

We still managed to eat lots of wholesome food, which was always freshly cooked many of us didn’t have a fridge and Mum went shopping for ­groceries every day. Perishable foods were bought in small amounts – just enough to last a day.

Sunday was the day for a roast dinner and leftovers were made into stews and pies to eat later in the week. In 1950, 55 per cent of young children drank tea with their meals. Bread and beef dripping was standard fare but not for me! That was even worse than the daily spoonful of cod liver oil.

Boys and girls played together. In the playground girls practised handstands and cartwheels with their skirts tucked up under the elastic of their navy blue knickers, while the boys played conkers.

Do you remember Pathé News at the cinema? Going to the pictures was everyone’s favourite outing, with all those stiff-upper-lip British film stars such as John Mills, Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More and Dirk Bogarde and war films such as The Dam Busters, epics such as Ben-Hur and comedies such as The Belles Of St Trinian’s. When the film ended everyone stood for the National Anthem and stayed until it finished playing.

For children there was the Saturday morning pictures. Every week, 200 to 300 unruly children would descend on a cinema for a couple of hours. It was controlled mayhem with the stalls and circle filled with children cheering for the goodies and booing the baddies. It introduced us to The Lone Ranger and Zorro and the slapstick comedy of Mr Pastry and Buster Keaton.

Old-fashioned sweetshops had high wooden counters jam-packed with boxes of ha’penny chews and other sweet delights. Remember Lucky Bags and frozen Jubblys and getting a sore tongue from sucking on gobstoppers, aniseed balls and Spangles? Then there were Smith’s crisps with the salt in a twist of blue paper and you always had to rummage around for it at the bottom of the bag. All your one-shilling-a-week pocket money would go on sweets and comics.

It was the decade of skiffle with Lonnie Donegan and of the start of rock' n’roll with Bill Haley, Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. Cliff’s first hit Move It is credited as being the first rock'n’roll song produced outside the United States? Other British singers such as Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury and Adam Faith first came to fame in the ­Fifties. But while everyone now remembers rock'n’roll, in reality the record buyers were suckers for ­ballads and throughout the Fifties homegrown ballad singers had ­British girls swooning in the aisles .

It is hard to identify the Britain of today with how it was back then. The whole appearance of the country has changed. The war torn dilapidated houses, derelict land and bomb sites in town are now long gone.

There was something cosy about growing up then when most children retained their childish innocence to the age of 12 or 13 and maybe beyond. The stresses of adolescence and then adult life could wait. We were lucky.

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On this day 29th January 1960-1965

On this day 28th January 1960-1965.

On 28/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. 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 Call for higher police pay.

On 28/01/1961 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Russ Conway Show (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £ 13.25. The big news story of the day was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada).

On 28/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows 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 28/01/1963 the number one single was Dance On - The Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Prime Minister (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.

On 28/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24.

On 28/01/1965 the number one single was Go Now! - Moody Blues and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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  No 2232

29th January 2016

 Top Picture: Station Road before the road surface was laid

Second Picture: Station Road after the road surface was laid

 Third Picture: We all know where this name came from!

Where did that Street Name come from?

Like many towns Old Portsmouth has a High Street. It was the most important street. St Thomas's Street gets its named because Portsmouth Cathedral was, at first a parish church dedicated to St Thomas. Penny Street is probably a corruption of a Latin word that meant supplies because merchants stored supplies there.

Queen Anne visited Portsmouth in 1711 and Queen Street in Portsea was named after her. Union Street was named after the act of Union 1707, which joined England and Scotland together. In the 19th century Union Street was the street where most of the lawyers in Portsmouth lived. Hanover Street got its name because the Georges (George I, George II and George III), were kings of Hanover in Germany as well as England. In fact King George I could not speak English!

North Street in Portsea was probably not given its name because it is in the north of Portsea. It was named after Lord North, who was prime minister in the 18th century. Hawke Street was named after an admiral. There used to be an Orange Street named after William of Orange. Marlborough Row now in the dockyard was named after the Duke of Marlborough who won several battles against the French at the beginning of the 18th century. Cumberland Street was probably named after the Duke of Cumberland.

Some streets in Portsea were named after inns. Clock Street and Sun Street were probably named after inns. So was Three Tuns Street. There used to be a Half Moon Street and its name plate is still on the side of a pub. It was probably also named after an inn.

The Hard in Portsea is believed to get its name after a slipway for boats. Men created a slipway by dumping clay in the sea at low tide then rolling it till it was hard. It was called The Hard. In the 19th century The Hard was named the Devil's Acre! In 1900 there were 13 pubs along The Hard.

Bonfire Corner got its name because dockyard workers burned rubbish there. In 1912 the first council houses in Portsmouth were built in Curzon Howe Road, which is named after an admiral.

Most of the roads in North End are named after towns and villages. However Malthouse Lane is named after a malthouse, where barley was made into malt. Twyford Avenue was named after a man named Samuel Twyford who owned land in the area. Newcomen Road is named after Thomas Newcomen who invented a kind of steam engine. Winstanley Road is named after Henry Winstanley who built the first Eddystone lighthouse in 1699.

Stubbington Avenue was named after Stubbington farm, which stood on the site. Pitcroft Road is named after Pitcroft Field. Balfour Road is named after Balfour who was prime minister 1902-1905. Beresford Road is named after Admiral Beresford (1846-1919). Gladys Avenue is named after a woman named Gladys White.

Derby Road is named after a politician, Lord Derby. Powerscourt Road is named after a rich landowner. College Park is named after Winchester College who owned the land. In 1915 they donated the land to be used as a park. It is believed that Wadham Road, Oriel Road and Magdalen Road are named after colleges of Oxford University.

In Fratton St Marys Road used to be called Dead Mans Lane because of the graveyard attached to the church. People began calling it by its modern name in the 1840s.

Sultan Adbulaziz visited Portsmouth in 1870 so Sultan Road in Buckland may be named after him.

In Southsea Jubilee Terrace is named after the Golden Jubilee of George III in 1810. Goldsmith Avenue is believed to be named after the landowner James Goldsmith. Collingwood Road, Duncan Road and Napier Road are all named after admirals. Exmouth Road is named after another admiral, Lord Exmouth. Fawcett Road is probably named after a soldier who fought in India.

Arundel Street got its name because the Portsmouth to Arundel canal had its basin there. Charlotte Street is named after Queen Charlotte wife of George III. Lake Road got its name because there was a marsh that turned to a lake in winter.

In Drayton Station Road was named after Farlington station at the end of the road, Old Manor Way probably after Drayton Manor, Havant Road because it was the road to Havant and Copsey Grove and Copsey Close are named after the market Gardener who sold the Council the Land. Waterworks Road is built over many of the Portsmouth Water Company’s pipes into Portsmouth.

And finally Allaway Avenue in Paulgrove is named after a former mayor of Portsmouth.

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Griff points out this Highbury Celebration

http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Hampshire/Portsmouth/PO6/News/Local-News/295631-Church-Plans-Double-Celebration-for-Highbury-Community

I have been asked to be involved with is celebration and I have permission to show the silent film of the building of the Highbury estate. When I know more details I will pass them on.  

On this day 29th January 1960-1965

On 29/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. 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 Call for higher police pay.

On 29/01/1961 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Russ Conway Show (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £ 13.25. The big news story of the day was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada).

On 29/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows 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 29/01/1963 the number one single was Dance On - The Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Prime Minister (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.

On 29/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24.

On 29/01/1965 the number one single was Go Now! - Moody Blues and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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  No 2230

22nd January 2016

Top Picture: Moss Bros in King Street, Covent Garden

 Second Picture: Moss Bros Store about 1920

Third Picture: Modern Moss Bros store

MOSS BROS

Several months ago when I looked at men’s outfitters I had an email informing me that I had missed one of the biggest, Moss Bros. This firm was all over the country, I think the reason I missed it out was that if I ever had to hire a Dress Suit it came from Norah’s in Southsea, who were cheaper!

The origins of Moss Bross goes back to 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition and in Covent Garden two small shops leased by Moses Moses formed the beginnings of the company Moss Bros. Moses was a dealer in quality second-hand clothes and nobody is certain when the name Moss Bros first appeared, but it was known that in 1881, Moses moved to King Street. In 1894, Moses died leaving the business to two of his sons, Alfred and George. Within five years the shop was rebuilt and the Moss Bros name stood over the door. George was a clever cutter, Alfred a talented clothes buyer, while a third brother Lewis - though not a partner - was a persuasive salesman. The business grew until 1897 when Alfred's readiness to help a friend had an effect on their fortunes. Charles Pond, an eccentric rich stockbroker and amateur actor, had fallen on hard times. Though still welcome in the finer houses he was reduced to 'singing for his supper' at the musical evenings. He no longer had the clothes necessary for these occasions, so he took his problem to Alfred, who then lent him smart outfits. But Pond took the loans for granted, causing Alfred to say "It's about time you paid something for these clothes," and a fee of 7/6d (37.5p) per hire was agreed. From this modest venture grew Moss Bros Hire service.

From the earliest days, Moses had bought spare suits from fashionable Savile Row tailors, later he expanded the ready-to-wear department by buying remnants and employing skilled tailors to make up suits. It wasn't until the early 1900s that the craftsmanship of the Savile Row tailors convinced customers that ready-to-wear was worth considering. Bespoke tailoring was becoming expensive and many ready-made garments were produced by machine while Moss Bros suits were still hand finished, putting the firm ahead of the competition. Another was as suppliers of military uniforms. After the Boer War, a collection of army oddments in a cupboard in the King Street store was discovered. Military men came to Moss Bros for their everyday needs but not for uniforms. However in 1910, an assistant named Martin successfully kitted out two officers in military frockcoats and later found the perfect uniform for another officer. This soldier was so pleased that he recommended Moss Bros to all his friends and so the Military Department was born. In 1914, vast numbers of newly commissioned officers acquired their uniforms from the King Street store. The pressure on staff was enormous, with some sleeping on piles of clothing after a 15-hour day! Monty Moss, a skilled buyer and a member of the team, fell at Passchendaele but when peace returned Moss Bros soon demonstrated that it had lost none of its flair for innovation. During the 1920s Moss Bros had become known for riding outfits, so it was a natural to add a Saddlery Department in the basement at Kings Street. In 1924, King George V insisted that Ramsay MacDonald's new Labour Government dressed correctly at court. Ministers were happy to wear uniform rather than knee breeches, but were worried about the cost. The company was proud when the King's Private Secretary suggested that second-hand dress could be had at Moss Bros for just £30!

Harry Moss, Alfred's nephew, joined the business in 1909 when he was 13. By Christmas 1921, he was 25 and already a Director. Moss Bros went from strength to strength in the 1920s and Harry concentrated on the ready-to-wear market. Each suit had to pass his personal checks, he would try on every jacket and overcoat regardless of size to test its balance and feel. By 1934, Harry was Managing Director. Alfred Moss died in 1937. During the days of the Depression people's tastes became more frivolous, customers looked for light relief by cruising, choosing Moss Bros to dress them.

With the outbreak of WW2 most of the Hire Department went into storage and the Military Department came into its own. The priority was to set up provincial outlets. Following branches in Manchester, Edinburgh, York and Bristol in 1939, the following year they opened in Portsmouth with the naval business in mind. However, within just a few days, the first bombs on Portsmouth landed on the store. Undeterred, the Company Secretary John Russell found a wooden hut which he persuaded the Navy to tow across the harbour. The hut was erected outside Portsmouth Dockyard and continued to do business well into peacetime. In 1947 Moss Bros became a public company, with the Moss family maintaining a controlling interest. The company was now advertising itself as the 'complete men's store'.

However, women customers - buying and hiring riding kit, ski outfits etc. now accounted for a bigger share of the business so a Women's Department was opened and proved popular. With rationing still in force, a Women's Hire Service was added for everything from evening dresses and gloves, to bags and even mink coats, plus entire outfits for brides and bridesmaids. As society changed in the 50s and 60s, Moss Bros played to its strengths but studied the trends. The company was still strong in riding outfits and saddles and television had brought sports such as show-jumping to a wider audience and parents came to Moss Bros to ensure their offspring looked the part when they rode. Other major events of the 1950s brought society to Moss Bros. The funeral of King and the coronation of Queen were two of the biggest occasions in the company’s history.

The sudden death from polio of Alfred's younger son, Graham, in 1952 was a shock, fortunately, Alfred's elder son Basil and his cousin, Monty, were already established in the company. The 'swinging 60s' produced steady growth and within another decade Moss Bros had grown to 100 stores nationwide. In 1982 Moss Bros acquired the cloth and clothing company, Fairdale, Five years later Moss Bros founded The Suit Company, a chain of shops specialising in suits etc.

The sale in 1988 of the large site in King Street, Covent Garden, which housed not only the store but also offices, manufacturing and warehousing space, meant that capital free to allow for growth. Moss Bros merged with Cecil Gee, which brought with it Beale & Inman and Savoy Taylors Guild, with its store next to the Savoy Hotel.

Rowland Gee, whose father founded the Cecil Gee chain, became Managing Director of the Moss Bros Group. When the doors closed for the last time at King Street in February 1989, the Head Office moved to Clapham, where it remains to this day. But early in the 1990s, the company returned to Covent Garden opening a traditional Moss Bros store opposite the original site in King Street.

More acquisitions followed, beginning with Dormie in 1992 and the Blazer chain from Storehouse in 1996. Franchise agreements with Hugo Boss and Canali allowed the Group to operate stand-alone stores in this country. There are now sixteen Hugo Boss stores operated by Moss Bros in the UK.

In 2001, the Moss Bros Group introduced the 'Code' brand for the 'dress down' market. Forty branches - either Moss Bros or Savoy Taylors Guild - were converted into Code stores but this was only a partial success and the Code brand was axed.

The millennium has witnessed innovations for the Group. Moss Bros Hire opened its first hire concession on Cunard's QE2 in 2003. They also announced a partnership with Ascot Racecourse to produce the Royal Ascot Collection, formal wear for those special occasions. MossDirect, the first internet and mail-order division was launched in August 2005.

Today, Moss Bros company values remain the same, as does the Group's commitment to quality service and products.

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On this day 22nd January 1960-1965

On 22/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. 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 22/01/1961 the number one single was Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (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 22/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard. 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 22/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. 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 22/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) 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 22/01/1965 the number one single was Yeh Yeh - Georgie Fame and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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  No 2228

15^th January 2016

Top Picture: Prince Charles 1955

 Second Picture: Toni Advert

Third Picture: Magic Robot ( I had one of these!!!)

A Vanished Britain:

Another one of those ‘do you remember when’ pages, hope it brings back some memories.

To many people who grew up in the Britain of half a century ago, the Fifties are a fondly remembered age. 'We walked to school, had open fires and no central heating,' We played with our friends and were safe; we climbed trees, skinned our knees and ripped our clothes, got into fights and nobody sued anybody. Sweets were a treat, not part of lunch. 'We got a clip round the ear when we had been. We played cards and board games and talked to each other. We were allowed to answer the phone on our birthdays as a special treat. It was an

In the Fifties there was almost full employment, but over the entire era still hung the aftermath of the War, which had been over for a decade. Meat, butter, cheese, sugar and sweets were still rationed in 1953, and blitzed inner city remained, even if many of the inhabitants had been moved out to new estates is Paulsgrove and Leigh Park.

Airfix Spitfires, sold by Woolworths for 2s, proved to be the toy firm's most popular model, while boys' comics were full of stories of 'Braddock, Ace Pilot', 'Sergeant Allen of the Fighting 15th' and 'The Eyes that Never Closed' (about hunting German U-boats).Wartime values were still very strong. Respectability, conformity, restraint and trust were what underpinned the Fifties.

When a Sunday newspaper asked readers in 1954 what sort of school the five-year-old Prince Charles should go to, a quarter declared it was none of their business or the paper's. 'Trust the Queen and Prince Philip,' said one reader.

The BBC was slow-moving, highly bureaucratic and with no appetite for taking risks or giving offence  it was the embodiment of respectability. Everywhere the dress code was crucial, however uncomfortable it might be to wear. At the Westminster Bank, a man who wore a shirt with a soft collar instead of a stiff white one was marked down as lacking ambition and unworthy of promotion. On the Stock Exchange, one broker recalled everyone going to work in bowler hat, short black jacket and striped trousers. If he'd worn a striped shirt, people in his office would have asked why he was still in his pyjamas.

Yet, helped by informally policed public spaces - by bus conductors, by park-keepers, by lavatory attendants - and by a police force that was largely admired, this was for the most part an era of trust.

It was not until about 1957 that British motorcycles were even fitted with locks or keys. Notifiable offences recorded by the police were a little over half a million in 1957. Forty years later, they were almost 4.5 million. Violent crimes against the person numbered under 11,000 in 1957, and 250,000 in 1997.

It was a different world - whose trusting ways reflected in the fact that often a caller at the house, possibly the man from the Pru would find the books and payment on the doorstep and often a hastily scribbled note: "Please take an extra sixpence and post these letters" and "Tell the doctor Johnnie is not so well."'

In theory, education was becoming less Victorian. By 1957, the Ministry of Education was beginning to see its role as turning out well-rounded individuals. Few people disagreed with corporal punishment. A poll in 1952 found that nine out of ten teachers wanted it retained. Oddly, the victims agreed. In a survey, schoolboys were just as unanimously in favour. It was swift and brief in its execution, whereas alternative punishments, such as withdrawing privileges, were seen as generating greater resentment.

In the Fifties, parenthood was on the cusp of change. This revolution came at a price. The growing pressure to do something for the kiddies meant in practice long hours of overtime for breadwinners who, as a result, saw less of their children than they might have wished. For mothers, it brought anxiety about the best way to bring up children beware Dr Spock. 

Now some things you may have forgotten:-

Dabitoff, Windowlene, Duraglit, Brillo, Lifebouy, Silvikrin, Delrosa Rose Hip Syrup, Therm and Toni Perms.

How about:-

Hairnets, Head Scarfs, Ladybird T-shirts, cycle clips, Statrt Rite, crests on blazers, I-spy, Hornby, Triang, Meccano, Scalextric, Plasticine and Magic Robot

The arrival of rock 'n' roll with Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock in 1955 opened the floodgates to more adult anxiety.. Scout leaders worried about the large number of boys who left its ranks in their teens. The same exodus took place in youth clubs. 'Packed it in when I started courting,' said a 16-year-old boy. 'Started going out with boy,' was the reason given by a 15-year-old girl. The most frequent reason, however, was simply 'boring'.

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Mary Writes:-

 I confess that I climbed trees, ran all over Farlington Marshes, paddled in the sea, loved scaling the chalkpits and I`m here to tell the tale. It didn`t do me any harm. It was all great fun, 

Maureen Writes:-

I have very fond memories of my Sundays'. Yes, we had to wear our Sunday clothing and for me that included best coat, hat and gloves and of course special shoes. Yes, we went to Sunday school at the Resurrection Church and then visited Grandma in Brecon Avenue, except on the first Sunday of the month when we would go to the Methodist Church for Church parade with the Brownies, Guides and Scouts.  Yes, we always had a roast dinner about 2.30pm except on the weekend that my mother gave my brother and I a Pound note to go to the butchers to buy the meat for Sunday (she thought we would get a joint of beef...... oh no!) we bought a £1 worth of lambs kidneys ......40 at 6p each. She gave Laurie of Marchments a piece of her mind for selling us all those kidneys but we had them every day that week in various guises.

 
Some Sundays in summer, we would have crab sandwiches for tea, in the winter we would toast bread by the fireside with lashings of butter but best of all was when Dad was home (not often as he was in the Royal Navy and in those days they served 18 month and 3 year commissions) but when he was home we would walk up Drayton Lane and over the hill through Stakes woods. We would learn all about the countryside from Father, a Dorset country lad and we would  stop and chat to the gypsy that occupied the corner of one of the fields.  Then onto the Fox and Hounds in Stakes Road, they had gardens for the fine weather and a family room for the colder evenings, then we would catch the last bus  at about 10pm to the top of the hill and walk back down Drayton Lane. Lovely memories.
 
NO, we were not allowed to call on our friends, we were not allowed to play in the street, we certainly were not allowed to scream and shout and make a public nuisance of ourselves and Yes I brought my children up with the same beliefs. Sundays were family days, quiet days, time to go to Church in your best clothes and we always took the children out for a walk on the Cornish Beaches and buy an ice cream on the way back to the car. Only difference was that Sunday lunch was usually a picnic so it became Sunday Dinner in our household.
 

News and Views:

On this day 15^th January 1960-1965

On 15/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. 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 price of large eggs cut to 3/- a dozen.

On 15/01/1961 the number one single was Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (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 15/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard. 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 week was Van Doren guilty in US quiz show fix.

On 15/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & the Shadows 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 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 15/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) 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 15/01/1965 the number one single was Yeh Yeh - Georgie Fame and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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.