Web Page  No 2252

8th April 2016

Firstly welcome to Janet Sealey who has just joined us and would like to be in touch with old school friends.

On the side are are some pics from today at The George

Top Picture: Barley Sugars.

 Second Picture: Melon Slices

 Third Picture: Gob Stoppers

 Fourth Picture: Caramac

Sweets

Remember your childhood sweetshop and the trip into the tuck shop with your pocket money?  In these shops there were the shelves of colourful boiled sweets... and they were great places to spend your money.

And then there were all those sweets to chew - in our sweetshop they used to be in boxes and tubs on the counter... and under the counter too.  Some were wrapped ( like Black Jacks and Fruit Salads), some were bars (Highland Toffee), tubes (Opal Fruits and Chewits) and others were unwrapped (shrimps and milk teeth), half penny chews and flying saucers.  And then of course there were bubblegums aplenty... destined to end up stuck to your face as you attempted your biggest bubble ever... only for it to puncture and deflate from your nose to your chin.

Also there were the other types of unusual chews, things like strawberry bootlaces, chewy fruity tongues and pencils in a range of fruit flavours.

There were traditional gums in a variety of colours and flavours.   On the more traditional side you had the slabs of jaw-breaking toffees  both creamy, treacle and liquorice flavours, there were chocolate coated toffees (both plain and milk), eclair toffees with chocolate inside the creamy toffee... and also toffee with nuts and/or raisins. Do you remember the toffee tray made by Sharps which came with its own little hammer. This was too expensive for us, it was an item that was either bought by Mum or Dad or given as a gift!

No childhood sweetshop, nor any self-respecting confectionery store today would be complete without such classics as Jelly Babies and Liquorice Allsorts.  

If it's chewy or boiled, it was. Mouth-watering so here are a few that I remember I expect you can remember lots of others!

Barley Sugar

Barley Sugar - a rich, sweet, soothing boiled sweet, and what a classic! The taste is so comforting - it reminds us of bygone days , those were the days! For a time these were passed around on aircraft to prevent airsickness, I have no idea of how it was supposed to suppress that malady!

Sour Melon Slices

Sour Melon Slices - fruity slices of melon... they start of quite sour, then become fizzy, ending in a juicy melon chew.  No one I ever liked much!

Aniseed Balls

Just had to suck them down to the white pip in the middle. What excitement it was to know that in your trouser pocket there lurked a small white paper bag with, what was left of a quarter of aniseed balls in it!

Cherry Wheels

Think Catherine Wheels (you know the coils of liquorice with one of the dotty liquorice allsorts or a liquorice torpedo in the middle) meets strawberry bootlaces meets cherry... and you had a cherry wheel.

Acid Drops

Acid Drops a traditional favourite. A refreshing, mouth-watering sour boiled sweet.

Fizzers

Fizzers - real old school little fizzy sweets – these came out before the better known Refreshers and Love Hearts!

Caramac

Nothing tastes quite like the rich golden creaminess of a Caramac! Who can forget the distinctive red and yellow wrapper but more to the point, who can forget that lovely caramelly, melt-in-the-mouth taste? People think it disappeared years ago, but Caramac lives on still but takes some hunting out

Cinder Toffee

Cinder Toffee - light, crisp, bubbly, sugary traditional sweet - delicious! Also know as puff candy or honeycomb! Great stuff.

Love Hearts

Love Hearts - The making (or breaking) of many a childhood romance. The messages may have changed a bit over the years, I understand that there is now one that says Fax me and another that sayes Text me.  

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Barratts Shrimps

Barratts Shrimps - raspberry flavour soft, chewy crustaceans. No other shrimp came even close to a Barratts shrimp. These are definitely one of the definitive nostalgic, childhood sweets... one of the ones that almost everyone includes when they take a mental trip back to their childhood sweetshop and list off the sweets they loved then. Were you a 'let your shrimp melt on your tongue' person?  Or did you just 'chomp and chew' yours? I was a chomper!

Gobstoppers

Good old fashioned gobstoppers - layer after layer of hard suckable sweet - and no bubblegum centre in sight! A traditional favourite which just went on and on and are still in production.

But no matter what sweets we chewed on we were always told that they were no good for your teeth!

 Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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News and Views:

On this day 8^th April 1960-1965

On 08/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan 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 £10.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Stirling Moss loses his driving licence.

On 08/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £10.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) 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 08/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the 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 08/04/1964 the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) 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. The big news story of the day was Sidney Poitier wins first 'Black' Oscar

On 08/04/1965 the number one single was Concrete & Clay - Unit 4 Plus 2 and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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.