Web Page  No 2264

20 th May 2016

Top Picture: Bronco Toilet Roll

 Second Picture: Jumping Cardboard Frog

 Third Picture: Thunderclap

Forth Picture: Corona Bottle

Money Back

Don’t throw the bottle away I can get money back on it! How often did we say that as kids? Pop bottles, beer bottles and all sorts of recyclable things could be used to add to our pocket money. The favourite thing was the post-Christmas bonanza, not that our family drank a lot, they didn’t, but for the festive season there were always a few bottles of beer, stout etc in the house, so after Christmas it was always collecting time. Once collected the next thing was to sort the bottles as to which shop or off licence would take them, some went to Smeeds the wine merchant in Drayton, some to The New Inn and some to The Sunshine. As far as we were concerned a trip with half a dozen bottles to The New Inn was always the first point of call. We would make our way into the Bottle and Jug (off licence) and dump our bottles on the counter until someone behind the bar was free to collect them and give us the money due. The New In was the favourite place because the bottle store was at the back of the pub behind the Garden and very often the gate to the back yard was left unlocked, which gave us yet another opportunity to make some cash. A quick look around the gate to see that there was no one around and a rapid dash into the yard to grab two or three empty bottles to take home and bring back another day. Unfortunately the landlord eventually got wise to this and started locking the door.

The Corona man was also another source of income but not cash in hand because if you took an empty bottle with you to the lorry the salesman would deduct a certain amount of the full bottles you bought. No cash changed hands so if you did not have an empty bottle he charged you full price.

Whilst talking about bottles how many of you can remember going with your parents into a local grocery store, in our case ‘Pinks’ in Drayton, and buying loose wine or sherry? My mother would occasionally carry a lemonade bottle into Pinks and have it filled with a pint of sweet Cyprus sherry from a cask behind the counter. The strange thing is that I remember her doing this but I do not ever remember my folks actually drinking sherry at home, but I suppose they must have done. This was during the late 1950’s and whilst she was in Pinks she would buy loose sugar which was placed into a handmade blue paper bag which was folded over to seal it and she also bought loose butter which would be moulded up on a marble slab, next to the cheese wire, and then wrapped in greaseproof paper then handed over and all this was done whist she sat on the customers chair which was placed conveniently next to the counter.

Moving on from bottles, the other day while I was putting the groceries that Tesco had delivered, away and I picked up a pack of toilet rolls which sent the brain into rewind again. Free gifts and toilet rolls do not naturally go together but who remembers the little plastic trains and cars that were hidden away within the centre roll of one particular brand of toilet roll? Anyone remember which brand because I cannot.

Gliders in comics, plastic Guards Bandsmen in Cornflake packets, cut out masks on the backs of Kellogg’s Corn Flake packets and Rice Krispies packets, the latest films and film star cards in chewing gum packets and many other promotional products, (I am not even going to mention the free plastic roses with Tide and OMO), in the late 1950s the high powered sell had just started to make its mark!  We were their first target. Gifts even came in comics, a flat cardboard frog inside a card envelope which could be set to make the frog spring you, the cardboard and brown paper Thunder Bangers were very popular  as were free iron on transfers and those which you soaked in water and stuck on your arm like a tattoo! There were games, magic tricks, jokes and very occasionally sweets, in fact anything to encourage us to part with our money. I cannot imagine either of my grandchildren being satisfied with a cardboard frog or a Thunderclap today, they would want to know how you plugged it in or turned it on!

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

You Write:

I had this sent to me

Thanks for the reminder of Journey into Space. 

We three brothers boys used to cluster around the radio and listen to the weekly episodes. I was absolutely enthralled and lived every second of the broadcast with the spacemen. A few years ago one of my brothers sent me a complete set of CD's of every episode and I listened to them all over again, reliving the excitement of my boyhood.In cidentally David Jacobs the pop broadcaster featured as one or more of the voices. 

News and Views:

On this day 20^th May 1960-1965

On 20/05/1960 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 Royal Variety Performance (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 20/05/1961 the number one single was On the Rebound - Floyd Cramer and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) 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 20/05/1962 the number one single was Nut Rocker - B Bumble & the Stingers 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 20/05/1963 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.

On 20/05/1964 the number one single was Juliet - Four Pennies 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 20/05/1965 the number one single was Where Are You Now (My Love) - Jackie Trent 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.