WEB PAGE NO. 2832 30th October 2021

1ST PICTURE: Homework

2nd PICTURE; Nap Time

3RD PICTURE; Gray Hair

4TH PICTURE: A selection of Bangers

Is this you? I am sure it’s me I am a Seenager. (Senior teenager) I have everything that I wanted as a teenager, only it is 60 years later: I don’t have to go to school or do homework I don’t have to go to work. I get a regular allowance every month. I have my own pad. I don’t have a curfew. I have a driving license and my own car. The people I hang around with are not scared of getting pregnant and I don’t have acne. Life is great. Gone are the days when girls used to cook like their mothers. Now they drink like their fathers. I didn’t make it to the gym today. That makes five years in a row. Old age is coming to me at a really bad time. When I was a child I thought “Nap Time” was a punishment. Now, as a grownup, it feels like an essential small holiday. The biggest lie I tell myself is “I don't need to write that down, I'll remember it." I don’t have grey hair; I have "wisdom highlights"! I’m very wise indeed. If God wanted me to touch my toes, He would’ve put them on my knees. Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven’t met yet. Why do I have to press one for English when you’re just going to be transferred to someone you can't understand anyway? Of course, I talk to myself. I sometimes need expert advice. Fashionable clothes means wearing something comfortable. I can now watch someone else’s fireworks for free. At my age “Getting lucky" means walking into a room and remembering what I came in for.

Mary Remembers:- I was very interested reading about Boots the Chemists & Timothy, Whites & Taylors. In Jan 1966 I started work in the Cosham branch as a dispenser. I soon learned that we had an excellent relationship with Timothy Whites &Taylors right opposite. If we could lend them something we would, & vice versa. One day I was sent across with something for them. I waited patiently as the manager was busy. A customer eyed me up down in my nice white coat and asked me" Will you take for this Love?" She handed me a frying pan!!! Had lots of funny moments whilst working for Boots! Stay in Touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com

Web Page 2828

1ST PICTURE: Glasses with patch

2nd PICTURE; Mourning arm bands

3RD PICTURE; Timothy White Portsea store

4TH PICTURE: Timothy White tooth powder

Odds and Ends Today I am looking at two or three non-related items that were common when we were younger and no longer see today. The first item is the condition called A Lazy Eye. This was an optical problem that affected very many young children. The clue to the fact that a child was suffering from this problem was the fact that they wore a pair of spectacles with the one of the lenses blanked off with plaster. I understand that my sister-in-law suffered from this problem when young. The condition was corrected by an operation that corrected the problem. Today there is now a different way of treating the problem. I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone with a blanked-out lens. The second item deals with the way that death was dealt with by the adults in the 1950’s. When a friend or relative or neighbour died, as a matter of respect all the curtains in the house were drawn. I understand the reason for this was to allow the bereaved to move the deceased person out of the house in relative privacy. If the death was within the family the relatives of the deceased wore a black armband for at least three weeks. Also if the person who had died was a senior member of the royalty arm bands were worn on service uniforms. As children we were instructed not to play or go near the house during the mourning period. One other thing that appears to have disappeared is the physical respect shown by the general public to a coffin in a hearse. During our childhood when a funeral procession drove by people stopped and bowed their heads and the men removed their hats. Today with pedestrian precincts funeral corteges rarely pass along a shopping street and men today very rare wear hats today. I was recently amazed to discover the origins of the chemists Timothy White and Taylors. I though that it was a national company but their origins was as a ships' chandlers and general store in Portsmouth, and was started in 1848 by Timothy White. Timothy White himself had qualified as a pharmacist in 1869. By 1890, Whites was one of four British pharmacists with over ten branches. They sold hardware as well as that which was normally found at a retail chemists. In 1904 the company was incorporated as Timothy Whites Ltd. In 1935, Timothy Whites merged with Taylors Drug Co. Ltd. to form Timothy Whites & Taylors; the shops themselves were named either simply "Timothy Whites" or "Timothy Whites & Taylors" The company was taken over by Boots Pure Drug Co. in 1968. Immediately before the takeover, there were 614 Timothy Whites shops, which had had a combined turnover of approximately £33m in the year before the acquisition. As a result of the rationalisation that followed the takeover, Boots rebranded and absorbed the pharmaceutical side of the business, leaving Timothy Whites with just 196 shops that sold only housewares. The Timothy Whites name eventually disappeared completely in 1985.

Marilynn Writes:- ‘I went on that Dunera trip in 1963 (we travelled back from Calais the day President Kennedy was shot) I went with Jill Wakely, Sheila Wilton, Gillian Gale and Sue Finch - those are the names I specifically remember! I think I sent some pictures to Peter some years ago but I will see if I have any more - Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com >

WEB PAGE NO. 2826 16th October 2021

1ST PICTURE: Home made Reel

2nd PICTURE; Knitting Dollies

3RD PICTURE; French Knitting Octopus

FORTH PICTURE: French Knitting Hat

French or Spool knitting We must have all done this in our youth at some time or other, although I cannot for the life of me remember what we did when these long sausages of wool were complete. Spool knitting, corking, French knitting or tomboy knitting is a form of knitting that uses a spool with a number of nails around the rim to produce a narrow tube of fabric. The spool knitting devices are called knitting spools, knitting nancys, or French knitters or to us when we were kids just wooden cotton reels The technique was to wrap the yarn around the spool's pegs. The yarn is then lifted over, thereby creating stitches. This process is repeated continually until the project is complete or you ran out of wool. Spool knitting is a traditional way to teach children the basic principles of knitting. According to Mary McCormack, author of Spool Knitting (published in 1909), "Few elementary exercises have aroused more interest in the child than the toy knitting; due, perhaps, to its simplicity and its power to do it easily and well." Spool knitters typically have four or five pegs (or brass nails), although the number can range to more than one hundred. Many things can be made from the resulting tube. For example, it can be wound in a spiral to produce a mat or rug or, if a larger spool with more nails was used, a sock or even a hat could be made. Historically, spool knitting has been used to make horse reins. Commercially sold spools sold as "knitting nancys" sometime had a picture of a girl painted or printed on them, thus resembling a wooden doll. Homemade knitting spools were sometimes made by placing a peg-like object, such as a nail, into a hard solid object, such as a block of wood. This was the way that most of undertook French Knitting. However today a modern plastic knitting spool with crank handle is sold and is similar, but not identical, to the spool knitting technique. Knitting spools are the oldest members of the knitting loom family, with a history dating back over 400 years. It has been speculated, however, that the so-called Roman dodecahedra may have been used as glove knitting devices, dating to 1st–5th century CE. Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, various small looms (usually plastic) using the same peg-knitting technique as knitting spools have been made. Some are larger than knitting spools, and can knit larger items. Some are straight, enabling flat items such as blankets or scarfs to be made, and some are round for making socks, hats, or other similar items. Simple versions contain just peg-like structures sticking up from a solid object. More complex ones operate complex mechanisms and automatically produce a knitted item with just a simple motion, such as a turn of a crank. All I remember is that with children’s hands using the French Knitting frames the wool always seemed to be bit grubby and not too clean.

Letter from Mary I was sad to read of Ken Ashbee`s death, not that I knew him , but to die so young is tragic. I lived in 1st Avenue, Farlington, & both my brother & I had friends in 2nd Avenue. In Sept 1967 I went to live in Singapore, quite nr an Raf camp called Seletar. I cannot remember any air accident but there were fatal road accidents from time to time. On a different subject I love the smell of Imperial Leather soap. I would often buy the shaving bowls for my father. He loved the smell of it too. The soap certainly lasts longer than other soaps. These days people seem to use the liquid soap in pump containers. I always look forward to reading your weekly blog,

Janet asks:- Do you know of any photos or films of the Manor Court trip to Istanbul, it would have been in about 1965, or thereabouts? We flew to Venice then boarded the Dunera to cruise to Corfu, Crete and then to Piraeus where we caught the train to Athens. It was a wonderful trip but I only have a couple of photos (somewhere) and would love to see more. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com

WEB PAGE NO. 2824 9th October 2021 1ST PICTURE: Wrapped Bar

2nd PICTURE; Unwrapped Bar

3RD PICTURE; Paul Merton advert

4TH PICTURE: 1960s advert

Imperial Leather This always seemed a strange name to me but Imperial Leather is a brand of soaps, toiletries and healthcare products manufactured by PZ Cussons. The brand originates in Britain and is now available in a number of other countries including Nepal, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kenya, Malawi, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and Zambia. The brand is not widely available in the United States but can be obtained in some specialty shops. The brand's origins date to 1768 when a Russian nobleman called Count Orlof commissioned a brand of perfume from Bayleys of Bond Street. The perfume was called 'Eau de Cologne Imperiale Russe'. Russia leather was a high-quality leather exported widely from Russia and recognisable by a distinctive aroma from its birch oil tanning process. In 1921 Bayleys was acquired by Cussons Sons & Co, owned by Alexander Tom Cussons. It was not until some years later in 1938 that Alexander Cussons's daughter, Marjorie, used a version of the original perfume and created Imperial Leather soap. The soap was initially called 'Russian Leather', but was soon renamed to Imperial Leather. In 1975 the Cussons Group was acquired by Paterson Zochonis, recently renamed PZ Cussons. In 1942 due to World War II all soaps were rationed in Britain. Imperial Leather soap was therefore marketed as being the best choice because it lasted longer than other soaps. The following is an extract from a World War II advertisement: "Imperial Leather Toilet Soap is one of the few luxuries still available to the discriminating. Supplies are obviously limited, but if only because Imperial Leather lasts longer and increases the purchasing power of your coupons, you should buy it wherever and whenever you can." During the 1940s to late 1950s Cussons Sons and Company Ltd, under the direction of Marjorie Goodwin, embarked upon a prolific printed advert campaign with a new theme for the advertising of Imperial Leather released every year. They have become collectable as vintage adverts. In 1988 Cussons selected French model Estelle Lefébure for their printed Imperial Leather advertisements. In 2013 Cussons ran a series of printed adverts for the Imperial Leather Foamburst range with a genie theme and the tagline "release the lather, feel the magic". Television has been an important part of Imperial Leather advertising for decades. Amongst the most popular Imperial Leather adverts were the ‘triple bath’ series. This series of adverts began in the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. The adverts featured a family of three, each in three separate baths, using Imperial Leather whilst travelling to an exotic location by train, plane or spacecraft. Imperial Leather adverts have previously featured Richard Stapley, Paolo Di Canio, Ralph Ineson, Julie Walters and Paul Merton.[9] The Julie Walters advert featured her singing, with the final line "Imperial Leather: our only comfort in life." The Paul Merton series of adverts included a commercial where he attempts to interview an unsuspecting man in the shower and a further commercial where he wears a lab coat and conducts an experiment on identical twins. More recent Imperial Leather television adverts include the rose tattoo (1999), the firemen fantasy (2002), the footballer fantasy (2002), the dancing duck (2002) and the secret shower advert (2005). Cussons Imperial Leather sponsored the XIX World Modern Pentathlon Championships, held in London in 1973. They sponsored the XVII Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester in 2002. In 2004 Imperial Leather sponsored the TV show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. In 2004 Imperial Leather also sponsored a model cow called Imperial Heifer The cow was on public display in Manchester] The model was later sold at auction with money donated to the Manchester Kids charity. In 2004, Imperial Leather sponsored a theme park ride called The Flume which opened at Alton Towers. Also, in 2006 The Bubbleworks was opened at Chessington World of Adventures sponsored by the company. Both rides had the same 'bath time with attitude' theme with many rubber ducks. Original Source, another PZ Cussons product sponsored a ride called Tidal Wave at Thorpe Park. The contract with the rides ended in 2009, the rides had all of the Imperial Leather logos removed. Imperial Leather was a sponsor of the 2011 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. The Imperial Leather logo was depicted on the players' chairs. In the 1950s a number of Imperial Leather products were manufactured which have since been discontinued, although some have later returned. The discontinued products include Imperial Leather Cologne (Cussons branded version of the original product), Imperial Leather Brilliantine (solid and as lotion), Imperial Leather After Shave Lotion, Imperial Leather Bath Cubes, Imperial Leather Shaving Stick, Imperial Leather Shaving Bowl and Imperial Leather Shaving Cream. Die-cast toy vans have been manufactured with the Cussons Imperial Leather livery. There are two different types. Both have been discontinued and are collectable. They are an Austin A40 van made by Lledo (released in 1997) and a 30 cwt Bedford van also made by Lledo. An Imperial Leather yellow duck beanie was produced as part of the promotion for a 2001 relaunch.

Jonathan and Carol Write: I too loved Milne's books my mum gave me a leather bound first edition of Now we are Six...I have passed this on to my daughter and grandchildren. I also gave them a complete Folio Society set of the Pooh Bear books beautifully bound. One of my favourite poems in Now we are Six is Christopher Robin had Sneazles and Weazles so they bundled him off to his bed and gave him what goes for a cold in his nose and some more for a cold in the head etc etc. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com