They are knocking the Odeon down!!!

[TANGODANCER]

Wasn't that malt thingy called Virol?

Gone the way of duffle coats, balaclavas and duffle bags......

Different thing, but Virol was good on sandwiches, along with Nestles Milk, Treacle and Lyle's Golden Syrup. Milk Lollies and Horlicks tablets were also very popular. Duffle coats very popular in the sixties and became a Hippie trademark. Bought balaclavas were okay; it was when some well-meaning parent or auntie knitted one you had to watch for. Always finished up with a pointed head. Those and gloves on a yard of elastic down your sleeves .

[Dujon]

Don't forget the DDT dusting down. It's a wonder I'm still alive. My parents put it in a salt cellar like those they used at the chip shop - holes as wide as pencils.

I don't miss it.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Don't forget the DDT dusting down. It's a wonder I'm still alive. My parents put it in a salt cellar like those they used at the chip shop - holes as wide as pencils.

I don't miss it.

God, my parents never did that to me. Of course I used to wash....

Actually the WHO is now recommended a return to using DDT - not spraying on marshes but on the inside walls of houses to prevent malaria, etc. Apparently it is not that harmful to us in this fashion and the birds don't eat the dead mosquitoes. Right!

[Dujon]

Oh, no, Monty. We were right posh we were. Inside 'loo and a separate bathroom even.

To be honest, I have no idea why we were dusted. I doubt if it was lice as it was an all over job. We'd look like snowmen until it was rubbed in a bit.


I'll add clogs too. I don't miss them either.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Oh, no, Monty. We were right posh we were. Inside 'loo and a separate bathroom even.

To be honest, I have no idea why we were dusted. I doubt if it was lice as it was an all over job. We'd look like snowmen until it was rubbed in a bit.


I'll add clogs too. I don't miss them either.

Clogs? Posh people didn't wear clogs. Black Oxfords. We bought them from this place down by the Derby memorial where they had X-Ray machines to see how much room your toes had (forgotten the store's name). Surprised I don't have toe cancer!

[Dujon]

No, this bloke was posh 'cos no one else wore them.

I had a foot/ankle problem which caused me to go through shoes at about one pair per month. The clogs and regular visits to the infirmary for special exercises fixed that. Then again, wooden soles and very stiff upper leathers would fix just about anything.


Bread and dripping for dinner. I don't miss that.

[TANGODANCER]

Oh, no, Monty. We were right posh we were. Inside 'loo and a separate bathroom even.

To be honest, I have no idea why we were dusted. I doubt if it was lice as it was an all over job. We'd look like snowmen until it was rubbed in a bit. I'll add clogs too. I don't miss them either.

Sparkies or rubbers Dujon? We got new clogs with irons but my father soon fixed that. Rubbers lasted longer. Choice of school footwear then was clogs for general, wellies for rain and snow and pumps/galoshers for summer. "Adidas, Umbro"? were they Greek gods? It was Bata or Timpsons for everything then. We even wore short pant up till fourteen years. Felt right prats too.

Fashion itms? Needles threads and patches were the order of the day. My dad was an expert at darning socks using a polish tin in the heel. Cor, wasn't PT an embarrassment when you had holes in your socks? And none of your fancy smelly stuff either. Carbolic soap was the order with the odd block of Fairy if you were lucky.

[Dujon]

Sparkies, TANGO - at least for the first few shoeings. Then, like you, the rubber (took all the fun out of it).

Aye, wellies for snow and pumps (galoshes, not the dancing ones) sometimes. What the heck were they made out of I wonder - India rubber and calico, or just rubber? Memory fails me.

It's interesting to look back, but I'm ever so pleased that my children (though they will have their own tales to tell) didn't have to put up with some of the stuff we did.

Coal fires and carting the scuttle down to the coal shed at the back in mid-winter; maiden (rarely empty) dangling on its pulleys over the scullery range; frozen bottles of milk at school; I'm sure I could think of a few more but it'd make me sad.

Oh, yes; long trousers. I was given my first pair when I passed the 11+. Right proud I was. Apart from being 'the done thing' I've never understood why children were required to wear shorts come rain, snow, hail or shine.

Yes, there's many a thing I don't miss.

[TANGODANCER]

This was a group from 1925 or so, outside the Fox and Stork on Halliwell and, get this "Before they went out on an outing" Lord know what the guy second from right must have looked like when they got back.

[bobo the clown]

Yes, there's many a thing I don't miss.

No central heating & single glazed windows, plus no 'fitted carpets' and lots of lino = Jack Frost windows & an absolute resistance to getting up for a slash until you really, really had to.

I told my kids about 'Jack Frost windows' a little while back & they thought I was joking.
(now, come on you younger ones, who's going to be brave enough to ask ????)

[enfieldwhite]

Sparkies, TANGO - at least for the first few shoeings. Then, like you, the rubber (took all the fun out of it).

Aye, wellies for snow and pumps (galoshes, not the dancing ones) sometimes. What the heck were they made out of I wonder - India rubber and calico, or just rubber? Memory fails me.

It's interesting to look back, but I'm ever so pleased that my children (though they will have their own tales to tell) didn't have to put up with some of the stuff we did.

Coal fires and carting the scuttle down to the coal shed at the back in mid-winter; maiden (rarely empty) dangling on its pulleys over the scullery range; frozen bottles of milk at school; I'm sure I could think of a few more but it'd make me sad.

Oh, yes; long trousers. I was given my first pair when I passed the 11+. Right proud I was. Apart from being 'the done thing' I've never understood why children were required to wear shorts come rain, snow, hail or shine.

Yes, there's many a thing I don't miss.

I too received my first pair of long trousers after passing my 11+

I also remember running errands down to Shone's Ironmongers on Eskrick St (near St Peter and St paul's Church) for a tin full of Esso Blue Paraffin Oil for the lamp in the outside loo.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Clogs? Posh people didn't wear clogs. Black Oxfords. We bought them from this place down by the Derby memorial where they had X-Ray machines to see how much room your toes had (forgotten the store's name). Surprised I don't have toe cancer!

Freeman, Hardy and Willis used to have one of those machines in their shop on Newport Street. They also had one of those pneumatic pipe jobbys that used to send receipts and change around both floors of the store in brass tubes. Fascinating for a five-year-old!

[TANGODANCER]

Yes, there's many a thing I don't miss.

I too received my first pair of long trousers after passing my 11+

I also remember running errands down to Shone's Ironmongers on Eskrick St (near St Peter and St paul's Church) for a tin full of Esso Blue Paraffin Oil for the lamp in the outside loo.[/quote]

Think you'll find that was "St Thomas's" Enfield. The whole shop smelled of Parafin but sold everything including penny canes for kites and bows and arrows.

[enfieldwhite]

Yes, there's many a thing I don't miss.

I too received my first pair of long trousers after passing my 11+

I also remember running errands down to Shone's Ironmongers on Eskrick St (near St Peter and St paul's Church) for a tin full of Esso Blue Paraffin Oil for the lamp in the outside loo.

Think you'll find that was "St Thomas's" Enfield. The whole shop smelled of Parafin but sold everything including penny canes for kites and bows and arrows. [/quote]

They were definitely 'proddies'

I went to St Joseph's (Church and School)

[Montreal Wanderer]

Clogs? Posh people didn't wear clogs. Black Oxfords. We bought them from this place down by the Derby memorial where they had X-Ray machines to see how much room your toes had (forgotten the store's name). Surprised I don't have toe cancer!

Freeman, Hardy and Willis used to have one of those machines in their shop on Newport Street. They also had one of those pneumatic pipe jobbys that used to send receipts and change around both floors of the store in brass tubes. Fascinating for a five-year-old!

Yes, there were a lot of those pneumatic things around going to the cashier's office in various places - Whitakers had them too - I was certainly more interested in them than what my mother was buying. I received my first pair of what we called "drainpipes" when I was 12, but not for passing the 11+. Couldn't have been because I didn't pass it. Ah well, just another late developer.

[TANGODANCER]

I went to St Joseph's (Church and School)

I went to St Josephs from five to fourteen years. I was also an altar-boy there for eight years. We were surrounded by "Proddies", St Mathews, St Thomas's and Brownlow Fold, who were our mortal enemies at everything from sports, snowball fights and sometimes more "ominous" battles.

ps. St Peter and Pauls were our lot, the "Catlics".

[TANGODANCER]

Clogs? Posh people didn't wear clogs. Black Oxfords. We bought them from this place down by the Derby memorial where they had X-Ray machines to see how much room your toes had (forgotten the store's name). Surprised I don't have toe cancer!

Freeman, Hardy and Willis used to have one of those machines in their shop on Newport Street. They also had one of those pneumatic pipe jobbys that used to send receipts and change around both floors of the store in brass tubes. Fascinating for a five-year-old!

Yes, there were a lot of those pneumatic things around going to the cashier's office in various places - Whitakers had them too - I was certainly more interested in them than what my mother was buying. I received my first pair of what we called "drainpipes" when I was 12, but not for passing the 11+. Couldn't have been because I didn't pass it. Ah well, just another late developer.

The co-op, at the side of the Town hall had the best and biggest "whizzers" I ever saw. The money must have travelled miles there and back. Hilarious now when you think about it: Money and sales ticket in at the counter, a Dan Dare whoosh all round the floor (and upstairs) to the cashier; change and receipt in and whoosh back again. Brilliant !

[americantrotter]

Mum always talks about running out after the milkman's horse to get the manure for her dad's Rose Garden.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Mum always talks about running out after the milkman's horse to get the manure for her dad's Rose Garden.

After the war quite a few deliveries/take aways were by horse and cart - including milk, coal and the Rag and Bone man - a lot of manure available in those days. I think the dustbinmen always had a truck and the baker a van though.

[communistworkethic]

Clogs? Posh people didn't wear clogs. Black Oxfords. We bought them from this place down by the Derby memorial where they had X-Ray machines to see how much room your toes had (forgotten the store's name). Surprised I don't have toe cancer!

Freeman, Hardy and Willis used to have one of those machines in their shop on Newport Street. They also had one of those pneumatic pipe jobbys that used to send receipts and change around both floors of the store in brass tubes. Fascinating for a five-year-old!

Hmm you sure?, I remember the shoe shop that stood where Ikon is now and it had an xray machine for your feet.