Memories of the Past

[Gangan]

just by way of interest I went to school with Colin Gillot of the same firm Iwas a pal also didnt see or hear of him for years then heard he commited suicide poor lad Arthur.

 

I worked Gillotts office mid 50s and knew Colin.

His Dads sister.Mrs Youle, was in charge of the office.Mr Youle also worked in the bakery,and Mr Simms.

The office staff were Marion Moreton..who married but I can"t recall her married name..Joyce Thorpe who married Patrick Murphy,and Sandra Morley.

I met my future husband there. He worked delivering bread and we both knew Tommy Walls.

[Gangan]

When my dad worked shifts in the 30s / 40s a man (called luckybags) used to walk the streets with a long pole padded at one end and knock on bedroom windows to wake the shiftworkers for the morning shift

 

As a sideline he sold Luckybags, don't know whether anybody remembers or whether they are still around in one form or another but they were a souce of sheer delight to me, a paperbag with a selection of sweets and toys.

 

As I was 3 when the war started and all such things vanished overnight I'm not sure if I am remembering before the war. I know I can remember the fair coming to somewhere near the Pond St. the noise, the roundabouts and prancing horses and the candyfloss. (for yrs I thought it was a dream) And then nothing. few sweets, no fruit no biscuits, and for some reason only plum jam. My mom used to share a mars bar between the four of us, cut it into tiny pieces to last all wk.

 

There were no street lights, cos of the blackout, so everyone had torchesand I can still remember the blackness. There was also double summertime when the clocks were put forward/back for 2 hrs.

 

We had coupons for everything, tea , suger, meat, bread all in a ration book and you had to register your ration book with one shop, in our case the local co op, known as the Stores. I think corned beef wasn't on ration so you were very lucky if you got a 1/4 of this as well. Eggs were very scarce so we had powdered eggs, made into something like an ommelette or half a real egg if you were lucky. Butter was scarce too so I used to hurry home on Thursdays which was the day butter arrived

My mom used to bake bread in the yorkshire range that day and we had new bead and butter, there was only enough for tea that day and then back to the marge.

My sister and I used to be sent to collect our rations to the shop on Myrtle Rd, we had to be careful the asistant didn't tear out the ticket for the soap with the tea coupon cos they llay behind each otherand you lost your soap for the week.

 

Air raid shelters, Sirens going, bombed buildings ( which were a great source of adventure), Uncles in uniform, formed a large part of my childhood. I suppose I was lucky I knew no fear, it was all part of my life as a child.

Hazel

 

Hazel, I can identify with all you have said because I was almost two when war broke out.By the time the war ended I had started school. War and the conditions of deprivation was all I"d ever known.This way of life to me was *normal* So it came as a surprise to me, a 6 yrs old to find war and all that went along with it was not normal.

How sad is that.

[Gangan]

......

 

 

Hi Owdlad, Youve got me there? Don't know where the name donkey came into it. I know it was grey when you put it on and when it dried it was as white as snow. Yep! the old grinder used to come round and we used to ask him if he had any old penknives for us. Hey what about the chimney sweeper then.We used to stand for ages waiting for the brush to appear from the chimney top Ha!ha!

Cheers vera

 

"Scissors to grind!Grind "em sharp." shouted the old grinder as he wandered round the streets of Parson Cross.

[Gangan]

what a good topic,anyone remember a chilhood favourite of mine,mr.pastry,why i ask myself now,but when i was little i loved him.I also remember gloops clubs,anyone know how these started?Dad used to take me to see john hanson in the musicals at the lyceum,they always were very colourful.

 

Gloops was a white cartoon cat in the Sheffield Star.I joined The Gloops Club, as a child,and was issued with a badge.

[Gangan]

i was just wondering what play ground "crazes" you had then,we had loads in the 70's but the two that stick out were marbles and football cards,alo vaguely remember something that resembles a hoover pipe and everyone used to swing'em round because of the noise they made (sad or what and yes i had one) oh yeah not forgetting the clackers but i think they were banned coz some kids broke thier wrists:hihi:

 

I bought my kids those *hoover pipes* They were called Howlers and were coloured.

[thursday]

Greybeard,

The 'scary' radio serial you used to listen to -

could it have been "Journey Into Space"?

I loved it (in a terrified sort of way.)

[Gangan]

Hey Sultana,

I mentioned the Donkey stone but have no idea where the name came from, you could be rite there someone may confirm this for you to use on trivia. The more you put on the whiter the step came up.I used to have to do the (lavy step) with a little ladling can, must have been only five years old. Is that called child labour these days. having a laugh that. Ha Ha.

 

Regards Vera.

 

Apparently the donkey stone was originally used in textile mills of Manchester and Yorkshire to provide a non-slip surface on greasy stone staircases.

There were 3 colours..white,cream and brown.Cream was preferred in the Manchester area.

The stone was stamped with a donkey,the most common,but others were stamped with either a lion or a pony.

 

There is more information on;

 

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com

[buck]

I remember the rag man coming round with his horse and cart shouting " donkey stone for old rags ". My mother would do her front step with one every week, cos we stepped out of our house right onto the street, no posh front garden for us. She used to black lead the stove as well.

I'm probably one of the oldest contributors to this thread, having been 8 years old when the war started. I enjoyed the war, except being bombed out in Tinsley, and the food rationing was no fun. You always got a free lunch at school including a lot of the hated liver, but my mother had a hard time with trying to feed a family of four with what we could buy. Instead of sugar in our tea it was sacchirin tablets, what we called depth charges. No fresh eggs, only powdered. Bananas became non existent, which of course made them more desireable, funny thing is I never eat them today, though there are always plenty in my house for visiting grandkids. Even sweets got rationed and they made chewing gum out of candlewax. No matter though there were plenty of American soldiers around who'd slip you a piece if you said "Any gum chum ". There was Glen Miller, and the Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Most of all there was never any doubt we would win the war, even in the darkest hour, and by god we did.

[Trekker]

talk of wars gets me down. it's all we hear about on the news these days.

[hazel]

Memories of the Past

 

I'm going back now to when I was 16, It would be 1952//53.

The yr I left school, the old King's funeral and the new Queen' s coronation. Everything shone new. The sun seemed to shine all day and I had my first real boyfriend. Tony Wood. An Adonis, brown eyes, long eyelashes and black curly hair.

She wears red feathers and a hula hula skirt was on the radio all the time and sets me and Tony Wood forever in that time warp. Quartermast Experiment was a serial on TV, Youth club, amatuer dramatics, cricket at the weekends with a picnic. All is a lifetime away. It all disappeared he went to uni and I found someone else.

I met Tony Wood 40 yrs on he still had the lashes and the brown eyes but the hair was grey and so was mine, but the memories were still there.

hazel

 

Tony Wood's death was in the Star today---- So with him goes a little of my youth.

Rest in peace Tony

hazel