Memories of the Past

[Guest poppins]

Hi Hazel

We use to listen to radio lux for the top ten, for some reason we kept the radio on the floor, use to lay on the floor to listen.

 

my first job was at WH Smiths, it was a lovely old building, about three floors high, on the corner of a street i don't remember the name, was a bus terminal st, on a bridge i think, WH Smiths back then wa s just wholesale, we use to get orders out for small shops.

 

Bugs in the wallpaper, never had that, but mom had a lot of woodworm in some old furniture she had to get rid of, now they can cure woodworm, imagine all the lovely furniture that had to be thrown out before they knew how to treat it.

 

we all had these great big sideboards, that was the main piece in the house, every thing went in there, mom had brass candle sticks on ours for years with lace doilies.

 

nice memories

[vhopkinson]

Hi Girls, Just have to get this in before a storm hits here. Great reading. Yep Kiwi! remember those bed bugs ok. We were supposed to be spotless clean too, guess it was the old building. What about this one though.

While the war was on we had 3 evacuees from London twin girls and a boy. Well they came and they were loaded in head lice. Yep We all got them. Mum made us sleep with snoods on our heads you would think this would hatch them eh!!!

We all used to go the clinic Sat morning to have our heads cleaned and this rotten stuff poured on us. terrible. Prince Edwards school clinic which was the dental clinic too, they used to do the inoculations as well our arms used to come up like balloons. Not bad enuff the lad had impatigo I think it was and had to be painted with this blue paint, must have been the talk of the school. My mum used to serve school dinners as well she did it for years. Imagine this wouldn't go down to well in this day and age. Anyone add to this

Cheers Vera

[hazel]

I went to the dental clinic at Manor top when I was young to have a tooth out. Must have been very young.

I caught a glimpse of a pure white tablecloth on a table set for dinner with gleaming knives and forks (which were alien to me then) and I thought they were going to eat me. So ran round and round the clinic they never caught me and my mom brought me home still with toothache.

I too regually had nits. No-one else in the family got them and my mom used to comb them out, on to a newspaper. Think it was the boy I sat next to at school who always had his head shaved except for a tuft at the front. Suppose they must have collected there.

Your family must have been very kind to take in evacuees. The ones I came across were very tough, so fierce I was fightened to death of them. I suppose underneath they were frightened themselves.

Hazel

[fridgeman]

good grief,all this talk about bed bugs and head lice is costing me a fortune in shower gel,by the way you scruffy lot how did you get rid of them???

was this the only ailments you suffered with,i was led to belive that in the forties and fifties there were other nasties knocking about

[saxon76tr]

I did a little research about bed bugs and those dreaded cockroaches and where they hide, and also silverfish.

click here to start itching

http://www.members.aol.com/syp99/mortality.html

[KIWI]

Originally posted by fridgeman

good grief,all this talk about bed bugs and head lice is costing me a fortune in shower gel,by the way you scruffy lot how did you get rid of them???

was this the only ailments you suffered with,i was led to belive that in the forties and fifties there were other nasties knocking about

Hi Fridgeman

We used to spread some kind of powder to kill the bugs ,we also used to run a lighted candle round the iron bedstead, and of course a few incendiary bombs helped.and yes there were other nasties around in the forties and fifties, they were called the next generation.

 

Sorry, didn't mean it.

[Greybeard]

A few more memories

 

On cleanliness...my mother managed without a hoover until about 1954. Before that it was a daily routine of sprinkling damp tea-leaves on the carpets and a good sweep with a hard broom. Once a week all the furniture was shifted so she could sweep under the settee and armchairs etc. (and anything less than a tanner I found was mine !). Every so often the carpet was lifted and turned 90° "to spread the wear"...what a performance that was !! Small rugs and mats went out on the washing line and had seven bells (and probably some wildlife) knocked out of them

 

On entertainment..who remembers the weekly comic "Radio Fun" ? I was lucky enough to see a few of the characters live at the Empire. Two acts I particularly remember were Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warris, and Laurel and Hardy. Can't remember what year we saw L&H...probably about 1950 but I think it was during their last tour of the UK. Pretty sure we saw 'Old Mother Riley' too but that might have been in pantomime.

 

I also remember one Saturday morning walking back from town with my Dad, George Formby stopped us on Pinstone Street to ask the way to the station, and I got a scutch round the ear from my Dad for being so cheeky as to ask him for his autograph.

 

We all loved listening to the radio, some programmes I remember were "In town tonight" on a Saturday I think, "Much Binding in the Marsh" "Family Favourites" and "Down your way".

 

Someone already mentioned Dick Barton but there was also a really scary science fiction serial I can't remember the name of, - the intro music was 'Mars' from the Planets Suite.

Not forgetting Billy Cotton and his band who had a regular programme for years.

[fridgeman]

yes there were other nasties around in the forties and fifties, they were called the next generation.

 

Sorry, didn't mean it. [/b]

 

do you mean the people from the sixties, i thought they were the lovin generation, you know,woodstock,brighton that sort of thing.

[vhopkinson]

Originally posted by Greybeard

A few more memories

s.

 

Greybeard, I really enjoyed reading your letter. I can relate to all that. Somehow I don't think we have to justify being very high on the list for cleanliness. Maybe we were cleaner then than some people are now. With all this very modern cleaning gear folk should be squeaky clean but not so. How many nowadays pull all the furniture out on a weekly basis and search for dirt eh!

Just thinking, when I see some of the third world countrys on t.v. washing their clothes in the rivers there. welll I always think their clothes look spotless they have nothing a t all not even a home.

Soap powder forget that one..

I think the training we had was good it sticks with you our parents did well

Regards Vera

[hazel]

early 50s

 

I remember listening to the radio on Sunday dinnertime.

Jean Metcalfe and her husband ? BIll did a request programe for the troops in germany ? Forces Favourites.

The smell of the meat cooking in the oven, Yorkshire pudding spitting in the pan Jimmy Young singing unchained melody, The sheer excitment of just being young.

After that came BIlly Cotton's band playing his introduction tune "Somebody stole my gal "

Then LIfe with the Lyons, Ben Lyon and his his dizzy wife and children. What was her name?

 

My brother was in Germany in the army at the time and my Mom sent a request in. to the Metcalfes Unfortunately he was in the glasshouse at the time and was marched out to listen to Jim Reeves singing something like "And I love you so" he said he never lived it down!

Not sure whether its all remembered right, but someone will know

 

Hazel