Those were the days eh.... I remember making a raft and with my girl friend.... hang on... we were both 7/8..... taking it all the way from money hill parade where we lived down to the river at mill end...... we also use to cycle up and down the fairways at chorleywood golf course when I was 10/11...... it was like riding a roller coaster
We played fair in those days, the drive was to win yes, but as you say if we had won all of the Marbles we gave some back so we could carry on winning. Not only was the milk delivered by horse and cart so was the coal, they used to stack the empty sacks on the back of the cart and if they went over a bump from time to time a sack would fall off, if we found one we used to treat it like found treasure. I remember going home filthy covered in coal dust and getting holy hell from my Mum. we had wooden Hula Hoops when I first went to school, they were just called hoops in those days. On sports days one of the races, apart from the three legged race, egg & spoon race and the sack race was the hoop race. In the race you had to hit the hoop with a stick with the hoop standing on it's edge and it would roll along you had run along the course hitting the hoop keeping it upright to the end - not as easy as you would think. Plastic Hula Hoops were not manufactured until 1957 in the USA, I think they came over here about '59, I remember my sister getting one and they were all the rage. The following year I recall was the year of the yo-yo, it was so popular we even had people come down our local Rec (park) and give lessons. I could walk the dog, go round the moon and other tricks. I loved 'Run outs' 2RJs too but hated being the catcher or minder of the 'home' usually a (lampost)
I was never allowed to have a raft, lucky you but I did have a girl friend at that age - her name was Claire Baxter. We cycled everywhere in those days usually ending up at some Wood or Railway Embankment. Do you rember a wood called 'Mad Bess Woods' I think, and if we were daring we would club together for a bottle of Cydrax or Peardrax (little knowing it was non-alcoholic). OFH - do you remember the Corona Lorry that used to come round, the bottles used to have a top like Grolsh have now?
Yes Charlie, I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. You payed a deposit on the bottle and got it back when you returned it. It could be a source of income if you could find empties and take them back.
Or the 'Rag & Bone' man that came round that you could exchange old woolens and tat for goldfish and balloons. See we recycled then.
Giirlfriends - I too had a "girlfriend" at that age but over the years we lost touch a bit and both married others - however her son appears on here from time to time under the name of Roo Corona lorry - yes remember that - but how many of you remember the post war orange juice - think it may even have been distributed free - in bottle like medicine bottles. Pre the days of recycling we used to have a separate "pig-bin" which you put potato and other vegetable peelings in - for pigs !! I am sure I should start a new thread for all this - I will if anyone complains what we are doing to the prediction league
Yes Pig Bins - I remember singing this song to the tune of Max Bygraves' 'Out of Town' Say what you will School dinners make you ill And Davey Crockett died of shepherds pie Our school din-dins Come from pig bins Out of town.
Popped in to see how the predictions were going and found myself transported back to school days. Marbles at my infant school involved two distinct classes...the 'business' types who stood by the school wall with a marble between their legs and offered "ten besides" if you could hit it from the bicycle shed opposite and the 'gambler' types who would take aim across the playground, losing their marble if they missed. There was a third type...the 'crooks', who aimed across the playground with such force that if the marble missed there was a good chance of it rebounding off the wall back to them! A similar, later craze involved flicking the rarer cigarette packets frisbee-style at one set up as a target. Ahhhh, happy days. My girlfriend when I was 8 was called Lorna and had come down from Scotland. Her mother used to give us cherry tarts to eat in the park but we always threw the pastry to the birds! Can't beat a bit of nostalgia...
Corona lorry.. yes Mad Bess woods.... no memory gone on that.... apparentl was near Ducks Hill Rd... brings back memories ( I have not lived in the area for over 40 years!! Made a mistake and went on street view.... and discovered that the garden on my old house is now a car park Another memory fishing for tiddlers in the canal behind croxley green.. and then putting them in an old tin bath on the balcony in our flat... and the stench when they died
i have one word for you.... tiddlywinks! lol i loved the corona man! And the rag and bone man...just not the same in a van, horses and carts were far more memorable! Mad Bess Woods!! We used to go there! lol And rosehip syrup free from the clinic!! What on earth was that all about! lol
Tiddlywinks were fun but we never played to win others. Can't remember where Mad Bess Woods were but remember the name - Ladywalk Woods were near Maple Cross - behind farmer Finley's farm (he is still there I think) where we went from Shepherds Juniors to see the farm and have milk straight from the cow I remember the winter of 1962 when the canal and lakes froze from New Years Day until March - we used to go ice skating on them - no health and safety around in those days
if only! Sadly, they're personal memories, though i was rather young, admittedly! That's the winter i was born Leonardo ...my mum often tells me that i couldn't go out for 3 months coz it was too cold for babies. i used to go on the ice in the pond on Barn Hill when i was a nipper
I don't know now which winter is was, but I can remember falling through the ice on the pond outside St. Jame's church in Bushey. Fortunately the pond was not very deep but I got very wet. As I had been strictly forbidden from going on it I ran around for some time in the hope that I would dry off without success, so in the end I had to go home and confess.
Iwondered what was going on with this thread I'd forgotten all about rosehip syrup. What was it, let alone what was it all about. All I really remember was how sweet and sickly it was. Did anyone go tobogganning at Jacket's Hill in Whippendell Woods? Every time it snowed I would go there with one particular friend who I never saw at any other time of the year.
Just to clear up the league thread i thought i would move the comments here. After all, some people will only check the thread for their league position, not the reminiscing.
Hmmmmmmm building first go kart out of broken prams and bikes from the local tip probably what got me into being a mechanic
We used to have some sort of milk shake mixture which you mixed with milk and whisked up.... yum.... and i remember as a young teenager eating " brown derby" at the wimpy bar -- yum....
I'm 29 but don't be agist !! I remember playing conkers and making a go kart from pram wheels and wood, getting penny sweets and climbing trees all weekend. Still I had a playstation so you 'oldies' might have missed out on that one. It is a shame noone really plays in the street like my old man used to tell me about. I see it sometimes when I am back home but not in abundance. Over here all the youngsters have a kick about all the time my garage is their goal mouth, I had to book one the other day for getting to close to the windows ! I saw some kids making a kite ot of a plastic bags, string and sticks, it flew better than I could have imagined. Oh to be young again ! I have to sit down to take a piss in the morning now !
I was quite enjoying these recollections until I was reminded that my youngest will be 40 at the beginning of next month.
