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Memory Lane

As a child. living in Moss Side Manchester, I grew up, playing happily in the garden at the front, (My gran had a big house, with three or four floors) and walking to school was fun, Going to the shop was even better, If went into the Greengrocer. for the veg etc, I was given an apple,, the sweet shop,a lolly pop, for waiting patiently, these were from the owners, How times have changed, We could play for hours everyone was friendly, now you are lucky if you know more than a handful of neighbours, and because the local shops, are few and far between. How I miss those days. Does anyone else have these memories ? Our children / grandchildren might have all the technology but they are missing out on so, much, What do you think?


Created By on 10/02/2017

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ArchieUK
7th Jul 2017 09:47:58 (Last activity: 7th Jul 2017 16:52:49)
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What is the oldest piece of domestic equipment that you bought that you are still using,
Ours is a cullender, bought in Woolworths in the early 1960,s when girls used to have a bottom drawer.
Even after well over 50 years we are still using it, but we did pay one shilling for it.
Response from CaroleAH made on 7th Jul 2017 11:55:37
I can't claim to have bought my oldest kitchen utensil as it belonged to my Nana. It's a wooden rolling-pin and it must be at least 70 years old 🙂
Response from Treehugger1 made on 7th Jul 2017 16:52:49
Yes I have something similar, a mixing bowl that my Grandma used when I used to help her make cakes. It's one sturdy old bowl to have lasted all these years without me breaking it. 🙂
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ArchieUK
14th Jun 2017 10:00:39 (Last activity: 14th Jun 2017 14:41:50)
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During the late 1950's there was a fashion of having table lamps made from used wine bottles, you bought a device to hold the bulb that fitted into the top of the bottle with the wire on the outside, and it worked, very nice.
I was watching a programme on my parents television and it showed that if you drilled a hole in the bottom of the bottle it could look a lot smarter so away I go.
I knew that even with the old masonary drills, with care, you could drill through glass, so I started. You just needed a bit of putty, some parafin oil, as a lubricant, and away you go, at 2/6 a hole.

I never made that fortune, but it was a lot of fun.
Response from georgesmum made on 14th Jun 2017 14:41:50
I can recall putting candles into the tops of empty Mateus Rose bottles and burning them until the wax dripped down the sides of the bottles in the 60's. I think this trend started when French Bistro's became popular and they used them as table centres so of course we had to copy this trend...bet the sales of that particular wine went up for a while!
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ecarg
14th Jun 2017 12:46:38
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Ah yes i remember them well . Then the bottles ended up with candles stuck in them so you could enjoy your chicken and chips in a basket by candlelight. Oh the romance !
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CarolElsey
21st May 2017 21:32:05
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Just reading your post about growing up in Manchester I very much agree.today there is all the technology for young people and children.but.nothing beats the play that we experienced as children.i new to silver surfers . I also like to go down memory lane.
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[deleted]
12th Feb 2017 22:31:25 (Last activity: 6th May 2017 20:09:00)
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[deleted]
Response from Angie95 Original Poster made on 17th Apr 2017 16:28:02
I agree with you Lionel, times have changed, Children don't have the same freedom we did, and I agree with you telling your granddaughter what to, do, have done the same with my daughter, Oh I had so much fun, doing exactly what your granddaughter grew up doing, so much fun, Memories are always with us, and now we can share them, all over the world, via the internet, sometimes, the internet is a good thing xx
Response from Angie95 Original Poster made on 6th May 2017 08:52:54
My children are lost without technology, though I will say my daughter, does write poetry with a pen! haha, and reads, draws. etc, as does my son, (except for the poetry) he uses a kindle but my daughter like me, prefer books. ( I do have a kindle , but very rare;y use it)
Response from jeanmark made on 6th May 2017 20:09:00
My step-granddaughter has profound special needs and it was difficult to communicate until she received her specially adapted iPad, technology does have a positive side.
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CaroleAH
10th Feb 2017 11:50:55 (Last activity: 6th May 2017 08:48:58)
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I agree, Angie. When I was young I lived in Pudsey (West Yorkshire). At the back of the house there was a huge field (now a housing estate) so my sister and I (we are twins) and all our friends played in the field, had gangs, made dens, careered down the hills on our bikes and scooters, raided the allotments when the raspberries were in season, had picnics and generally had a great time ......... and 60 years later I'm still alive to tell the tale. Over the road, there was a farm where we were allowed to "help" with the animals. So, we collected eggs, fed the lambs, herded the cows in for milking and even plucked the chickens at Christmas ready for sale - not my favourite job! When we went to school, which was just over a mile away, my mother took us and met us on the first day - after that we were on our own. We came home at lunch-time (dinner time in those days) so, at the age of 5, we were walking nearly 6 miles a day - no matter what the weather! The strange thing is that my sister thinks that we were neglected as children because we weren't taken on organised trips to the park or the swimming pool etc whereas I think that my childhood was idyllic. However, nowadays I wouldn't like to think that my granddaughter was out playing somewhere and my daughter didn't know where she was or who she was with. So, have I got older and wiser or with the advent of the internet age has the world become less safe for our youngsters?
Response from Angie95 Original Poster made on 17th Apr 2017 16:46:06
CaroleAH. ooh how lucky you were, I would have loved to have helped with the animals, I have longed to live on a farm, the closest I got was going to collect eggs and milk, from a farm in Sidcup, Kent, when I stayed with my cousins, and got to stroke the horses and sheep, and could not believe how big the cows were! but so gentle, I don't agree with your sister, you don't need organised trips you were not neglected, if you were so was I , and many other children, we went Blackberry picking and conker collecting, what we had CaroleAH is FUN! climbing trees, and riding bikes, for picnics, , happy memories, Lovely talking to you xx
Response from CaroleAH made on 17th Apr 2017 19:04:13
Hi Angie,
You are so right - we definitely had fun. Youngsters today only seem to have fun if they are on the X-box or "attached" to an IPad etc. The cows on the farm all had a name (there were probably only about 20 of them) above their stalls and they went into the same one each time to be milked. I seem to remember that my favourite was called Bertha. I also remember returning from an Easter holiday and finding that the lamb, called Snowy (of course!) which I had been feeding with bottles of milk was now a sheepskin rug - I was so upset.
Response from Angie95 Original Poster made on 6th May 2017 08:48:58
Aww CaroleAH. i would have been a mess I would have sobbed my heart , out, I do wish that our children could have the same freedom we had, It is so sad that they can';t , x
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ecarg
18th Feb 2017 22:22:47 (Last activity: 17th Apr 2017 16:33:27)
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We are all products of our time ,where we were born the circumstances of our parents.I grew up with the freedom of the countryside and a friends Mother with a car who brought us back from the town after we had walked the 6 miles to get there,I remember making dens with bales and tree houses in the bluebell woods ,I also remember being freezing cold until the coal fire got going ,being made to eat liver and onions.Walking through snowdrifts to reach the school bus.Singing in the church choir and Sunday School.Fifty years on I still have friends from my childhood even though we are hundreds of miles apart.Jump forward to the seventies and eighties and my children also had the freedom of the countryside ,pine forests on the doorstep ,watching lambs born,raising puppies and fortunately friends close by for company .Jump forward again to the present day and my granddaughter is experiencing a different childhood living on a housing estate in a smallish town,close enough to walk to school after school activities ,friends next door and grandparents who live in the country - best of both worlds.So three generations all with our different memories ,fortunate to have had or are having happy childhoods in secure families .Isn't it the people that are really important the rest fits into place good or bad.We learn from our memories they make us the people we are .
Response from jeanmark made on 19th Feb 2017 13:52:15
Well put ecarg and I agree it is the people that enrich the experiences of life.
Response from Angie95 Original Poster made on 17th Apr 2017 16:33:27
I agree with you, ecarg, andjeanmark the people we meet enrich the experiences of life, and may they always do so, I still have friends from childhood, and even though they live miles away from me, we still keep in touch, so I am happy we now have the internet, because we the Silversuffers can speak to each other, and as I am fairly new on here, thank you all for answering my question, xx
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jeanmark
10th Feb 2017 13:57:58 (Last activity: 10th Feb 2017 19:09:43)
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Is the world less safe or has it just changed? We probably had a different childhood because things were different. I lived in a town and only those children living in surrounding villages were allowed to use the school bus, the rest of us had to walk regardless of how far. We had to walk to school as few parents had a car and certainly not one each. We had no choice in which school we attended. There were no supermarkets and thus we all relied on the local shop which was within walking distance. There was a tight community spirit and so children could play safely outside.

Children do have the technology we would never have thought possible, but would we have used it if it had been invented and available? Are we just lucky in being given such memories because technology had not moved forward when we were young? I consider myself lucky to have grown up in a society that has changed so much in the last 50 years knowing I have been there to see the changes.
Response from CaroleAH made on 10th Feb 2017 17:18:00
Certainly some of the changes we have seen are wonderful. Fifty years ago when I worked as a cashier for Lloyds Bank we had to add up in our heads - no calculators for us, count every note and coin - no nifty little scales and customers had to present a cheque at the counter to withdraw cash. Deposits and withdrawals from savings accounts were written in pen and ink - no Biros - and all transactions were added up and balanced at the end of the day. Nowadays, we can go to a hole in the wall for our cash and pay bills and transfer money on line. Great stuff!
Response from jeanmark made on 10th Feb 2017 19:09:43
I agree Carole, I started nursing in 1965, Drug doses were worked out on paper, glass thermometers and mercury blood pressure machines were used. There were no ITU's in smaller hospitals just patients in oxygen tents in the general medical ward, you cared for critical ill patients along side convalescent patients. There were no hoists to lift heavy patients but a height restriction for nurses of 5 foot, presumably so you could reach the bed! Oh happy days.
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