Our ‘humpty’ ..it was a footstool type big cushion ..with a cover made of a cleanable vinyl material. I always thought it was called a Humpty because it was Humpty Dumpty shape and have only found out this year that it was its real name! I’m still in shock!
School assembly
Hymns:
“When a knight won his spurs”
“All things bright and beautiful”
My school hymn book is still on my bookshelf, full of messages from my childhood class mates and of course all the tunes of my junior school days
Being a catholic and missing out on RE lessons all through school because it was a C of E school that I attended . I remember thinking it was crazy at the time.
Dip in pens and ink wells at junior school, and the wicked delight of sitting behind Elizabeth B with her long plaits and dipping her plaits into my inkwell.
My pen nibs had a habit of ‘crossing’ (maybe it was because I was left handed – I used to get in trouble for needing new ones. Fountain pens were much easier and cartridge pens easier still. I wonder what they use now?
Milk in school – third pint milk bottles kept on the radiators till it got warm- ~I’ve always disliked milk but warm milk – yeuk!!! I used to give mine away .
Wonderful Vitamins and home remedies
Rosehip syrup …daily Delrosa vitamin c – I really liked my daily spoonful
Malt- again one big spoonful every morning
Minadex iron syrup – I was a very anaemic child and had to have many liver dinners – fortunately my Mum was good at adding tastes to the meal so it wasn’t too bad
Foods etc
Surprise peas … Dried peas but they tasted lovely when they were cooked
Real peas from the garden – I loved podding them into the colander and eating a few as I worked- they tasted lovely with a texture all their own.
Smash – powdered mashed potato – it really didn’t taste good . I’m amazed its still sold today.
Bottling fruit and veg from our garden…. all the gooseberries looked like green globes floating in syrup in their Kilner jars. The green runner beans were sliced and packed into jars with block salt in between the layers
Jam making – all the blackcurrants and apples from Mums garden
Mums pastry – half lard to flour …it was always lovely I still use that recipe today! But Mum’s apple pie and Mince pies were amazing.
Soda bread made by my Mum….. fried with a sprinkle of salt and a cup of tea – just gorgeous
Hoyes pop lorry – it was always coming around – we didn’t have it very often but my Aunty Joan’s cupboard had all the of flavours of fizzy pop… cream soda was my favourite. My brother liked dandelion and burdock!
The Tizer factory was in my home village of Syston – my brother, me and some friends used to go out collecting empty bottles for the pennies given back when we returned them.
Years later, making wedding cakes for my friends and workmates- all that icing sugar on my mums kitchen surfaces – I know she hated it but the cakes were works of art with crystallised freesias and coloured plaques etc
Christmas
Christmas crackers made of crepe paper and posh party hats made of the stuff that disposable bedpans are now made of .. these were coloured and had lovely detail – I remember Cowboy hats, Mexican hats and Clown hats made this way with elastic under the chin.
Green jelly watches that were edible ornaments on my Auntie Joan’s christmas tree and silver paper covered chocolate baubles on our tree!
My bride dolly dressed by my mum…her name was Belinda blue eyes (for obvious reasons)her outfit was lovely..mum had made her dress with a lacy overlay and a bouquet of blue flowers. Her headdress was made of blue flowers too. She also had a yellow gingham pinafore dress and white blouse to change into. She was a Christmas present for me on the year that my big brother decided to take me downstairs one year in the early hours of Christmas Day. We couldn’t have been in bed very long as we always went to midnight mass but Michael said it would be ok – but as we opened lounge door at the bottom of the stairs we heard Mum coming from the kitchen. Michael rushed back upstairs but I had seen my doll and went to pick her up. Mum let me take her back to bed. Its probably mentioned elsewhere on here but it is a beautiful memory.
The music! Oh the music …the best times ever!
I think it probably deserves a post of its own though…. unless you have my facebook account details !!