Memories of Childhood

(16-02-2019 09:01 )milfspotter Wrote:  What a great thread Greeny, it's brought back so many memories. I'm so glad I was growing up in the seventies rather than now, for all the so-called advantages modern kids have. Most of all we were lucky enough to be free range kids, I went far afield on my purple Chopper mark II, (with the T-bar gearshift, the mark I's had a knob) which was completely impractical but looked so cool, the best Christmas present ever,
It was exactly like this one

https://www.babeshows.co.uk/showthread.p...pid2260040

It was a great bike to have wasn’t it? The very definition of cool. Fellow chopper bike owner deserves rep which is coming your way.

Glad you like it milfspotter. As I stated some time back we were too poor to have a Chopper, but I got the brother, Chipper which I then proceeded to change by moving the brakes up level with the handlebars-motorcycle-like and then did some hair-raising stunts like riding off a plank of wood over bricks-and this was in my back garden. Happy Days!
My sister had the middle bike, the Tomahawk, which I used one day to learn how to ride(on my own). Great bikes them. My very first one was a Pavemaster(no stabilisers) and my last one was a PUCH PACEMAKER, a racing bike which I saved up for and used many times for all sorts of things. How I miss that bike-my current one is a mountain-style-the mark 2 because my first new was nicked from our shed!

Also been thinking back to the skateboard craze of the late 70's early 80's and I remember being absolutely hooked on them when a friend of mine had one of those plastic el-cheapo types and getting a chance to try one out, I discovered it wasn't so simple and keeping your balance wasn't easy. Much later I convinced my Dad to let me get one and as usual I had to stump up at least half the cash by saving(this is why today I save more than I spend) my money each week. When I finally got to the amount needed, he made up the rest and we went to this local place and I chose a nice piece of wood, decent trucks, 70mm Kryptonic wheels(red) which were the best you could get, and attached a scrape board behind it. I was overjoyed to get it and practiced every day(wearing a helmet and knee/arm pads of course)



It was lucky I did have a helmet and pads because one day whilst playing outside I got up a bit of speed on the pavement and then drifted into the road, which in those days was very uneven, and I suddenly ground to a halt but I kept going ending up on said road sprawled on the ground. Had I not had that protection I'd have probably done myself real damage.

Mind you speaking of damage I did have a very unfortunate accident as an older kid. I was playing football with friends in another street and the ball rolled out into the road. I ran after it but didn't notice a cyclist coming up the hill and along at quite a speed. Next minute I felt this searing pain in my leg and being knocked down to the ground. I screamed my head off, the pain was excruiating and blood was pouring out. My Dad was called and he rushed me up to hospital. I had to have stitches in my leg and was in a cast for a few weeks-it itched like mad, but eventually it came off but it took ages to heal-I still have the scar to show for it. Luckily for me it wasn't broken.

Another thing we had as kids-do you remember Saturday morning pictures. Apologies if this has been mentioned before. This was great because you got to go to the cinema on your own(it was safer back then) and for about 50p, which admitedly was expensive to kids you got to see the latest film. In those days you got your money's worth. It would be a short film about Swiss watches or something of interest, then a cartoon, then a short interval when it was 'time for ice-cream' and an usherette would come down the aisle with her little box tray of tubs of ice-cream and those odd spoons which you weren't sure which way up they went(wood) and then you would settle down to watch the main film. I can remember going with my cousin to see BATMAN-the 1966 version and we also saw another film with it called Sky Riders(hang glider heist movie I think) and then on the way home(as you did as kids) we acted out one scene where Batman and Robin have to get to the Conference room in a tower but their helicopter has crash-landed on some mats. They decide to run instead "holy stitch in time Batman!" and that is what we did. We put our anorak hoods over our heads, attached the top button to hold it on and then ran home(Luckily it wasn't far from where I lived) Ah, yes they were the days.

The second thing I remember is going with my school to the same cinema to see 'A Queen Is Crowned', at that time a newly-released version of the Queen's coronation of 1953 in colour. All the schools had been invited to see it. We all found our seats but a few minutes later something came hurtling down from the 'gods' and nearly hit us. Another school, possibly a rival in the area had started lobbing food down, one of which was a Mars bar!! We had to complain to our teacher and it was a miracle that no-one got hurt.

I spent many happy hours putting together Airfix kits. The kit I most wanted was the RAF Refuelling set but I never saw it in the shops. Even Beatties in Dudley (which was the dogs bollocks for Airfix) never had it. I had the RAF Recovery set which consisted of a weird crane lorry and another vehicle pulling a long trailer, and the RAF Emergency set which had a fire engine and a cool ambulance (the same one as featured in the film Ice Cold in Alex).

I can remember spending one afternoon at the kitchen table gluing together the battleship Scharnhorst. I was listening to Mud's Rocket over and over again (incidentally that was the first single I ever bought) and must have driven my mum and sister nuts. Even now listening to that song conjures up the smell of the glue and images of the kitchen.

(17-02-2019 08:20 )milfspotter Wrote:  I spent many happy hours putting together Airfix kits. The kit I most wanted was the RAF Refuelling set but I never saw it in the shops. Even Beatties in Dudley (which was the dogs bollocks for Airfix) never had it. I had the RAF Recovery set which consisted of a weird crane lorry and another vehicle pulling a long trailer, and the RAF Emergency set which had a fire engine and a cool ambulance (the same one as featured in the film Ice Cold in Alex).

I can remember spending one afternoon at the kitchen table gluing together the battleship Scharnhorst. I was listening to Mud's Rocket over and over again (incidentally that was the first single I ever bought) and must have driven my mum and sister nuts. Even now listening to that song conjures up the smell of the glue and images of the kitchen.

I did the historical figures kits some you can find on E bay still.
I bet if you took a look now you might find the RAF one for sale, you never know your luck!! Aside from those kits i did painting by numbers kits whether it was oil or acrylics. I did a fair few of those kits in the time I had when I wasn't employed, took my mind off the mundane routine of job searching!! i think it even hard now to find those for sale anywhere. What was the biggest airfit kit you tackled?

All of us who had Airfix kits it now turns out were the first generation of unintended glue sniffers...we must have been high as kites from the fumes when I look back at it..

Reading the previous post about the first single ever bought reminded me about the first single I bought.

It was ‘Cum on feel the Noize’ by Slade, from 1973. They had a habit of deliberately misspelling the titles of their songs at that time..Was a big fan of Slade, as well as the Sweet, Wizzard and for some reason Suzi Quatro. Did not like Glitter, Alvin Stardust (he spooked me for some strange reason - whether it was the way he looked into the camera while singing or what I’ll never know) or the dreadful Bay City Rollers...always a source of arguments with one of my cousins who worshipped the very ground they walked on.

I daren't tell you the first single I had...oh okay it was Superspike a record by Bill Oddie brought out to raise money to send the British Olympic team to either Montreal in 76 or Moscow 1980. It was a comedy record with John Cleese doing some commentary and I still have it somewhere. As to Airfix kits yes did dozens of them mostly aircraft but I did a battleship once and floated it in the bath, and then the biggest one with working undercarriage and flaps was a B52 Flying Fortress and it took ages to do with my Dad.

(17-02-2019 11:51 )GreenMachine Wrote:  I daren't tell you the first single I had...oh okay it was Superspike a record by Bill Oddie brought out to raise money to send the British Olympic team to either Montreal in 76 or Moscow 1980. It was a comedy record with John Cleese doing some commentary and I still have it somewhere. As to Airfix kits yes did dozens of them mostly aircraft but I did a battleship once and floated it in the bath, and then the biggest one with working undercarriage and flaps was a B52 Flying Fortress and it took ages to do with my Dad.

I’d have thought given the year of its release (1976) it would have been connected to the Montreal Olympics. I’ve just listened to about 30 seconds worth of the ‘song’ you’ve mentioned and two thoughts immediately sprang forth..

1) That somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind, a dim recollection of once hearing this single on the radio suddenly appeared to me.

2) Your admitting buying it was an act of true courage Oh dear.

I am not absolutely sure if I bought it, but I had it and I thought at the time it was fun, and it was for a good cause. I also have one my sister got - now what you have to bear in mind is that i didn't start listening to proper music until 1979 with Message in a bottle by the Police(thanks to my friend who got me into them) and my other record was...Postman Pat! yeah I know but I was young and stupid. Mind you the other one I was given by my sister was none other than Sir Clifford of Richard and Wired for Sound, at the time he was chart gold, and the song wasn't bad but his video was very strange. It also showcased the Walkman cassette player only just introduced to this country.

Airfix Kits. I think I built a fair few aeroplanes but I did have a crack at a helicopter Bell-Huey style and a car which I remember i found very fiddly, but here's something else I remembered last night. Did any of you ever try these Plastercasters models like Paddington or Beatrix Potter characters. They were all the rage along with Shaker Makers The main problem was not the pouring and mixing of the plaster itself but trying to remove the mould without pulling off pieces vital to the look of the piece.