Memories of Childhood

Do you remember going to a cinema and sometimes you were late and you could watch the film, then wait until it started again and see the bit you'd missed then leave? I went with my sister and Dad to see 'Buck Rogers In the 25th Century' and we got there just too late and sat there, watched the film and then stayed until it restarted, then left when we got to the place we had come in

(04-01-2020 21:10 )babelover48 Wrote:  And Andy Stewart dancing in his kilt!!

Hell Id forgotten about that!

Big Ben would chime in the New Year then ITV (my region was Granada) would go off to Scotland for the Hogmanay (didnt have a clue what the hell Hogmanay meant) celebrations. Id sit and watch about 5 minutes of what was pretty much otherworld stuff, being a young lad from North Wales i did'nt have the first clue about what Scottish people got up to at New Year, but the whole experience of seeing those strange goings on was too much for me to take in.

Seeing my Grandad (Mum’s side) pouring his tea from his cup into the saucer and slurping from the saucer. My Nan would go completely apeshit at him but he was a Liverpool docker who didn’t give a toss about convention or other people’s feelings.

I can still hear his broad Scouse twang as he’d bellow ‘I don’t friggin care if the Queen comes ere...I’m still drinking out me saucer’

Got into trouble with my Mum not long after for making a mess by pouring my tea into a saucer but most of it slopping onto the carpet!

"It's Friday...it's five to five and it's CRACKERJACK!! Do you remember the original -not the fifties but the seventies with Leslie Crowther, Peter Glaze, Don McLean OR Ed Stewpot Stewart, Michael Aspel, OR Stu Francis, Bernie Clifton, and the girls(Sally-Ann Triplet-who represented the UK in Eurovision in 1982 with Bardo-One Step Further)

(09-01-2020 12:06 )GMach1 Wrote:  "It's Friday...it's five to five and it's CRACKERJACK!! Do you remember the original -not the fifties but the seventies with Leslie Crowther, Peter Glaze, Don McLean OR Ed Stewpot Stewart, Michael Aspel, OR Stu Francis, Bernie Clifton, and the girls(Sally-Ann Triplet-who represented the UK in Eurovision in 1982 with Bardo-One Step Further)

Vividly. Stu Francis with his ‘crush a grape’ catchphrase, the end of the show turned into a gunge fest.

I have a vague recollection of a period when the booby prizes were very dark green cabbages (?)...was that during Ed Stewart’s time?

Yes it was called Double or Drop where you were loaded up with prizes but get a question wrong or drop a prize and they gave you a cabbage - maybe originated in Michael Aspel's time first. John Bercow, Mr Speaker that was, appeared on the show as a 12 yr old.

This is one disadvantage of having a photographic memory-you remember things you'd rather forget. For some reason, sparked from a picture(later banned) posted on Facebook, I started recalling the firework companies that existed when I was younger(I still to this day hate the damn things, but compared to today they were safer-ish!) Here are the names I remember in order: Astra, Benwell's, Brock's, Payne's and Standard(which still exists and is the only one left) Astra was the front for the spy network in the film 'The Ipcress File' with Michael Caine. Ring any bells?

Not sure if this has been covered but do you remember the ingenious ways we came up with to 'gamble' with pocket money at school. There was penny against the wall where you threw your coin against a wall(or towards it ) and the nearest coin won OR playing marbles OR as I recall flicking cards/stickers between your two middle fingers either up the road or somewhere in an open space and the furthest your card went was the winner.?

A memory stirred by Heidi on Facebook....one which I had completely forgotten about...until a few minutes ago....

Growing up I lived on a road called Salem Road in a village called Coedpoeth (translates as burnt wood, hot wood or Colliers Wood depending on who you talk to) near Wrexham.

This road was narrow (and with a gradient) so narrow in fact that its one way, as narrow as the single track roads that you see in some places. Anyway this road had a chapel at the top of the road, and going up the road on the left hand side as you walked up it, bordering the road, a sandstone wall about 6-7 feet high. Behind this wall is the chapel graveyard, one of those graveyards which hasn't been used in decades so you have long grass and all sorts among the old gravestones.

This part of the road as luck would have it was completely unlit and would always make for a more than slightly uneasy experience walking home in the winter months when it was dark. The memory that flooded back was of one Halloween night (I was either 9 or 10 years old at the time) walking down the road, with some bastard hiding behind the sandstone wall. Said tosser decides to jumpscare me. Never ran so fast in my life and will never forget the sound of shrieking laughter coming from whoever it was that did the deed (never did find out who it was)

As youngsters you were able to go to the cinema, go on a bus, go swimming on your own or with friends without worrying about being accosted by strangers, although we did have the public information film Stranger, Danger! (with Duncan Preston of Victoria Wood comedy fame)and without breaking your pocket money and still have change to buy some sweets afterwards. Did you go to Saturday morning pictures at all. Those were the days where for 50p you got two films, a cartoon, a travelogue, ice-cream in the interval and a chance to meet up with your friends.