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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: kateblogs on Wednesday 26 March 08 22:53 GMT (UK)
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Nowadays, we have a wealth of home entertainment, but that hasn't always been the case, and I have been wondering, what did people do in the evening before the advent of radio, tv, cinema and so on? I know that it was normal to go to bed a lot earlier than we do now, but there must still have been a couple of hours before that when people needed to find some form of entertainment. In period dramas middle class family are depicted singing around a piano, was that normal? And what about working class people, would they have had the means to buy a piano? Or would they have done something else?
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Went to the Pub :D
Stan
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I think they darned socks, pieced together quilts, repaired and sharpened farm tools, shucked corn, learned to read and write, and other such useful activities.
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When I was a girl :D
Only the 60's but not many tellies around then, my 'Aunties' used to gather one evening a week to play 'Penny Nap' and other card games. I was allowed to watch but only if not heard!
My Auntie Enid(also my Godmother) taught me how to play solitaire, where you have a cross shape and the marbles/or pegs jump over one another and you remove one and the aim was to have just one left on the board. Her mother taught her the solution and Auntie Enid always said it took away the pleasure of the game, as she could never lose now!
We also played a game using a big wooden board on which you could place up to six different sets of coloured marbles and had to work your way to the opposite side of the board. I still have the marbles (some would dispute that ;)) but the board has since gone to the dreaded worm.
Su
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There would have been a variation between country and city life.
There's also differences between post WW2, between the wars, pre WW1, nineteenth century etc.
Post ww2 there wasn't all the entertainment at home that there is today. A radio was novel, but there were cinemas, and dances. Even thirty years ago most homes had one tv (can't remember how many channels and it wasn't on all day and night) and the pubs shut at 10.30pm, but there were a few late night clubs.
You could do a whole book on it all - probably someone has - entertainment through the ages'.
But you're probably thinking Victorian times I expect. I'll have to investigate. ;D
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Hi everyone,
Think Silvery is probably right - depends where you lived.
Towns would have their musical halls and pubs, as Stan pointed out.
For the more serious minded, who wanted to improve their lot in life, there was the opportunity to learn and study at the new Mechanics Institutes in the towns. (Celebraties like Dickens came).
Churches had more influence - my ancestors ran a mission hall, in Ilkeston, for the families who had moved up from the Black Country - activities for the children, singing, etc etc. (they were Wesleyan Methodists).
Sure I'll think of something else - bear with me.
Kind regards,
Paulene.
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This could be a really interesting thread if everyone contributed, like Suzie has, what they used to do.
I've always read a lot, didn't get a telly [b &w] until Iwas about ten, (a deprived childhood :P). I had aunts who knitted and sewed, and my mum used to knit a little and so did I at one time. Women who went to the pub were a bit 'fast' until about the 60s (my mum used to go!! for half an hour at the end). I'll have to think what else, it's getting late.
Just seen Paulene's post - a bit like mine I think! It's very interesting.
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My father-in-law used to talk about going to dances in the local halls throughout the countryside (in days before cars everyone went by bike or walked), there were local plays produced, suppers in halls (my mother-in-law used to talk about ladies bringing long white linen cloths to spread over the boards used for tables, cups, saucers, kettles, sandwiches and lots of home-baking, etc.)
At home the ladies did mending, knitting, letterwriting, newspapers were read, later on the radio (always called the wireless in our house) was a big entertainment. Children played card games and board games (we still have the marbles with a metal board for Chinese chequers that was mentioned above). There was lots of visiting friends and neighbours all year round with ceilis held in certain houses where someone could play the fiddle with singing and dancing.
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I'm not sure about the evenings but I'm pretty certain that the pub, at the end of the working day, was most usual for the Gents, at least for an hour or so.
I had it firsthand from my Grandmamah, who was a "proper" Edwardian lady ;) that on Sundays they went to the parks where brass bands played. However, she seemed to know all the old Music Hall songs so I think she maybe had a few nights out on the tiles ;D ;D ;D
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I remember in the mid 50s we still had gas light then and we had a wireless with a battery that had to be renewed every so often and a man would arrive to replace it.
My parents were older than my friends parents and didn't go to the pub but sat rug making with strips of rag and a sack and a tool with a red handle to make the holes and pull through the cloth.
Parents would also practice handwriting using coloured inks and father would sit in front of the fire drying the clothes over the fireguard sometimes burning them with the fire in the old black grate with oven attached which housed our brick that we took to bed each night to warm the bed six bricks for six children.
We would have to go to bed at 9pm when the knockout man was coming (boxing on the radio) we were so much in fear of the knockout man.
Edna
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We had a television for most of my childhood, but didn't rely on it as we do today. Still found time to read, make up plays, sew, knit, etc in the winter. play board games, dominoes, cards, jacks, snobs, etc.
In the summer we would play skipping, or french skipping in the road, or on the pavement outside ( not so many cars then), camp in the garden, explore, played cowboys and indians, etc, etc.
And later, homework of course.
Paulene.
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1950s - 1960s.
We did not have a tv until the mid '60s and even then my father installed it in the unheated cellar, so there was little inclination to watch it. We all read. All went to the public library at least once a week; sometimes two or three times. My mother knitted constantly - she could read and knit at the same time. Occasionally played cards [mostly hearts] or a board game [mostly scrabble]. Also sometimes played mah jong. Homework.
We had strictly enforced bedtime but the rules were somewhat relaxed in the summer. Then we played outside with neighborhood kids - kick the can, camping out" in the tent - also some yard and vegetable garden work.
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I read an interesting story a few years ago...wish I could find it now....it was 1800s America, and the family gathered in the evenings to read their books around an oil lamp. One day papa brought a new lamp home, bigger, brighter...and the family continued to read their books but farther away from each other. Space between each family member increased. Until papa replaced the new lamp with the original one, and they went back to being a "tightknit" family again :)
Apocryphal or not, I thought it was a lovely story.
Cheers,
China
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My grandparents owned a general store in a mining village in Northumberland in the 1920s. Granddad build an extension to the shop to house a billiards table for the men of the village. He was apparently very strict and didn't allow gambling on the game.
sallysmum
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Blimey, this thread has got me all nostalgic [wiping of eye]
I remember my mum was always knitting or sewing. We had a radio and I read books,books, mountains of books.
Plenty of board games. I was always making things from scratch. I still have a 'cigar box' that I made over 50 years ago.
We always communicated, I got hear some of the stories and family legends etc [true or not]
We lived next to a pub, but my father and later my stepfather never crossed its threshold.There only vice was football.I was taken to my first match c1955.
Ther always seemed to be motorbikes around, my grandfather was always 'tinkering'
Our 'local' team was Manchester City, we never mentioned Manchester U****d
No sweets, not much fruit, but we always had good wholesome food on the table.
No TV until the late 50's.
I always was out playing football, or cricket. I rode for miles on my bike, not much traffic to worry about in those days.
Summertime and the school hols, I would be off to my uncle and aunt who had a farm in Norfolk. I would come back as brown as a nut and weighing more.
We never had any cash to spare, but we as family always managed a week in Wales, or Bank Holiday in Blackpool.
No money, but we didnt feel like we were hard done by, that was how life went and we lived it.
I think it made me what I am today, my children were brought up with the same values, respect others, uphold the law, be proud of your heritage and your country [right or wrong],be content with what life has given you. Hopefully my grandkids will get the same upbringing.
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It does depend on whether people lived in the city or the countryside I think.
I can't think that time was wasted when money was so short. My grandmother told of her childhood in rural Hampshire, (1880's) where she was expected to help in summer evenings with the garden, feeding the pig, looking after her younger siblings. Only Sundays were special, when no un-necessary work was done ... Sundays were for church or chapel, three times each Sunday, and for quiet indoor activities like reading and mending.
When I was growing up, late 1940's & early 1950's, I lived in town near the library, and consumed vast numbers of books, as did my parents. We had a 'reading tea' on a Sunday when we all read our books while we ate ! We listened to the radio, played card games, Mother knitted and sewed, Dad had a shed where he pottered around making or mending and life on the whole was much quieter and more sedate than it is for my grand-children fifty years later. I sometimes think in many ways it was also richer ? I had to make my own games and pleasures; nowadays children expect to be taken out and have entertainment provided for them.
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My initial reaction to the question was to state, what I would call the obvious. All my families pre the first world war had large numbers of children, so to use a euphimism, I assume they went to bed early.
My grandmother's family did have a piano and they did all sing - boys included, but whether this was every evening or only for special events, I do not know. As a child I remember my grandmother singing at Christmas when we went to visit.
From my own childhood in the 50s/60s we didn't have a television. We always had the radio playing in the evenings, my mother and I usually knitted or read books (I did at times also do schoolwork), my father smoked cigarettes and often worked as he was a draftsman & took on extra work drawing house plans for local folks. At about 9.00 my mother would make a cup of tea which came with a biscuit or cake in summer and toast and jam in the winter. After which, everyone went to bed.
Trish
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I have lots of information from old local newspapers 1880-1900 and there are lots of announcements for events in the locality.
Dances, concerts in the local hall, fetes, various societiy meetings -( churchladies/gents meetings once a week, children's evenings. sunday teas with sports for the children) Cricket , football matches. Of course these were mainly on the weekend.
During the week father would probably work shifts -so mother would be cooking in the evening . I can remember as a child being allowed to wait for father coming home from work and being allowed to sit at the side of him and "share" his meal - this was usually a game - where I had a chunk of homemade bread and dipped it into his gravy when he "wasn't looking"!!!
A lot of homes had a piano -or someone in the family did - families could gather round for a sing song n a weekend evening. Summertime Sunday evenings whole families could be seen out walking -all dressed in their sunday best.
Children could play out in the fields or streets -no cars to worry about.
My aunt (94) tells tales of dances etc which she used to go to.
Of course the working day was longer - shop and office workers didn't finish until 6pm at the earliest.-so there was not much time in the evenngs -bedtime had to be early as most had to be up at 5 am to stoke the fires, cook breakfast and be in work early.
In some ways life was busier then than now - no relaxing in front of the TV - or sitting at the PC!
Suz
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"I read an interesting story a few years ago...wish I could find it now....it was 1800s America, and the family gathered in the evenings to read their books around an oil lamp."
Yes, it is a touching story but the reality may have been somewhat different.
I have experienced this myself. In the 1970s – 80s we lived for several years in a small Amazon village. During the first year there was no electricity because the village generator was kaput. Since we were close to the equator, we had to endure almost 12 hours of darkness per day. After an early supper, we would gather with the other investigators around a kerosene lantern. If we were out of kerosene or the last mantle had broken, we would gather around a cluster of candles. Everyone would try to get his book into a position that made reading possible. Kerosene lanterns throw off a lot of heat; this might be cozy in New England but was close to unbearable in the tropics. Insects swarmed to the light; they thunked and fluttered around the lantern or sizzled in the candles. The lanterns required constant maintenance due to the high sulphur fuel we were able to buy (though not nearly as bad as the maintenance required by the kerosene fridge).
The relief we felt when the generator was finally repaired and we got two or three hours of electric light in the evenings cannot be over stated. And the main thing was that we were able to get away from each other for at least a few hours.
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the other investigators
What were you investigating?
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(I lived like that for some years Erato, also on the Equator, but near Lake Victoria. We had mosquito netting on the house windows, and used to hang the kerosene lamp just outside the window, so that the heat and the millions of moths were OUTSIDE the house ! When the amount of kerosene we allowed ourselves got used up each evening, we then went to bed !)
Youngsters lives seem so different today; very few in Western countries at least, have even known poverty, hunger, deprevation ... I have always drummed into my own children the difference between want and need ... they soon learned never to say things like 'I need that new game/skirt/music tape' !!
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Book reading was a great pleasure for many folks and the gramaphone was a wonderful addition to
the evening's activities for those who could afford to own one.
In later years (1930s onward) while my mother enjoyed reading, she often spent her evenings knitting, sewing, and listening to the radio while my father read the newspaper or books.
During summer, we played outside with our friends until dark. The idea of staying in the house during good weather was not considered by any of us.
Kathleen
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Immediately post war dad tended his garden and an allotment after work I helped with weeding harvesting the produce and collecting the caterpillars off his precious cabbage leaves We also went for evening walks or cycle rides I knew I was grown up when I was given a cycle lamp for a birthday present and allowed out after dark! Wet evenings we read often out loud to each other constructed mechano models listened to Children's hour and music programes laughed at the Navy Lark , Take it from here etc Mum knitted and taught me to I can remember making dish cloths with long drop stitch. Oh joy Friday night was Guides when we had soo much fun and I was excused caterpillar collection
O I could go on and on happy healthy outdoor evenings
Trees
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I imagine a lot had to do with the type of class they were.
If they were extremely poor, even burning a candle at night would probably have been a luxury.
Lower to middle class, would have spent most of their evenings mending or sewing, something important and not trivial.
Upper class, well I guess they could afford to do what ever they wanted ;D
Ladies embroidering etc.
Margaret
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At the risk of changing the lovely tone and nostaglia - sorry :-[
Cock-fighting + dog-fighting.
If you go on a tour of the Caves under the Broadmarsh Shopping
Centre, In Nottingham, there is a whole community - rooms, each with a history, a story.
People lived, worked, and played there - and cock-fitghting was ones of the things that went on. Thank goodness those days have gone.
Sorry to break the atmospher, but it's true.
And, of course, Goose Fair.
Hope you'll forgive me!
Paulene :)
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Yes, Pauline, there were many groups of people not yet
mentioned here.
My great-grandfather and his two brothers were placed
into a workhouse after their mother died and their father
remarried. I have done some reading about those places,
but can only imagine how bleak their lives were.
Kathleen
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"What were you investigating? "
Well, there were a lot of different things. Fundamentally, though, it was a wide ranging, long-term investigation of rainforest ecology focused on nutrient cycling and forest regeneration following disturbance.
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Very interesting.
Just noticed your location, Erato. Also very interesting. Did you fall in love with that part of the world, and decide to stay? (Sorry - digressing - but then that's often how interesting things come out).
Kind regards,
Paulene :)
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To digress even more; Erato lives in Quito ... I wonder how many more 'exotic' locations RC members live in ?
Do we have any in Iceland, or Papua New Guinea, or the Falklands, for e.g. ??
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My Mum, born in 1937, says that she fought with her siblings.
So nothing has changed too much ::) ;)
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yes, I remember it well :(
(but that was in the 50s I hasten to add)
:)
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If people couldn't afford to buy a piano, there were other musical instruments around which cost less and took up less space. When I started to play the concertina, twenty five years ago, my mum's reaction was "Oh, we had two of those, one on either end of the mantlepiece". It turns out that one of them had been with one of my mother's uncles, in the trenches of WW1.
My mother also remembers her father reading novels to the whole family. This would have been in the early 1930s. She also remembers looking after her younger brothers whilst her father was on night shift in the steel works and her mother was off down the pub with her friends!
As for 1950s children - we played out; made rope swings over the beck and fell in, roller skated up and down the road on skates which didn't have rubberised wheels and which made a huge noise, whittled sticks into lethally sharp arrows and shot them from home made bows, made dens in the woods, roamed around the Cleveland Hills until it was too dark to see, pinched fruit from the allotments and wandered home as night fell .
I was usually sent to bed before "Journey into Space" on the wireless but my older sister told me what was going on so I knew all about it. We played cards and dominoes and on Saturday night we would have bread with hot dripping from the Sunday roast, which my mother cooked early because the gas pressure was awful on Sunday mornings.
Oh dear, I've gone all sentimental, sorry. What I really believe is that people lived by the seasons so went to bed much earlier than we do. But in the hours between work and bed, the only difference between then and now is heat, light and the box in the corner of the room. Oh, and this clever little device which I have on my lap, making in possible to watch the aforementioned box at the same time as communicating with people all over the world!
Jen
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Lovely Jen. brings it all back. :)
Did think, as I was looking at the dates in my husband's ancestors' family bible, that certainly in some families reading the Bible together was probably something that happened more regularly in past times.
paulene.
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made babies ;D
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made babies ;D
Toni,
Great minds think alike,as soon as I saw the title of this thread that's what I thought too :P
Carol
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In my own experience (born in the 1950's) the new telly (arrived chez nous 1958) meant an end to "useful" pastimes!
Occasionally, if there was nothing of interest on the goggle box (except Party Political broadcasts :P) the adults might play cards or knit or read a book. We kids would play a board (Bored!) game.
And then there were the evenings when we'd be making rag rugs! I remember there were large frames that were pegged together and put onto trestles and the adults would all sit round hooking rags into the hessian that was stretched across the frame. We kids had the job of cutting fabric up into strips ready to be hooked - I always seemed to get the blunt scissors! Many's the night I went up to bed with pressure marks on my thumb and fingers from where the scissors had cut in :( . The frames stayed up until the work was finished so it might be several days before we could get a clear view of the telly again!
Mind you, it was those nights that we'd hear all the anecdotal stories about the family - I now wish I'd listened a bit more keenly!
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Trouble is - only reason the birth rate has dropped is contraception. Can't think that it's anything to do with anything else!!
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made babies ;D
Toni,
Great minds think alike,as soon as I saw the title of this thread that's what I thought too :P
Carol
lol ;D
i thought they got up with the sun and went to bed with the sun, mind you , you don't need light to make babies!
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As another child of 50's/60's I had similar pastimes. Reading mainly in the winter months snuggled in bed with dads army greatcoat over me and a torch under the covers if it was late. I remember The Famous Five, Secret Seven and the Mallory Towers series most of all.
We also had a dartboard in the kitchen they we spent many happy hours playing Round the Board, 501 or Killer. I remember my mum cheating as her dart was close to double nineteen and she said it was in and pulled her darts out quickly before anyone could prove it wasn't.
We played all sorts of card games and a homemade table skittle game with empty bullet cases as skittles was always a favourite.
Life was much simpler then and a shilling in the leccy wouldn't have lasted long with all the tv's, computers and electronic games we have now.
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made dens in the woods, roamed around the Cleveland Hills until it was too dark to see, pinched fruit from the allotments and wandered home as night fell .
Jen
Were you one of the brave ones that went down 'devil's hole' Jen? :D
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All my family had pianos. None of them had lessons, but seemed to be able to thump out a tune - "vamping", I think it was called.
My 88 year old Mum tells me she went to the pictures at least twice a week.
And they were avid readers - newspapers and books from the public libraries.
The wireless was also very popular.
meles
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1909 - miners from Shropshire going to Canada took with them violin, mandolin, piccolo, banjo, cello. This was just one family.
Lots of people made their own music, with tunes passed down to them over the years. There would also be songs to join in with, so everyone was involved.
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Having just had a little sing song with my family around our piano I started up the computer and found this thread - don't know if the kids will still be up for that when they get a bit bigger mind!
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Great topic. :) I often wonder just what my earlier ancestors' lives were really like, as I try to piece together the details. As for the more recent ones, well, I can't remember my nan ever sitting in an armchair without a pair of knitting needles on the go . . . or 4 double-ended needles if she was knitting socks for my grandad ::)
He would sit by the fire on winter evenings (just 2 lumps of coal) and read the paper, but in the lighter summer evenings he would be out in the garden or in his shed making or mending something.
My dad would usually be marking students' papers in the evenings, being a college lecturer, apart from 2 nights a week when he took evening classes!
Of course, when people had "proper" jobs, they were more than ready for their beds at the end of an exhausting day on the farm, at the mill, in the factory, or down the mine . . . and I shouldn't think they needed any sleeping pills! Leisure time is quite a recent phenomenon, except for the upper classes.
Mike.
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Mum born 1913 one of 15 children had little time for pleasure seems to have spent her time darning socks as a child or kneading bread to be baked overnight for breakfast but nearly all the boys (13 of them) could play a musical instrument even if it was only a mouth organ or jaw harp Grand dad could play anything with strings banjo, guitar even violin. My other Grand father was good at knitting he learned in the army! Well thats what he told me He even made a shawl for each new grand child his wife was the sewer of the family all her daughters did wonderful embroidery Both Grans had pianos even in their tiny houses.
It seems people were very practical in their time not a minute wasted perhaps we should take note Gran's favorite saying was "The devil makes work for idle hands"
Trees
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Were you one of the brave ones that went down 'devil's hole' Jen? :D
Me - brave - no I wasn't! Do you mean where the remains of the old bridge were, up behind Wilton Castle? I remember some of the older kids walking across the girders but I was always a wimp and just stood back in awe. We also had an instinctive fear of the "SS Mine". Can't tell you why but it wasn't only me.
Jen
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As another child of 50's/60's I had similar pastimes. Reading mainly in the winter months snuggled in bed with dads army greatcoat over me and a torch under the covers if it was late. I remember The Famous Five, Secret Seven and the Mallory Towers series most of all.
We also had a dartboard in the kitchen they we spent many happy hours playing Round the Board, 501 or Killer. I remember my mum cheating as her dart was close to double nineteen and she said it was in and pulled her darts out quickly before anyone could prove it wasn't.
We played all sorts of card games and a homemade table skittle game with empty bullet cases as skittles was always a favourite.
Life was much simpler then and a shilling in the leccy wouldn't have lasted long with all the tv's, computers and electronic games we have now.
Reading this brought back memories - I actually remember going to bed early just for the pleasure of snuggling under the covers with a book ("What Katy Did" and "Alice in Wonderland" - never really got into the Famous 5 or Secret 7).
We also had a dart board - amny evenings spent in family "tournaments"!
We lived in a large Georgian/Victorian town house and the previous occupiers favoured large curtain poles which were not to Gran's taste, so they were swiftly removed and provided a bit of extra firewood. They had rather fancy finials at the end so these were sawn off and made very good "skittles" - played down one on the long straight paths in the garden - great fun!
Bonfires! My brother loved having a bonfire at the far end of the garden - usually on a Saturday. He cobbled together a sort of "incinerator" from an old metal dustbin, with a few airholes punched in the side to help combustion. He punched a larger hole in the lid and secured a large tin can on top to act as a chimney.
We also had a piano - Mum used to play before MS took its hold and affected the use of her hands. I spent many hours banging out tunes by ear (and still play now!) but no-one else was at all musical.
I agree with other comments that previous generations made full use of whatever "free" time they had. I wonder what they would make of us nowadays - with all the pursuits at our fingertips, yet we often hear people say they're bored!
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I reintroduced the dartboard to our house a couple of years ago and we often have friends round to test our ( almost non-existent) throwing skills. Makes the walls look as if we suffer from woodworm, which would be very clever in a stone built house and would be no good for any seriously house-proud person but I believe there is more to life than possessing a show home.
Famous Five - loved them, but when we played at being them, I always had to be wimpy Anne because I was the youngest and, as mentioned in an earlier post, a wimp. Similarly, I never got to be Robin Hood or The Lone Ranger and my highly prized black revolver went missing quite mysteriously on one of my ramblings around Eston Nab. I know who I think took it but I don't know if he uses this site so I will keep my opinions to myself. But, if you are out there, you emigrated to Canada in the late fifties and you know who you are!
Jen
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Hi,
Coming from Nottinghamshire we often used to play Robin Hood, riding up and down the 'glen' on the wooden horses (if that's what you call them) on the wreck (park to those who don't know the term). We used to build up quite a speed - they'd never allow it now!
Where has imagination gone!
Wonderful memories - thanks for reminding me, Jen.
Take care,
Paulene :)
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What did people do of an evening?
Considering there are census records of my family with 7,9,12 and in one case 14 children, I think it's pretty obvious what they were doing. :o
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What did people do of an evening?
Considering there are census records of my family with 7,9,12 and in one case 14 children, I think it's pretty obvious what they were doing. :o
People today would have that many children - but we have effective and easily available contraception. I should think it very unlikely that people today have less sex than those of time gone by. Probably the reverse.
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True - but wouldn't you think she might have had the decency to have had a headache just now and again?
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I bought my grandsons a dartboard last year for their twelfth birthday. I thought they were old enough now not to injure one another with the darts.
It goes up on an outside wall during the summer and we have had great fun showing them all the games we used to play. It also served to get them off the X box and out into the fresh air.
My love of reading, nutured at such a young age, has continued and I always have a book on the go. The Harry Potter books were brilliant as they got kids excited about reading again. I wonder what todays kids would make of Famous Five and Secret Seven.
We loved our comics too Dandy, Beano, Eagle, Bunty, June to name but a few. We used to buy them from Jumble sales in bundles of a dozen or so for a couple of pennies. I can still remember the excitement when we got hold of Superman ones.
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Bunty - Mary Cotter, Mary Field - and who were the other two? I wish you hadn't set me thinking of this and just hope someone knows the answer! (Mary Sykes?)
Jen
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I think Mary Simpson was one.
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Oh definitely. But I am not convinced of my Sykes idea. I thought there was one with a longer name. My brain won't dig it out though.
Jen
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Lady Mary Radleigh(thanks to Google) not sur if this will come up as a double post as I thought I had done it once already but its not showing.
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Wikipedia is an amazing thing. Marys Radleigh, Field Simpson and Cotter. Teachers named Miss Gull and Miss Creef which was horribly like Miss Clish who was my real life headmistress in Redcar!
Jen
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Wasn't it Dr. Gull?
I think Mary Field's hair was dark and bobbed, Mary Radleigh was blonde with a quiff, Mary Simpson wore her hair long but clipped back and Mary Cotter had plaits - how sad am I ?!
I used to get Bunty every week - do you remember the cut out dolls and clothes with tabs on the back page?
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You are right, it was Dr Gull.
The dolls on the back were my absolute favourite thing when my sister, who was too old for such things, had finished reading the comic. I also used to have whole books full of cut-out dolls and clothes, as stocking fillers and birthday presents.
Can you imagine it now - " Oh dear, the i-pod you wanted was out of stock so I got you some paper dolls instead". If I ever have grand-daughters, I shall be tempted to try it.
Jen
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Coming from Nottinghamshire we often used to play Robin Hood, riding up and down the 'glen' on the wooden horses (if that's what you call them) on the wreck (park to those who don't know the term). We used to build up quite a speed - they'd never allow it now!
We used to play at the local wreck too.
It has only just this moment occurred to me that it was "rec" - recreation ground! ::)
Mind you, ours was in a bit of a state... :)
meles
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You are right, it was Dr Gull.
The dolls on the back were my absolute favourite thing when my sister, who was too old for such things, had finished reading the comic. I also used to have whole books full of cut-out dolls and clothes, as stocking fillers and birthday presents.
Can you imagine it now - " Oh dear, the i-pod you wanted was out of stock so I got you some paper dolls instead". If I ever have grand-daughters, I shall be tempted to try it.
Jen
I did try this with my daughter when she was about five or six - but she either managed to cut the "tabs" off, or they got torn with over-use!
Ah, memories!
Further to your mention of an i-pod - do you remember there was an offer in the comic about some kind of portable record player (for 45 rpm's!) I think it had a shoulder strap - ooh how I covetted that - but i never got one! :(
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We used to stick those dolls on to a piece of card from a cornflakes box to make them stiffer and then cut them out. No Pritt sticks in those days, we used something called cow gum that had a very strong smell and came in a tin.
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I don't remember that but my best friend had her own transistor radio and I was so jealous. I used to sneak the one we had, from the kitchen, when my parents were watching television on a Sunday night, so that I could listen to the top twenty. My mother was always angry as she was convinced that moving from the Home Service to Radio Luxembourg would cause irreparable damage to the radio.
Before we had the transistor version, we had a bakelite radio, which my mother still has, though not working I think. It was extremely modern and posh compared with the previous wireless which was so big that when it broke forever, we took the insides out and it became one of my many dens!
Jen
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Gloy - it came in a squeezy bottle and replaced that lumpy stuff we mixed up ourselves at school.
Jen
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BUNTY!!! and the Four Marys - my problem was that quite often my mum would nick it before I'd finished it!
In reply to the question, however - yes, the activities must have been very different in towns and the country - and even in different parts of the countryside. The book "A Pocket Guide to the Customs and Traditions of Wales" details a number of things that happened in the evenings in previous centuries in rural Wales. These include the peeling of rushes around harvest time for rush lights (poor families) to use in the winter; knitting nights were begun around the autumn equinox and a woman might produce four pairs of stockings a week (an addition of about 1s to the weekly income). There are also descriptions of various summer and winter social gatherings with seasonal entertainments of traditional story telling, songs, etc.
Regards
KJ
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There are also descriptions of various summer and winter social gatherings with seasonal entertainments of traditional story telling, songs, etc.
Regards
KJ
They'd be glad to know, then, that some of us keep that tradition alive.
Jen
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My family practically lived in the pub but I do know of a game that they used to play at Christmas which involved two people holding up a sheet, another person holding a torch who would move the torch around behind the sheet while yet another person followed the torch with their nose but when the torch reached the top of the sheet someone would hit them over the head with a newspaper. ;D
My great great uncle Felix also used to fit very large things in his mouth.
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My great great uncle Felix also used to fit very large things in his mouth.
I'm really not sure I want to know that, thank you!
KJ
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My great great uncle Felix also used to fit very large things in his mouth.
I'm really not sure I want to know that, thank you!
KJ
;D He got a torch in there once and it got stuck.
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KJ - my thoughts exactly but I hadn't quite the nerve to say so!
Jen