RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: SwissGill on Saturday 19 October 13 14:19 BST (UK)
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Hi,
I'll start it off:
I had an 8-year older brother - need I say more?
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:)
Being shunted around living with my gran, aunt etc. Attending 7 junior schools. Enduring my cousins' tormenting and missing my dad. My mum was in and out of mental health institutions.
???
But, I survived. :D
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When I was a young girl, my friend and I would be taken to various house parties by our parents and promptly put to bed in the host's bedroom. As more guests arrived the bedroom door would open and another couple of coats were thrown on the bed, as the evening wore on we were buried under a huge mound of coats. Of course we later had to endure the finding of the right coat by the many tiddly revellers going home. We still jokingly accuse them of being unfit parents ;D
Jool
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Doses of "castor oil". :P :P :P :P
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Must have been difficult though, susan but I'm glad you survived.
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When I was a young girl, my friend and I would be taken to various house parties by our parents and promptly put to bed in the host's bedroom. As more guests arrived the bedroom door would open and another couple of coats were thrown on the bed, as the evening wore on we were buried under a huge mound of coats. Of course we later had to endure the finding of the right coat by the many tiddly revellers going home. We still jokingly accuse them of being unfit parents ;D
Jool
I think this is still done?
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Doses of "castor oil". :P :P :P :P
I think I had cod liver oil pushed down my throat.
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Having to wear two pairs of knickers when it was cold - not even Winter - when staying at Mum's older sister.
As a child I rebelled at a lot of things that I thought were unfair.
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That brings back the memory of woolen underwear over cotton underwear during winter months.
Regards
Malky
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When I was a young girl, my friend and I would be taken to various house parties by our parents and promptly put to bed in the host's bedroom. As more guests arrived the bedroom door would open and another couple of coats were thrown on the bed, as the evening wore on we were buried under a huge mound of coats. Of course we later had to endure the finding of the right coat by the many tiddly revellers going home. We still jokingly accuse them of being unfit parents ;D
Jool
I think this is still done?
But these days I'm one of the tiddly coat finders ;D
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Always being cold in the winter - I used to stand in front of the fire so no-one else could get the benefit of it. I'm still the same now, the cold seems to get right through to my bones - and I mean anything less than about 50oF (10oC). I think the stork dropped me off in the wrong country. ::)
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I guess I would be too!!
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I hated broad beans and at school dinners told the servers so. No reaction, so I moved on in the queue and the broad beans fell on the floor.
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Always being cold in the winter - I used to stand in front of the fire so no-one else could get the benefit of it. I'm still the same now, the cold seems to get right through to my bones - and I mean anything less than about 50oF (10oC). I think the stork dropped me off in the wrong country. ::)
I used to put my school uniform on the bed at night to keep it warm. I remember Jack Frost on the window panes.
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Having to do the ironing when I came home from school, can still remember the smell of fat coming from my brothers butchers aprons while ironing them
STILL HATE IRONING ;D
Mo
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I hate ironing too.
However, a lot of my ancestors were Pork Butchers but I didn't have to iron their aprons.
Years later, in Switzerland, my husband was a member of the Confrerie de la Marmite and now has his own Cookery Club in the village Restaurant so since the start in 1978, and now new in the village, I have the honoured duty of ironing the chef blouse and the apron.
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I hated bringing home my school reports. It was always "could do better" but is lazy.
I taught myself to read at 4 years, no big deal. I was a bright kid when I left the little private school in Sale run by the two Churchill sisters but then, after being moved up a class, at the boarding sc hooI in Bowdon, was the youngest and the big headest of the lot and from then on languagues were still good but maths was appalling. One of the teachers said that it was all right to talk but to talk so that the whole class listened, was not good??
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Being cold.
Hard to believe that we had frost on the inside of the windows back then but we did. As for the worst, I've so many, having spent my early years in a children's home where being kind to kids was not something the house master and matron as they were called back in the 50's had little time for. We slept in dormitories, and one night because a couple of lads were talking we were all hauled from our warm beds and trooped down to the wash room and made to mop the floors. Not sure what on time of the night or morning it was but I must have been about six or seven years old but blimey, it was freezing sneezing.
And one more for the record, being beaten. Outside in the yard one sunny Sunday morning singing my head off alongside my brother only to be dragged into the masters study and caned hard across our legs "because of singing outside of church on the Lord's day". What was all that about? Well the housemaster at the time was a 'Reverend' Hall, or "the mad vicar" as we boys used to call him and one whose dog collar used to stick out from around his neck. A nasty despicable creature of a man to be thrashing two little kids like that.
Pictured below: I'm the little squirt in front. Winstanley House Knutsford c1955 and now the site of an old peoples home of the same name. Just hope they are better treated!
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Doses of "castor oil". :P :P :P :P
I think I had cod liver oil pushed down my throat.
Having to eat tripe when funds were low!
Keyboard86
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being bullied a lot at primary school and never telling my parents as i didnt know how to............
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Doses of "castor oil". :P :P :P :P
I think I had cod liver oil pushed down my throat.
Having to eat tripe when funds were low!
Keyboard86
We used to be given malt extract on what seemed to be a huge spoon!
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I hated bringing home my school reports. It was always "could do better" but is lazy.
I taught myself to read at 4 years, no big deal. I was a bright kid when I left the little private school in Sale run by the two Churchill sisters but then, after being moved up a class, at the boarding sc hooI in Bowdon, was the youngest and the big headest of the lot and from then on languagues were still good but maths was appalling. One of the teachers said that it was all right to talk but to talk so that the whole class listened, was not good??
I well recall coming back with my school report in the late 50's feeling rather smug as one teachers had written "seems rather vague at time" - which I thought meant 'artistic'. A clip round the ear soon told me it wasn't :D
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My Mum used to eat tripe soaked in vinegar :o
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We used to be given malt extract and what seemed to be a huge spoon!
Still take that to this day. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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I think I had that too, for what is it good?
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We used to be given malt extract and what seemed to be a huge spoon!
Still take that to this day. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Ah yes, forgot to add - it was actually nice. Doh! :D
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being bullied a lot at primary school and never telling my parents as i didnt know how to............
I hope you had more success in the next school.
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My Mum used to eat tripe soaked in vinegar :o
Ghastly, swear that is one of the reasons I turned vegetarian many years ago, still miss Bread and dripping though!!
Keyboard86
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My Mum used to eat tripe soaked in vinegar :o
Ghastly, swear that is one of the reasons I turned vegetarian many years ago, still miss Bread and dripping though!!
Keyboard86
Ah! Mum never gave us this but my Aunt with whom I stayed with on and off used to give me this and sprinkle it with salt.
If I could just have a slice of bread and dripping, I'd swoon.l
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I think my brother's worst memories were telling my Mum that all the boys had long trousers. OK, Mum acquiesced but come the school photograph - guess how many were wearing long trousers'
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Did anyone have to eat powdered egg?
I was born 1942 and loved it so much that I was very wary of real eggs.
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being bullied a lot at primary school and never telling my parents as i didnt know how to............
I remembr sticking up for a little boy about my age (5)whose mother had died and I could not imagine anyone wanting to bully anyone at all but when their mum had just died----so I defended him against two big boys of 12 or so. Of course they transferred their attention to me .Hitting my legs with nettles and thorny brambles cut from the hedge. I remember crying all the way home. I was evacuated and so not with my parents. The people I lived with were nice kind people and tried to get the school staff to do something but sadly all evacuees were considered by the said staff to be slum children and troublesome.
Nothing was done.
Since when I have hated bullying , never mind if it is I who am the victim or not. Children have only one childhood and no-one should blight it in any way. I always got myself in trouble by championing the victim and I hated seeing children becoming sad and withdrawn. It really worried me as a child and it was and is beyond my comprehension how someone could do that to another.
As a previous rootsChatter said, I hope you were happier at your next school. Viktoria.
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yes i went to a grammar school where everyone was nice and the bullies went to other schools -
i was clever and gradually gained the confidence - surprisingly enough i am now seeing the same thing happening to my daughter and although she has been able to tell me about it - unfortunalty the bullies are still bullying but the schools are a liitte slightly better at handing things
- still does anyone recall the books - janet and john reading books and little black sambo and cat in the hat ect?
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Glad to hear that andreajjj.
Yes the Janet and John books were still in use at one school where I worked in Reception class then they were replaced by some lovely ones, more up to date . The characters were Ben the dog, Meg the hen, Deb the rat , Jip the cat and Fat pig.
They were were so funny. Ben washing up with boots on back to front -hilarious and rather like Giles cartoons the small details made the children laugh.
I hated going to the "privy" ie the toilet right at the end of the garden on dark winter nights without a light---- the spiders there could have pulled a brewery cart! but blackout conditions meant we could not have a light as we were on a flight path near a big airfield. I was so afraid it is a wonder I got there in time! Viktoria.
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I would like to join your thread SwissGill unfortunately my childhood was horrific and not suitable reading for here. Good thread and will continue to read. sue
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Malt and Cod Liver Oil. Still makes me feel sick just thinking about it.
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I loved being an RAF kid because it was brilliant living on RAF camps and being looked after and feeling safe. But of course that also meant that we moved about a lot - I changed schools about ten times between the ages of 5 and 11. I didn't mind that too much but what I did find dreadful was, when starting at new schools, children saying to me "I'm not allowed to play with you because you are RAF so you're rough." I accepted it at the time, since I suppose we were a bit nomadic, never knowing how long we were going to stay in any one place. But in retrospect, it makes me furious that our fathers were risking their lives to defend the country, and we spent many a long month with fathers absent on detachment or posted to places where families weren't allowed. And to be treated like that was outrageous, particularly when a number of friends' fathers never came back. I am so glad that now, at least, servicemen and their families do receive the respect they deserve.
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Being compared to my sister by the geography teacher. I was pretty useless at exams - sister wasn't. I was shown up in front of my peers several times for my exam results, in comparison to my sister. Years later, I realise that my "learning style" was totally different but that is modern training description. Have to say after all that, my knowledge of both history and geography improved years after I left school, and I was able to travel and enjoy the places!
Sad thing is - that teacher could have branded me for life, I only remember the bad side ( and her name!!) - did she ever commend me? Not in my recollection!! It wouldn't be allowed these days - you can't fail an exam.
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Good evening,
I only disliked one thing, going to bed. I suffered with really bad nightmares for some years as a young child. Mum would often recall the no of times she used to come in and chase out all the wild animals and then sit with me till I dropped off.
Malt extract! still love it to this day. It's called marmite on toast. I started with toast soldiers with marmite rather than a rusk as a baby, very thinly spread I would think. We had it every day nearly when we came in from school with a glass of milk straight from the farm that morning. Nowadays I like it on hot crumpets with a cup of tea.
John915
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Hi,being a "Twin", love my twin brother to bits but was always compared to him at school, he was always brighter than me and I was always in his shadow :(.
We were always "Paired up" for various things, singing, drama class etc,.....................................
He wasn't better than me at "Boxing" tho' when we were paired up for that. ;D ;D ;D
Frank.
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My feet so very cold I would cry or even scream with pain, when we had been out somewhere. Consequent chilblains.
Little plastercine bowls I made when I had rheumatic fever. When filled with water and left on my bedroom windowsill, inside, they were filled with ice in the mornings....winter 1947.
Dried bananas. Yuk.
Sandra
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Being wrongly accused by my art teacher of having had help with my homework and told to do it again. Then being wrongly accused again of having had help after I'd done it again. Have never forgotten it. :(
Oh, and having bronchitis every winter.
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Oh, and having bronchitis every winter.
That brings it back :( ..................................................... Did anyone ever sit in front of one of those heat lamp type things and wear dark glasses with other kids who used to get bronchitis? :-[
Frank.
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Hi,
The one thing that coloured my childhood was the bullying at school. At both middle & upper schools (I was born in 1970).
I had pretty much everything that you could be bullied for. I was skinny (not a muscle in sight!), short, wore glasses (still do!), had big front teeth (Goofy was one of the favoured names I was called) & I had a very bad stammer (you wouldn't know it now though, if you spoke to me!)
Telling the teachers was mostly a complete waste of time, one or two at both schools tried to help, but most didn't, despite my late mother's complaints to them about the bullying.
I had speech therapy lessons between the ages of about 7 or 8 and 13. After I left school I attended what was called the YTS (Youth Training Scheme) which thankfully brought me out of my shell as I was horribly shy & had little or no confidence, nothing like I am now. Consequently I absolutely detest bullying!
On a happier note, Malt extract! I recall being given this as a child both on a spoon & I recall my late mother saying on a dummy occasionally. Probably to shut me up & give her some peace & quiet! ;D ;D Still love the stuff although haven't had it for while though, Marmite is also a favourite!
Kind regards
David
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Being wrongly accused by my art teacher of having had help with my homework and told to do it again. Then being wrongly accused again of having had help after I'd done it again. Have never forgotten it. :(
Oh, and having bronchitis every winter.
I can relate to that one Roobarb.
Mr Sutherland his name was, and he accused me in front of the class of not having sketched a picture of an adjustable spanner (of all things) freehand - he said I must have used a ruler. Was I bloody annoyed with him!
Another "front of the class" episode took place shortly after leaving the children's home I was in up north and starting a new school in south London. I must have been around eleven years old. In turn, each kid had to stand up in class and read from a book, and as you can imagine my then broad Cheshire accent caused no end of sniggers, especially with words such as 'but' and 'butter' which came out as 'boot' and 'booter'. "What's that Thompson?" the teacher kept asking, making me repeat it several times and much to his own amusement truth be told. Makes my toes curl to recall it even now almost 60 years later. Newspaper I would pronounce 'pay purr' and the other kids would pronounce it 'piper' - which to me sounded just plain daft!
And David, I nearly fell into that bullying malarky as well. As said, coming from a children's home up north along with my 'funny accent' I was a prime target in the school playground, but because of my background, I knew pretty much how to look after myself even against kids twice my size. Yes I was skinny, but unlike boys of the day who would fight by punching each other on the arms and in chest, I would give em' a smack on the nose. I was quickly left alone.
Reminds me somewhat of an ex battery hen we rescued a couple of weeks ago. Put her in the run with the rest of em' and they immediately started having a peck at her. With no nonsense, she stabbed back even harder and was quickly left alone as well!
Happy days? Bloody prison sentence more like.
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Drinking milk. War time and food was scarce but there was plenty of rich creamy milk from the dairy farm next door. I was seen as a sickly kid, lots of vomiting and diarrhoea mostly at embarrassing times & places. Milk was so good for you. I would drink a glass to please my G'ma and then later hide up behind the chook house as my stomach grumbled, bloated, became nauseated then the relief after a good projectile spew. My Dad, a kindly teacher, made arrangements with the local milk company for every school kid to have a drink of milk. (This was way before govt school milk was introduced). Milk , milk, everywhere!!
As a teenager, having a milkshake with the boys was fraught with danger. Once I ended up in the gutter but not for the reasons my mother feared. I then stuck to the uncool lemonade.
Years later when I was all growed up, I was diagnosed with dairy allergy, as was one of my kids and one of my grandkids. Ah the good old days. Gazania
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Trigonometry, Algebra
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Trigonometry, Algebra
Y'know it's strange, although I never could add up for toffee (whatever that means), those two subjects I found easy enough. :-\
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Plucking chickens on a Saturday morning with my sister. Had just one each to do but hated it so much. Found the cleaning out process very interesting though, which my mother used to do. She named all the parts/organs and told us their functions as best she could. It didnt put me off roast stuffed chicken for Sunday dinner either! :P
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A geography teacher by the name of Mrs Howard. She insisted that all essays were in a certain format. i.e. Underline heading (in red), underline date (in red), rule off (in blue/black), one inch margin.
For the life of me I couldn't do it. It was so simple but my mind refused. Maybe I was just being awkward ???
When homework was handed back there would be the inevitable 'SEE ME' written under the above instructions in HUGE letters. Then I stood at the front of the class and was screamed at because I hadn't done it, AGAIN. As I was a very timid child it was hell but there was such a simple solution which I just couldn't/wouldn't do.
Years later I heard she was sacked as a teacher as she went mad. Maybe I contributed :)
Rishile
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A geography teacher by the name of Mrs Howard. She insisted that all essays were in a certain format. i.e. Underline heading (in red), underline date (in red), rule off (in blue/black), one inch margin.
For the life of me I couldn't do it. It was so simple but my mind refused. Maybe I was just being awkward ???
When homework was handed back there would be the inevitable 'SEE ME' written under the above instructions in HUGE letters. Then I stood at the front of the class and was screamed at because I hadn't done it, AGAIN. As I was a very timid child it was hell but there was such a simple solution which I just couldn't/wouldn't do.
Years later I heard she was sacked as a teacher as she went mad. Maybe I contributed :)
Rishile
Oh I hope so!
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My first day at school aged 4, many many decades ago. For some reason I was under the impression that mothers stayed too, obviously no-one had explained to me what would actually happen. I can still see the shape of my mum through the frosted glass in the door as she disappeared through it. I was absolutely horrified and I felt abandoned. I remember being inconsolable for the whole day.
Maggie
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Chilblains! All over my toes every winter. Still, some of the boys had chilblains on their knees as well because of short school trousers. I remember hearing a news item on the radio about a child whose mother had bandaged her toe because of chilblains. She did it too tightly, and when she eventually unwrapped the bandage the child's toe fell off! Gave me nightmares for years!
Also scratchy/itchy woollen clothes. I haven't worn wool for years, it brings me out in an itchy rash.
Anne
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Tonsillitis. I seemed to get it every few months until I had my tonsils out, and it hurt.
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Being an only child.
My parents were older than those of my contemporaries. They were very old fashioned.I wish there had been 2 of us, it would have taken some of the heat off me!
I was force fed cod liver oil on the same silver, unwashed, spoon every day. ???
I hated the third of a pint of milk we had in the summer. It was disgusting. I can't drink hot/warm milk to this day!
Also, at grammar school, I had a maths teacher called Miss Louisa. I had always done well at arithmetic, but algebra had me flummoxed. She did not explain it to me properly.When it came to test results she informed us that usually she started at the top, but on this occasion she wanted to start at the bottom. Guess who was at the bottom? :o She was positively gleeful. Scarred me for life!
Kooky
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When I look at family photographs of my childhood - I seem to be always smiling or laughing or even playing the fool..
I can't think why, cos on reflection it was pretty awful. Mother too 'in love' with new boyfriend to want my sister and I hanging around. So we were given to an Aunt and Uncle - whilst she sorted herself out. However the wonderful time spent with that special couple must be the reason for the smiles.
So Nurture or Nature - uhm
I loved Malt (but not Virol) Marmite yummy. Condensed milk out of the tin fantastic.
I wasn't good at school I hated it so much - that at lunch times I would tip up the salt pot and swallow as much as I could to make myself sick and then I was sent home!!!! I told my Aunt this years later and she was so sad for me.
One particular teacher had it in for me (theres always one) MRS BURGIN shout it from the roof tops - I have never and will never forgive her. My Pops was away at Sea (in the Navy) but one day he was waiting at the school gate for my sister and I... so wonderful to see him and so unexpected a very happy day. He went in to school and sorted her out. She was never mean to me again. :)
Yet he was such a gentle man. How he did it I dont know.
xin
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I think malt extract is different from Marmite, which is yeast extract. Both delicious anyway! I still love marmite on toast, and would like to have malt extract again now - lovely sweet sticky stuff! Cod liver oil wasn't so good, though! Someone mentioned condensed milk, too, wonderful stuff, I used to eat it from the tin, and also spread on bread.
Didn't enjoy the cold of those days, again as mentioned before it was awful having ice on the inside of windows!
Glad I didn't suffer bullying like some posters, I remember my childhood as happy, despite the war and the shortages etc afterwards.
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Spinach >:( >:(
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The War, of course and Poverty.
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Bullying.
For being "Welsh", when I was moved to an English school between the ages of 7 -13
For being "English", when we moved back to Wales when I was 13...
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Bullying.
For being "Welsh", when I was moved to an English school between the ages of 7 -13
For being "English", when we moved back to Wales when I was 13...
As an Englishman I cannot believe we would bully the Welsh..................... Much ;D ;D
Frank ;)
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Hi,
The smell of liver & bacon cooking at home & kippers, still makes me feel sick now.
Sharon
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(Someone mentioned condensed milk, too, wonderful stuff, I used to eat it from the tin, and also spread on bread.)
Could never get enough of it on bread, it used to drip off and run down my arms ;D
Mo
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Being made to sit at the dinner table until I had eaten every mouthful of steak and kidney stew. Kidney still, to this day, makes me want to vomit!
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Being wrongly accused by my art teacher of having had help with my homework and told to do it again. Then being wrongly accused again of having had help after I'd done it again. Have never forgotten it. :(
Oh, and having bronchitis every winter.
I can relate to that one Roobarb.
Mr Sutherland his name was, and he accused me in front of the class of not having sketched a picture of an adjustable spanner (of all things) freehand - he said I must have used a ruler. Was I bloody annoyed with him!
I'm happy to join in the name and shame! ;)
My tormentor was Mrs. Walters, I really hope she reads this and feels the guilt she so thoroughly deserves. At the time my mother wanted to go to the school and make a complaint, I talked her out of it because I was very timid and was frightened of the repercussions. I've regretted it ever since and when I once mentioned it to my (late) mother she said she regretted it too.
I also had another art teacher Mrs Peacock who accused me of copying an idea for a picture from my friend when in actual fact she had copied from me! But of course she didn't speak up and put the teacher right.
You'd think these experiences would have put me off art forever but it's quite the contrary, although I must admit I avoided painting figures for years - they were the subject for both the homework and the 'copied' painting.
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oh, and those itchy liberty bodices.... my dad used to have to stretch my vests. Hated them too tight. Also the dose of malt I got if i arrived too early for my friend for our walk to school!
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Bullying.
For being "Welsh", when I was moved to an English school between the ages of 7 -13
For being "English", when we moved back to Wales when I was 13...
My nephew was bullied in a Welsh school for being French, not helped by having the surname Pouffier.
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Bullying.
For being "Welsh", when I was moved to an English school between the ages of 7 -13
For being "English", when we moved back to Wales when I was 13...
My nephew was bullied in a Welsh school for being French, not helped by having the surname Pouffier.
So dry. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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As a left hander...being made to sew right handed and eat my dinner right handed too...My mum went to the school one day at lunch time and walked up to the teacher and swapped her cutlery round and said "Try eating with your cutlery like that"...the teacher told her she couldn't as she was right handed and it didn't feel natural....My Mother said...."That's what it feels like for my Daughter when you make her eat right handed" and she walked out. I was left alone after that.
As for the needlework lessons....I refused to sew at all in the end and was put on the ready cut rug that was being made for the staff room and loved it ;D
Oh yes...and hand-me-downs from my older Sister ::) ;D ;D
Carol
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Bullying.
For being "Welsh", when I was moved to an English school between the ages of 7 -13
For being "English", when we moved back to Wales when I was 13...
My nephew was bullied in a Welsh school for being French, not helped by having the surname Pouffier.
So dry. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
I did ask my brother in law what our version of 'Pouf' (for a flamboyant homosexual) meant in France and he told me "Tart", so I dunno. Either way, the poor kid suffered quite a bit :-\
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Malt extract and cod liver oil I remember but also scotts emulsion! Also remember the janet and john books.
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Having to give my baby (half) brother his bottle in the night.
I was still at school and not sure how old he was, but certainly young enough to have me up in the middle of the night and down in the cold kitchen mixing his baby powder up. For reasons of her own sleep probably, my mother had him in my room along with another brother and as I was the eldest, muggins here had to do the honours. Still grates on me after all these years later.
Once made, I would balance his bottle on one side, stick it in his mouth, and crawl back into my half warm bed hoping for a little more sleep before school. Ironically, he is now a teacher!
Were these the good old days?
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(a)Having to wear my sisters outgrown raincoat to school- buttons on the wrong side, and her name still in it!(b) Being in an isolation hospital where my parents could only stand outside and try to talk to me through the closed windows- I was only six at the time, and when I was eventually discharged my favourite teddy bear had to be left behind because of the possibility of spreading the illness (scarlet fever)(c) naming and shaming?our teacher in junior school who sexually assaulted most of us lads and was sent to prison. Did we receive, or expect, any sort of compensation or counselling for this in the 50,s- no- just got on with life
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Oh! what wonderful reading it makes - still have to go through the last 2-3 pages. Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Alienlady, I'm very sorry but I understand.
Treetotal, I would have loved to have watched your mother chastise the teacher ;D
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I got into some sticky situations such as riding "no-hands" on the busy main road. When I got home, my mum told me to put my bike in the garage and it would stay there for two weeks ???
I had only ridden past her but didn't realise!
I was also punished for some deed during the lunch break at school - the teacher singled out some of my friends and then looked at me and said she was sure I was the ring leader. I decided to own up although innocent, because I had taken a bicycle and had a little ride around the village which was forbidden and probably far worse.
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Being nice. :-X
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I hated broad beans and at school dinners told the servers so. No reaction, so I moved on in the queue and the broad beans fell on the floor.
I had a similar experience with mashed potato! The dinner lady blobbled a blob on my plate from one of those icecream scoop things, and then went to give me a second blob. I said 'No thank you' but she insisted, so I just moved on, with my plate. Somehow it was me that got into told off. Always remember it.
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Some lovely stories on here, and some sad ones. I feel for those who were bullied at school, not because I was, but because our older daughter was, very subtly. It was heartbreaking, and took years to work out who was responsible.
Despite my younger sister telling me via email recently (we haven't communicated in years) that she remembers Mum hitting us with a cane, I have no memory of that at all, and I remember a very happy childhood. I've realised over the years that, after babyhood, Mum wasn't particularly affectionate, but I never felt I wasn't loved. I know now that Mum had a very unhappy late childhood/teens with her step-father, so I guess it wasn't all that surprising that she didn't find it easy to show her love. She's made up for it in the last couple of years since she came to live near us, though.
I can remember frost on the windows, but can't remember being cold. I do remember the paraffin stove, though, and how the flame would flare if there was a draught. It took me many years to get over the fear of fire, especially as Mum told me I was being 'silly'. I hated being made to drink lukewarm, slightly sour milk at school in the summer. 40+ years later, the smell of milk over a day old still makes me heave. Also being made to eat stew for school dinners. Mum knew I hated it, as did Dad, so she always cooked something else for us but, at school, I was expected to eat it. To this day, I can't eat any food that's been 'cooked to death', and that includes most soups.
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Bearsome,
I haven't had childen but I think that having a child of one's own bullied must be worse than being bullied oneself.
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One thing that has come back to me with this thread is the dreadful thought of War.
I was born in September 1942 and as soon as I was old enough, I used to pray that there would never be another war.
I also had my mother's sister's husband, Uncle Harry, to deal with. He didn't like small children.
When I said my prayers at night, I apparently said "God bless Mum, Dad, Chris, etc. and then "and if you feel like including Uncle Harry, please do so".
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Bearsome,
I haven't had childen but I think that having a child of one's own bullied must be worse than being bullied oneself.
Bless you, yes, it was really tough. It took years for her to shake it off completely, and it wasn't until she moved away from the family home for a job, completely out of that area, that she started making friends, and got back her self-confidence. As it was, we've always been a very close and affectionate family, so at least she had that to keep her going.
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The bogeyman.
The headmaster's cane.
Three tons of blankets on top of you at night.
Waking up to a burst hot water bottle.
:)
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Gazing at Tuesday' night's dinner...cold meat and bubble and squeak and being urged to eat it all up. Chewing away until the grisely meat was dry as cardboard and being persuaded to finally swallow it as a "sparrow could eat that even when it had had enough". It was done out of love I suppose but it was pergatory sandra
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little black sambo and cat in the hat ect?
I saw Little Black Sambo for sale a few years ago, so bought it. My younger grandchildren love it, although when I read it I do tend to say Daddy, Mummy and Little Sam. They love the tigers going round and round and making ghee the best - oh and the little purple shoes with turned up toes. ::)
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And back to always feeling cold, the worst thing was coming home from school and having to go out the bring in the washing, which was frozen on the line. Guess who has a tumble dryer now ???
The other thing was washing my dad's car inside and out, and polishing it, no matter how cold the weather and if my brother and I hadn't done it to dad's satisfaction we had to do it again. Guess who has never washed a car since and couldn't understand when my boys volunteered to wash my car ???
By the way, I love tripe with vinegar, tripe and onions and marmite. We used to have sulphur and black treacle (known as brimstone and treacle), which took away the horrible taste of cod liver oil.
My very worst thing though, even worse than being cold, was having to eat cow heel or pigs trotters.
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I can recall being made to eat spinach, which I totally refused to do so, although I did put a load of mustard on it which then made it totally inedible. I was made to stay at the table for what seemed like hours until I had eaten it. I never did of course and was then sent straight to bed.
I have tried since to recognise that children like adults will dislike certain foods, the trouble is of course we assume they are just being awkward when sometimes they are not. My eldest daughter hated fish and still avoids it and was the same with any hot drink and even now she will not have them. Strange I know as was my other daughter with baked beans of all things and my son with peas.
As well as Spinach, I also hated the bitter taste of Brussels sprout. And celery sticks, Yuk.
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Mrs. Jones! I was five,just,my first day at school ,either my actual birthday or the day after. The kind lady I lived with as an evacuee told her I could already read and write.
This seemed like a red rag to a bull. I was kept in at the first playtime" to see just what you can do ". I was given a piece of paper, an ink pad and some animal stamps, a pencil.
I was told to press the stamps on the ink pad and then onto the paper then copy EXACTLYwhat was written underneath. She left me whilst she got her coffee.
The first stamp was a pig, but the word underneath was with a printer`s g. I knew you did not write them like that BUT Mrs. Jones had said I`d to copy exactly what was written on the stamp .
So I did. When she returned she looked at what I had done and smacked me really hard--"That`s not how you do a g". I was just five, away from home and family and it was my first day at school.
I burned with the injustice of it and felt she had sort of set a trap for me. As a result I naturally loathed injustice and there is a lot in childhood very often. I loathe it still.
I did not like Mrs. Jones! Viktoria.
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Lots of Jones's here in Wales so we'll not expect you for a holiday any time soon then!
We had several of them in our school in England when I was a kid, also lots running dairy's and girls as nanny's for some reason.
Something in the water perhaps ;D
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My 'worst things' pale into insignificance compared to some on here. But it seems the old saying is true - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
I was a very picky eater when I was a child but my mother made me eat everything. Thank goodness she did, there's isn't much I won't eat now, although I'm still not keen on dark green cabbage or butter beans. I love broad beans though!
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Swede and liver still make me gag....and kippers...I got a bone stuck in my throat for two hours when I was home alone...when mum got in she gave me a piece of toast and a withering look and it was gone. ;D
Carol
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Big sisters
A dose of Malt each night
Jelly tongue
Mean teacher
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As a youngster I used to love tongue, and black pudding until I was told what they were. Should have realised with tongue I suppose, but black pudding? Tripe was another one I tried, never liked and never would have even if I'd known what is was. Yuk.
Being made to eat fat was another one and again, never would and never have.
As an aside, I was asked to dinner once at the home of an Irish girlfriend of mine.... and I love the Irish to bits, honest (well, some of them) but was presented with a plate of thick ham with loads of fat on it, boiled potatoes with skins on, and a huge (and I mean huge) pile of white cabbage. Deep breath so not to disappoint the new girlfriend and started to have a poke around when all of a sudden her mother leaned over my shoulder and dolloped white sauce with parsley all over whole lot! I was mortified as white parsley sauce has to be my top number one pet hate. Arghhh.
Fish n chips, can't go wrong :D
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My 'worst things' pale into insignificance compared to some on here. But it seems the old saying is true - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
I was a very picky eater when I was a child but my mother made me eat everything. Thank goodness she did, there's isn't much I won't eat now, although I'm still not keen on dark green cabbage or butter beans. I love broad beans though!
Our younger daughter was a very picky eater as a child, and eventually became a vegetarian when she was 14. It was nothing to do with animal issues, but because she just couldn't stand the texture of meat. And the smell of fish makes her feel really 'ill' - bit of a problem for someone who works in the pub/hotel trade. Don't think I ever 'forced' my children to eat anything, but we weren't pushed by rationing etc.
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Hi all,
lots of these things resonate here, but my new one to add is
the taste of penicillin on jam
but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be still here today without that.
It only came in adult doses, so my Mum had to split the capsules and measure it out for me. She made lovely jam, but it didn't hide the taste and texture of the dry powder.
Also familiar with:
- the "your sister can write neatly, so why can't you?" - I now know that it's called dyspraxia
- relating to this, only once ever having my artwork on the wall in one particular class, as it was always "too messy". The once was "draw a picture of your father". the teacher knew my father and decided it was recognisable (but still too messy)
- being forced to eat stewed grated carrot - and then being caned for throwing up and putting the other children off their dinner
- all sorts of cheap cuts, some of which I couldn't stand then (sheep's brains?) and some that I didn't like once that I knew what they were.
- and quite a few more.
But on the subject of cod-liver oil and malt, which I used to love, did you know that it also came in an extra special version, only obtainable on prescription from the child clinics, with added iron? I loved that even more, I think that it was called Maltaline.
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And what's wrong with tripe :P
I was brought up on tripe and onions, oxtail, and shin beef with a cowheel in it, also black pudding-hot from Bury Market.
However one memory I have about food is not a good one. I ALWAYS had to clear my plate.We had just had a full roast dinner, extra yorkshire pud, roast and boiled potatoes , vegetables etc etc. Then there was rice pudding. I just could not finish it. I was full. I was told that the rice pudding would be served each meal until I ate it. Cold rice pud is not the best breakfast. Two days later I managed to slip it under the table for the dog.
Kooky
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And what's wrong with tripe :P
I was brought up on tripe and onions, oxtail, and shin beef with a cowheel in it, also black pudding-hot from Bury Market.
However one memory I have about food is not a good one. I ALWAYS had to clear my plate.We had just had a full roast dinner, extra yorkshire pud, roast and boiled potatoes , vegetables etc etc. Then there was rice pudding. I just could not finish it. I was full. I was told that the rice pudding would be served each meal until I ate it. Cold rice pud is not the best breakfast. Two days later I managed to slip it under the table for the dog.
Kooky
;D Look, I could put up with ( and enjoyed) Hearts, Liver and Kidney, but a couple of days in the week of tripe in any variation of accessories still leaves me " gagging" glad I'm a veggie!!
Keyboard86
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On a fishing trip to Ireland a while back I was presented with what I was told was a "traditional delicacy", deep fried pigs trotters! I drank the Guinness and left the trotters!
I guess it came down from when the peasants - excuse the term, had the feet, nose and brain of the pigs whilst the landlords (probably English shamed to say) had the best bits but how that got turned around to being a "must have" pub grub had me baffled truth be told.
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Bullying in primary school. My parents and I had moved to a new area and I had to start attending primary school knowing no-one. I still remember the loneliness to this day and I'm now fifty. It was considered really modern to group us on tables rather than seating us in rows like yesteryear. But I found to my horror that my worst bullies were seated with me on the same table. I finally plucked up courage to tell the teacher that I wanted to move to another table a week before term ended and moving to senior school. Oh the humiliation, when she pointed out that I had left it too late!
As for food, I don't remember anything exotic like spinach, just boring meat and two veg type of meals, until the Vesta Curry. Remember those???? Then all of sudden chicken curry was served at home, but with chips not rice. Rice for some reason was considered inferior and foreign.
Later, when I moved out of my parents house at eighteen, I remember the embarrassment of having to admit to the rather trendy set I was mixing with, that I'd never had a take-away. Stunned amazement was the response. I duly ordered sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice and I've been hooked to this day.
Lol.
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Bullying in primary school. My parents and I had moved to a new area and I had to start attending primary school knowing no-one. I still remember the loneliness to this day and I'm now fifty. It was considered really modern to group us on tables rather than seating us in rows like yesteryear. But I found to my horror that my worst bullies were seated with me on the same table. I finally plucked up courage to tell the teacher that I wanted to move to another table a week before term ended and moving to senior school. Oh the humiliation, when she pointed out that I had left it too late!
As for food, I don't remember anything exotic like spinach, just boring meat and two veg type of meals, until the Vesta Curry. Remember those???? Then all of sudden chicken curry was served at home, but with chips not rice. Rice for some reason was considered inferior and foreign.
Later, when I moved out of my parents house at eighteen, I remember the embarrassment of having to admit to the rather trendy set I was mixing with, that I'd never had a take-away. Stunned amazement was the response. I duly ordered sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice and I've been hooked to this day.
Lol.
Ah yes, Vesta Curry... with those raisins! My first ever pancake roll Oxford c1970.... 2/- and like yourself, been hooked ever since :D
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Good evening,
I must be the odd one out.... again and apart from the nightmares. Iv'e never had tripe, not eaten so much down ere in deepest 'zuzzex boi the zee'. The only foods I don't eat are rabbit which made me feel sick. Mum said it was just the fact that we kept them as pets and some found their way into our kitchen. Plus jellied eels, Iv'e never tried them as I was always put off by the look of them lolling about in all that runny jelly.
Obviously, there are some foods that have never been part of my diet because they are not really common over here, croc, roo, zebra, snake, and any other delicate little morsels they eat in other parts of the world. But never say never, one day maybe.....uhmmmm , 4lb elephant rump steak?
John915
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- relating to this, only once ever having my artwork on the wall in one particular class, as it was always "too messy". The once was "draw a picture of your father". the teacher knew my father and decided it was recognisable (but still too messy)
Had they never heard of Abstract, Impressionist, Cubist? ::)
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And what's wrong with tripe :P
I was brought up on tripe and onions, oxtail, and shin beef with a cowheel in it, also black pudding-hot from Bury Market.
Kooky
Not had tripe for years, (never had it cooked) as it came and covered in vinegar, nobody left in the family that would even try it. Also love lamb hot or cold (again only one that likes it) so guess what I have if we are out for a meal and it's on the menu. Converted OH into eating BURY Black Puddings and Haggis though
Mo
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spending six months in hospital in Sheffield, when I was 5 years old and only seeing my dad on a Sunday afternoon, as mum had to stay home with my brother. I was on a plaster cast of my back at night and one of front during the day and I was not allowed out of bed at all.
Plus did not like the hospital food at all.....
cheers
anne
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On a fishing trip to Ireland a while back I was presented with what I was told was a "traditional delicacy", deep fried pigs trotters! I drank the Guinness and left the trotters!
I guess it came down from when the peasants - excuse the term, had the feet, nose and brain of the pigs whilst the landlords (probably English shamed to say) had the best bits but how that got turned around to being a "must have" pub grub had me baffled truth be told.
Cork was well known for it's offal!
The Transatlantic ships would buy all their meat at Queenstown, leaving the locals the cheap, nutritious, offal!
Worst thing for me was having to wear knee-length "short" trousers for the first 2 years at secondary school! Embarrassing, or what!
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Going to the dentist wasn't much fun in the 1950s. What did I for me was a foot operated drill that sounded like a road drill, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of anything to numb the pain either, apart from something the dentist squirted on the tooth.
The waiting room was Victorian in style, gloomy with an aspidistra in the window, a green velvet cloth on the table and a single bar electric heater in the fireplace. It did not inspire me with any confidence at all.
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Going to the dentist wasn't much fun in the 1950s. What did I for me was a foot operated drill that sounded like a road drill, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of anything to numb the pain either, apart from something the dentist squirted on the tooth.
The waiting room was Victorian in style, gloomy with an aspidistra in the window, a green velvet cloth on the table and a single bar electric heater in the fireplace. It did not inspire me with any confidence at all.
Maggie, blimey what a picture you paint, I can almost feel the gloom and pain!
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Childhood memories of Nasty Stuff probably exxagerate the reality a bit Graham, but it really was a most dreadful place. Mind you Lancashire dentists in the early 1950s probably weren't the most enlightened. Another famous dentist, reputed by my friends to be even worse, went by the name of 'Butcher Law'.
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That reminds me Maggie, When I was at the village junior school we where all marched round to the village hall and had to queue up to be inspected and tortured by the drunken sot of a so called dentist. The experience was further enhanced by having to queue and watch our predecessors being attacked by this person who, has you mentioned used a treadle powered drill. Myself, having a surname starting with W was subjected to this educational spectacle for quite a while before it was my turn.
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Being forced to eat stringy green beans. Still can,t stand them.
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I also spent my childhood in Lancashire (and Cheshire) Maggie, and your description reminds me of visits to the doctor's dark and dingy waiting room. Mind you, ours always had a couple of sticky sweets in his pockets to give the kids. Don't suppose the dentist would have been impressed!
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I was spared the School Dentist YT because my parents could prove that I was regularly carted off to The Brute for inspection and torture. I remember school friends who were on reflection less fortunate so were attended to by the School equivalent. They would gleefully show me the grizzly evidence of extractions performed under primitive conditions.
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I also spent my childhood in Lancashire (and Cheshire) Maggie, and your description reminds me of visits to the doctor's dark and dingy waiting room. Mind you, ours always had a couple of sticky sweets in his pockets to give the kids. Don't suppose the dentist would have been impressed!
You must be younger than me if you got sweets Graham .......... they were probably still rationed when I was little. ;D ;D ;D
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Just a nudge younger maybe. I think rationing had ended by the mid 1950's?
Used to get 1/- pocket money out of which the House Master would make us 'save' 6d in our money boxes which left 3d for the "Pictures" and 3d to buy a chocolate Wagon Wheel, neither of which were the worst things I had to endure!
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our dentist used to swear at us if we squirmed! he was beyond awful. Mr WHITE ..... yuk
xin
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The rows over my Dad's drunkenness, which were frequent.
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our dentist used to swear at us if we squirmed! he was beyond awful. Mr WHITE ..... yuk
xin
I must have been twelve, and the dentist asked me to spit but looking round there was nothing to see as the nurse had not provided anything and the dentist had not noticed. I recall looking at him mouth full of course and being to told again but now in rather abrupt manner to spit, so terrified I did - right down the side of the bib I was wearing and straight onto the floor. Was he mad!
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The rows over my Dad's drunkenness, which were frequent.
That's a bad one. Such things must leave awful memories and kids were certainly seen and treated differently years ago.
It must have been in the late 50's and not long my mother took myself and my older brother out of the kids home. I was an argumentative little sod I must admit, but that was no reason for my step-dad to give me a wallop of backhander for arguing with my mother. It felt like I'd been smacked in the face by a barn door as I was thrown backwards off my chair with blood everywhere. How the heck he did not bust my nose I have no idea, but at least he had the 'decency' to look sorry.
The common threat to me at that time was that if I did not behave "a man will come and take you back to that home" - so I expect that's what the argument was about.
Parents eh? Who'd have them? :-\
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This thread brought back many memories.
I'm not as old as some of you here but at home being cold most of the time and the joy when i was 14 and we got central heating. I still love central heating :)
Having to go to bed at about 7pm EVERY night - school night ,weekend, holidays. I was the only one of the kids in our street who had to go to bed that early and to hear them still playing out especially in the summer holidays and light nights was horrible. The reason was all children need 10 hours sleep said my mother.
Being compared very unfavourably with my 7 years older brother's talent with maths. He went on to do it at university- I failed o level.
Being told by my father that I was thick and his temper- he still has his temper now age 92!
As a result my kids had flexible bedtimes, hot houses and are always treated as equally as we can do.
:)
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Guyana and Graham
I'm sorry you had to grow up like you did. It makes everything I had to endure seem trivial.
Gill
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Guyana and Graham
I'm sorry you had to grow up like you did. It makes everything I had to endure seem trivial.
Gill
Ah thanks Gill, but to be honest it all comes out in the wash as they say.
It left me with a determination to raise my kids with far more patience and kindness that I ever had so I guess that's a good enough plus. It does annoy me however when people use their own childhood experiences as an excuse to be rotten with their own kids. It's just not on as far as I'm concerned.
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My mum's beef stew. I always hated onions (still do) and to be told 'there are no onions in your bit' when I knew it all came out of the same pot and the onions were cut small. Did she think I was stupid or was she? So, being told either eat it or go hungry - I went hungry.
Rishile
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Restored mid 19th century warehouse's on Gloucester Docks.
I pressed the wrong button. :-X ::)
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Yes, thanks Gill. It left me with a dislike of the effects of drink which has stayed with me. I'm not by any means teetotal, but I always say that my inheritance was spent in a pub, - before I got it. As a Police Officer I saw only too often what overindulgence can do.
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Having to use the outside loo on a cold winter night and watching out for the spiders :-\
Carol
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Aged 8. Having my tonsils removed at the hospital in dollis hill London. The nurses were nuns, comin kf humourg round after the operation to be told by one of the. Nuns that "we enjoy having you here so much, we only took one tonsil out. We will keep you here longer so we can take the other one out later !". It may be a sense of humour failing on my part but what a thing to say to a child. Sandre
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It is true, we either use our childhood experiences to be better or be just as bad.
My parents had lived through the great depression of the late 1920`s and early 1930`s.
Consequently they had a real fear of those conditions coming back and so Dad especially was very "frugal"---. I am not wasteful and look for bargains but I am very generous. I feel sorry for my grandchildren when they are struggling when in fact they have much much more than I ever had at their age.However society was not so mercenary in my young days and envy and "must have " were not really emotions we felt. All the glamour was in a country far away across the Atlantic and so well beyond our experience. Dad was frugal and we went without the most basic things but my word, as my friends from similar backgrounds say"W e could cook on a candle and make a meal from next to nothing". However we were never left alone,never went hungry, never dirty, and had to behave well or else we were smacked. I think it did us good to know without any doubt just what the perameters were. Mum and Dad went without just as we kids did . No drinking, both had seen what that did to families when neighbours` children went without because fathers had drunk their wages away . I truly do not think many people are really as poor as they think. They have never had to make one egg go between six people as did my mother in law`s family and she lived to well over 100. It is all comparitive. It must be hard when things like Christmas toys are advertised on T.V in your living room, months before Christmas. Can you imgine todays` children being overjoyed with a new ( made by Mum ) outfit for their doll, or a wooden garage ( made byDad) , some sweets, a brand new penny and perhaps a little colouring book.? We were and all because we only got a little something on our birthdays and something at Christmas. Ofen, dressing gowns( home made) were our presents and necessary things like slippers.But we survived.We were loved and that was the most important thing and the children who were not so well cared for get my sympathy.
We all only get one childhood and anyone who makes a child continually unhappy has a lot to answer for. It is to the great credit of those children when they show great generosity of spirit just as we`ve seen here in this topic. There that`s me all sounded out! Viktoria.
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You've brought a tear to my eye Viktoria and of course you're so right. :'(
Still don't like cabbage though. ;) ;)
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My Dads Fried Cheese and Onion :-X .. and getting nothing else to eat if I didn't like it
Living in a flat that was full of damp and the 4 of us had to share 1 bed room ( and that was in the 1970s )
Being Bullied in Infants and Junior school ..
a Over Powering mum ( nothing more to be said )
But most of my childhood was Good .. and look back at the Good times more
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Still don't like cabbage though. ;) ;) I like rhubarb,especially with ginger. It doesn`t matter which way you spell it either! Viktoria.
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Seems to me Vicktoria that one of the biggest factors today is how we determine the difference between 'wants' and 'needs'.
Kids (and I include my own here) grumble about not being able to manage at times yet have iphones, subscription TV and a couple of fairly new cars. I was no stranger to impulse buying either - usually of the shiny four wheel variety with those added extras but really, they were the wants of this life and not the needs. Now of course I'm retired but even so we'll buy something we don't really need like a tin of paint to brighten up a room.... or a packet of bacon for that now rare bacon butty luxury and oh, the occasional bottle of plonk. Not "needed" I know but, Meh!
How things change eh, but even when I was a kid Mum would be virtually skint yet would still send me up the road with her last 1/6d to go buy her half ounce of Golden Virginia - and then just give us dollops of 'Birds Instant Whip' for our tea! Remember that stuff?
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I don't remember at all being short of food when I was a child but, from what Mum told me (she's 82 now), we were in the 50s, and she often went without. As a result, she has quite brittle bones and, sadly, her skin reacts badly to calcium tablets. I suspect many more mothers were ina similar situation
As for kids getting everything they ask for, our two daughters (now in their 30s) were never brand conscious, which some were then, and many more seem to be nowadays. Our younger daughter despairs of little girls being dressed up as little adults, and being given everything they ask for, except attention from, and play with, their parents. She was working at a wedding reception in an hotel, where there was one mother getting very drunk via a hip flask in her handbag, while her two young children were playing on the stairs, getting in the way of staff. The younger one, just 4 years old, eventually fell and broke her arm, and her mother tried to sue the hotel! Very sad.
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Having to eat Sheep's Head' soup.
Ugh, makes me squirm thinking about it but we were a large family and needs must.
Barbara.
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Oooo! I`ve just remembered another two, Bronco toilet paper and a similar product San Izal.
They were only fit for impromptu concerts in the outside lavvy using said paper and a comb.
At a push they could also be used as makeshift tracing paper--- not in the lavvy though.
Mind you I suppose we were lucky (or unlucky,depends how you look at it) not to have newspaper,-- I mean you could at least have a read, only problem of course would be finding the rest of the article you were engrossed in. ( You see, we did have newspaper sometimes)
By gum, we`ve lived!
Yes Graham, Dad always had his cigs although not much else. We did not begrudge him. It was taken as read that they were necessities.
Viktoria.
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Having to sit on the outside loo,especially when there was a full moon..............cough. ::)
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Having to use the outside loo on a cold winter night and watching out for the spiders :-\
Carol
Yes me too....and I'm still scared of spiders.....but we all survived didn't we...hence the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"
Carol
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Did anyone else (apart FROM ME & MY SIBLINGS) have to eat 'Sheeps Head Soup?
We also had the Tongue cooked, sliced and put in 'Butties'.
My poor Mum, fed us (6 kids) as best as she could.
We all loved her to bits.
Barbara.
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The dentists drill ..... Izal toilet paper and the outside loo ..... not being able to clean my own bicycle because it was 'boys' job.
Finally Susan Hemmings well done nothing can compare.
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Barbara348,
Yes me too, and that would have been well into the 1960s. I can remember being ill off school - stress, I desperately wanted to study Biology but threw up every time I had to do dissections. Feeling better, I went down to the kitchen looking for what there was to eat, and took a peak in the pan on the cooker to see what would be for later, and, you've guessed it, it was a sheep head soaking!
Threw up a lot that day!
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I can remember being sent to the butchers when I was a child for a 1/4lb of Brawn which I believe was made of sheep's brain. It would be just after the war (no not WW1, it was WW11 honest)
Mo
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Did anyone else (apart FROM ME & MY SIBLINGS) have to eat 'Sheeps Head Soup?
Barbara.
Did you leave the eyes in so it would see you through the week? ;D ......................... Sorry, I couldn't resist that one :-[
Frank.
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Brawn is made from a pigs head, some people leave the brains in, some don't. Haven't made any for a few years now, much better and completely different to what you buy in a supermarket these days
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I remember that Izal toilet paper, it was awful stuff, and the outside toilet at my Grandparents, it used to be freezing in the winter with the smell of the parafin lamp in the corner to take the chill away.
Frank.
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Did anyone else (apart FROM ME & MY SIBLINGS) have to eat 'Sheeps Head Soup?
Barbara.
Did you leave the eyes in so it would see you through the week? ;D ......................... Sorry, I couldn't resist that one :-[
Frank.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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I remember that Izal toilet paper, it was awful stuff
Frank.
I remember Izal too, it just didn't do the job it was intended for did it :-[
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Well I`d put up with Bronco and San Izal loo paper any day over sheep`s head soup and brains.
Considering everything we did not do too badly did we, if that`s all we have to moan about.
No drinking water from a filthy waterhole mies away, brought by our Mums in an old petrol can!
We are all here to tell our interesting dislikes.
I hated when a cat was run over, it seemed to take ages before the poor things were cleared away. When I lived in Manchester on a busy main road there were quite a few. I used to hold my breath when I passed a spot where one had lain, by the time I`d got where I was going I was almost unconcious from lack of oxygen!
Viktoria.
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Coming home from Brownies by myself during the Blackout. I used to run up the middle of the road in case someone or something jumped out from the hedges on either side of the road.
wini
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Bronco and Izal? ... what luxury!
I remember newspaper squares looped together with string and hung on a nail inside the outside loo ...
During the long dark winter evenings it was the norm to sit at the kitchen table with a pile of old newspapers, any old bits of string that had been salvaged over a period of time and a pair of scissors making our toilet paper. If we weren't making toilet paper we were making "spills" (tightly folded strips of newspaper) which were used for lighting the gas cooker, the fire, dad's pipe etc.
But ... know what? ... everyone was in the same boat and we were HAPPY!!!
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Priscilla, I feel quite bad for complaining about Izal now, at least I didn't have the racing results printed on my bottom ;D
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I attended Culcheth Hall Boarding School for Girls in Bowdon at age 7, 1949, and remember having squares of newspapers hung up instead of toilet paper.
I wonder if my Mum knew this, she had to pay a relatively large sum for my education there.
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Oh...I remember it well...non absorbent shiny stuff ??? ;D ;D ;D ;D
Carol
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My goodness! I can smell that Izal even now!
I posted earlier in the thread about my geography teacher, but subsequent postings from other rootschatters has reminded me of other things!
Certainly the outside loo with the little oil lamp in the winter to prevent the water freezing up. As an alternative to Izal or newspaper - tissue paper that had been used to wrap oranges. Not sure how often we had this luxury - can't think we could afford the oranges or the tangerines very often, and certainly they would only be seasonal. No freezers and very few fridges (certainly not in our house anyway until the 60's) so everything was supplied in season. Just shows how spoilt we are these days!
I also remember the string beans - don't like them even now - but had to eat them, so always ate them first - and still do!! As an alternative, I now grow my own French beans, and they are NOT stringy!!
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No...that's San Izal disinfectant you can smell ;D ;D ;D
Carol
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Did anyone else (apart FROM ME & MY SIBLINGS) have to eat 'Sheeps Head Soup?
We also had the Tongue cooked, sliced and put in 'Butties'.
My poor Mum, fed us (6 kids) as best as she could.
We all loved her to bits.
Barbara.
I went to the Butchers here and asked for a bone for my dog. He offered me a sheep's head and suggested he split it in two.
I carried it home and laid one half in my dog's kennel. If you have ever seen a dead sheep's eye, you will probably understand why I disposed of the other half.
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Good evening
I remember that Izal toilet paper, it was awful stuff
Frank.
I remember Izal too, it just didn't do the job it was intended for did it :-[
The secret of using those papers or newspaper was not to sit idle on the loo. While waiting to use it you had to take the required no of sheets and scrunch them up then roll them between your palms. They went all soft and pliable and worked 200% better without skidding off the target area.
Oddly, when visiting one of my aunts and uncle there was always 2 lots of paper. Nice and soft for my aunt and izal for my uncle who wouldn't use anything else until the day he died.
John915
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63 and I'm still trying to come to terms with my childhood. . .
Cheers, Tony.
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Carol, do you know something we do not know--- ought we to be stockpiling loo paper amongst other things?
Actually San Izal did smell of the disinfectant, which is a derivative of coal tar I think, a carcinogen !!!!!!!
We were happy, we could manage and adapt and make do and mend. We were all in the same boat as you say, it must be a bit easier when you are not struggling in isolation.
My grandson stayed with us recently for a few weeks due to work circumstances. I had a whale of a time mending his work trousers and darning his work socks. I like darning. He was so interested and pleased .He`s known me knit and sew for him from being a little boy .I`m sure my daughter just chucks things away.
Coats etc were re-cycled for other garments and then ended up as hearth rugs, but I know one person who said the rug was first used on the bed if the weather was particularly cold, before being put down in front of the fire. These rugs went through a revival and were seen as the latest "must have " in trendy kitchens fairly recently. You can con some people really easily can`t you!
Despite lots of wonderful things which make life easier today, I still feel my generation had something good which has gone and won`t ever come back.
In the words of the song :-" I`m glad I`m not young anymore". Viktoria.
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My older relatives were having a discussion recently about the best inventions in their lifetimes. The general consensus was indoor flushing toilets. They could go back to some of the other old things but not the toilets.
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Oh Lawdy, couldn't agree more !!!!!!!
Barbara.
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Thank you for all your posts. It's given me quite an input both sad and funny.
Gill
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As a child in the 60s my Dad would cut my hair - all the other girls in my class had long hair, or were lucky enough to have aunties or the like who were hair-dressers. It would always end with me bawling my eyes out and usually sneaking off to cuts bits off here and there so I could blame Dad for ruining my hair. I was a miserable little wretch! A bit of history repeating itself, as my Granny always said my Granddad would stand my Dad on a chair and cut his hair. Dad wouldn't stand still and it usually ended with Dad running out and down the street with a towel round his shoulders, sporting a real or imagined cut ear! Always seemed like the end of the world to me at the time, but how lucky I was to have the childhood I had (even if we did have an outside toilet with paper squares on a nail
I remember Dad telling me about an accident he had when he was a small boy of about 3, when a boy on a butcher's bike came hurtling down the hill and ran into him. He had a lot of damage to his face and lost all his baby teeth. I am sure I recall him saying he was in hospital for six months, and my Granny only got to visit once a month. That must have been so hard for all of them.
Thinking about today, my other Granny was ten when her older brother was killed in action.
Bad haircuts? Nothing coming over me, was there???
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I attended Culcheth Hall Boarding School for Girls in Bowdon at age 7, 1949, and remember having squares of newspapers hung up instead of toilet paper.
I wonder if my Mum knew this, she had to pay a relatively large sum for my education there.
My Mum went to Culcheth Hall school in 1944 when she was sent to Cheshire during the war. I have a copy of the school prospectus, the school badge from her blazer and a copy of the Culcheth Hall Magazine.
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Hi
Do you know how long she stayed there?
Maybe she had gone back home before I attended in 1949?
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In the early 1950's parents were told it would benefit their child to have their tonsils out.
I was absolutely terrified. I wasn't used to hospitals. When they came to my bed to take me to surgery, I fainted! They went away and I thought I was getting off with it. But they came back a minute later with a trolley. Gulp.
I was taken down and given gas. But before the gas took effect, I could clearly hear two or three nurses or doctors around me laughing, and I was certain the laughter was directed at me.
Maybe they had heard I had fainted, and they thought this was hilarious, but whatever it was it made me feel bad. As the gas took effect, I could hear their laughter fading away gradually into the distance, a mocking laughter - like something out of a horror film!
It was later proved that these tonsils operation on young children were a complete waste of time.
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Hi dodsie4,
When I was 11 in 1951, I too had my tonsils out. Terribly painful trying to swallow after op but what I remember very clearly when I came around after the op was a small radio in the Ward playing a song which I can only remember the first 2 lines of.
They were : " Cigareetes & Whiskey & Wild, Wild, Women
They drive me crazy, they drive me insane".
In later times,on the odd occasion when i heard that song being played, I just recalled the agony from my throat and crying to go home. :'(
Barbara.
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I got a bowl of ice cream after it. Apparently most of the kids got this.
Before the operation, I remember I was told to have a bath, and the bath had an enormous plug hole. After I'd had the bath, I was draining the water away, and the big bar of soap promptly vanished down the plug hole! And the nurse had told me to watch out for that! Serve them right for taking my tonsils out.
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I was outside the operating room as an adult ready to be put to sleep, the last thing I remembered was music playing inside and hearing some one say her veins keep collapsing, that put the wind up me,!!
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I went to an all girls school and we had some of the most horrific teachers - you had to wonder why they even went into the profession. A physics teacher who wore a purple velvet suit (pretty sure it was the same one every day) that would lean far too close to you than was comfortable or would come and watch us play tennis and netball in very short skirts (we learned very quickly not to bend at the waist!). He was sacked for having it away with the 6th form pupil.
Latin teacher who would just shout at you if you got something wrong and slam his hand on your desk. Many a time remember jumping out of my skin as he would wander around reading over your shoulder and then suddenly 'bam!' this hand appeared in the middle of your work.
a headmistress who was sadistic and took great pleasure in lecturing the entire school about every deadly sin you could think of and us sitting there on the wooden floor of the school hall, crossed legged, getting splinters in our btms and waiting for her head to explode with rage ;D
Having to go and buy tripe for my Nan from the local butcher....still gives me a queasy tummy. Didn't know what it was at first until my mum explained it to me and I used to run or cycle home as fast as I could with it at arm's length when I knew its source....pigs feet too
hand me downs from my two older sisters and an absolute witch of a grandmother (not Nan above) who just to call all us three girls 'fat' (we weren't by any means) and if we wore make up (even a scrap of mascara) used to comment ' no wonder girls get raped these days....' My dad heard it once and nearly blew the roof off the house.
I did like the school milk bottles though, feeling rich when you had your pocket money and you knew it would cover all your sweet and comic related purchases for the whole week, not caring about what brand your trainers were or who's got the latest bit of technology as you were too busy building dens, my own sewing machine when I was 11 and the after lunch naps we had in kindergarten ;D
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Possibly the death of my eldest brother in 1958.
He was drowned on the river Forth when his yacht capsized.
It was not his death that bothered me, being brought up in the country I accepted death as part of life. What hurt was my mother was devastated by his death and I could do nothing to take the pain away.
Cheers
Guy
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Hello Guy,
That's truly sad and surely has to be one on the very worst things that could happen.
Kind Regards,
Barbara.
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Too deep for tears
Kind regards
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School dinners getting made to sit and eat them all through the lunch hour yuk !
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I enjoyed school dinners, but then my mum's cooking skills left much to be desired, though she did try.
Cheers
Guy
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Rarely having new clothes...always my older Sister's hand-me-downs....and to have her remind me.."That used to be mine" with a :P....thankfully it changed as I got older ;D
Carol
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California Syrup of Figs an a Friday night - to clear you out- then going to bed knowing that you would spend a lot of Saturday running to the loo. My mother was a dressmaker and she used the off cuts of paper dressmaking patterns as loo paper also used was the thin paper which our baker wrapped the bread in. At least they were softer than Bronco.
Linda
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Syrup of figs was Saturday night in our house, and Sunday it was Hair was and the dreaded comb with these very fine teeth to make sure you didn't have nits and on Monday morning instructions not to put on anyone elses pixie
wini
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My mother made my brother and I wear kilts when we went to fetes and weddings etc up till I was about eight and rebelled against this. On more than one occasion we appeared in local papers, I still have not found any Scots in my ancestors why were we put through this. :(
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My mother made my brother and I wear kilts when we went to fetes and weddings etc up till I was about eight and rebelled against this. On more than one occasion we appeared in local papers, I still have not found any Scots in my ancestors why were we put through this. :(
Possibly because she liked the tartans invented by the English Victorians rather than traditional Scottish plaid (belted plaid) which was worn as a wrap around the body and over the shoulder. ;)
Cheers
Guy
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As a left hander being made to sew using the right hand and wear a thimble. My teacher used to call out "right hands up" just to check we had the thimble on. She also used to check on hems to make sure were had used the right hand.
I soon learned to keep the thimble on my right hand and when sewing a hem turned the item upside down so my stitches seemed to be done with the right hand.
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How about the smell of kippers frying - I have never tasted them as I could not stand the smell. Also daily spoonful of malt extract - yuk!
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California Syrup of Figs an a Friday night - to clear you out- then going to bed knowing that you would spend a lot of Saturday running to the loo. My mother was a dressmaker and she used the off cuts of paper dressmaking patterns as loo paper also used was the thin paper which our baker wrapped the bread in. At least they were softer than Bronco.
Linda
This reminded me about visiting my grandparents as a child. They still had a "thunderbox" (aka "the outside dunny") out the back and we had to use old telephone books hung on string as toilet paper. And throw in a handful of sawdust when you were finished. I think they finally got sewerage in the late 1970's. And this was in Brisbane! (Capital of the state of Queensland in Australia). It was always an adventure to visit the loo at night with a torch - keeping an eye out for the spiders. :) It wasn't the worst thing I had to endure as a child but your post sure brought back memories. ;D
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Not being allowed to have clarinet lessons at grammar school. My primary school music teacher had suggested I take it up when I started. There was a form that your parents were supposed to send back before your first term started, but my mum didn't realise that and when I handed the form in at the start of term, it was too late. The music teacher said I'd have to go on the waiting list for the next year. So the next year I asked about it and was told that because other teachers had told her I was so rubbish in several other subjects - mainly maths and history (history?), then they couldn't allow me to take time out of regular lessons for extra music. My parents later paid for me to have organ lessons outside school and I actually played the school organ a couple of times (I was the only pupil who could - the music teacher was gobsmacked!).
Nevertheless, because I didn't actually have my lessons through school, I didn't meet the pre-requisite for taking O'level music, so I missed out on that too.
I've made up for it, though. Been playing clarinet and saxophone for around twenty years now, lead alto sax with my concert band, have a Diploma in Music from the Open University and recently got my grade 5 singing - and yes, I did eventually take that O'level (well, GCSE) along the way, played my clarinet for the practical part and got m'self an 'A' - missing out on A* by just two marks. >:(
Oh, and I've also picked up a GCSE in Maths plus an honours degree in History. Failure, eh? Well yah boo sucks to you, teach! :P
I still wonder, though, whether I could have been anything more if I could have started earlier.
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Sounds, like you are where you were meant to be...
These things happen for a reason, and you 'sound' (:) ) like 'boy done good'..
I hated the sewing teacher at school, and she hated me... I was going to name her, but she may have descendants, who recognise the name, cos its a little unusual... so better not..
I taught myself to sew and am very happy with it. As are the people I sew for. :)
xin
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Xinia, you didn't go to school in Leicester, did you? Only we had a horrible sewing teacher as well, Mrs F. By god, she was ugly! It was said she had a face like a bit of soggy bread that someone had put their foot on and ground into the dirt. :-X
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Good evening,
Xinia, you didn't go to school in Leicester, did you? Only we had a horrible sewing teacher as well, Mrs F. By god, she was ugly! It was said she had a face like a bit of soggy bread that someone had put their foot on and ground into the dirt. :-X
I knew someone like that as well but he wasn't a sewing teacher, he was ex SAS known as the 'Ugly Bug'
John915
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Must be something about sewing teachers. I was at school in Glasgow. Miss M, hated sewing teacher, used to throw bobbins and even once scissors at us. After the scissor incident she brought in chocolates I think that was so we wouldn't report her.
She had a couple of favourites who she heaped praise on, they took their sewing home and their Mothers' did it
wini
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Gosh, other than seventh and eighth grade, which weren't exactly the best times of my life, I'd say having an impacted tooth removed in July 1986 was bad enough. The worst part of it was that after I had surgery to remove my impacted tooth, I fainted in the dentist's office in Amman! How embarrassing that was! Also, I had one classmate ask me why I had to go to our math teacher, Mrs. Droese, for extra help. I told her I just needed help with math, but I really felt like an idiot. Thankfully, she let it go at that.
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Xinia, you didn't go to school in Leicester, did you? Only we had a horrible sewing teacher as well, Mrs F. By god, she was ugly! It was said she had a face like a bit of soggy bread that someone had put their foot on and ground into the dirt. :-X
I sure did.. :) Medway I was there in the 50's but my hateful teachers initial was 'B' however she was pretty ugly... My Pops went in to sort her our .... good on ya dad... :)
xin
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Knowing that I would grow old, with all it oddities!!!
Regards
Malky
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What is it with sewing teachers, we had a rotter too. Miss Vaughn, don't think we ever saw that woman smile. It's a wonder I sew at all thanks to her, one mistake or a bit of uneven hemming and she'd make you rip the whole lot out and do it again.
I'm not brilliant with a needle but have just finished turning an old pair of very flappy trousers into a pair of shorts...well shortish, just below the knee, don't want to show too much flesh, might frighten the hubby and put the dog off his dinner ;D ;D
The only thing I remember from early childhood is having the toes cut out of my school sandals, Mum couldn't afford a new pair :'( I don't think I was the only child in the school who endured that humiliation though.
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I hated broad beans at school have never eaten them since. My sister disliked carrot's, my mum duly wrote a note, who asked for carrot's the next day my sister!!!.
We also were dosed with cod liver oil, I was never so pleased when they had the capsules.
My father took us to Birmingham where they had cartoon theatres. we laughed fit to bust.
Some things were good and some awful. We had a good sewing teacher, the domestic science teacher was pretty awful. The Head was lovely, if you were sent to him , just say "pretend you have been told off". The English teacher was OK with us girls, he had a leg off a chair for the boy's , was short and dumpy he would speed up and hit them really hard, it was awful
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I remember one teacher, who used to throw anything he could at you if you didnt listen ... where would he be today, he used to sit the girls on his lap!!!! and when I went back to visit... I realised what a ........ he was... scary to think.
But I also had a couple of wonderful teachers Sir Day, Sir Hadley and Mr Walker all well worth a mention for their input into my life... bless them, they must all be in another world now.. But special people definitely.
xin
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But I also had a couple of wonderful teachers ... Mr Walker all well worth a mention for their input into my life... bless them, they must all be in another world now.. But special people definitely.
We had a Mr Walker too. Also a nice chap - very liberal art teacher.
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Oh - was that in Leicester ?? My Mr. Walker taught us to ring the handbells, and he was a lovely cheery chap and very helpful ...
:) xin
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Oh - was that in Leicester ?? My Mr. Walker taught us to ring the handbells, and he was a lovely cheery chap and very helpful ...
:) xin
Maybe not the same one then. Don't think my one was musical unless you count making us listen to radio 3 during art lessons. That was his 'punishment' if we'd misbehaved. The rest of the time we could listen to radio 1 and chatter all through lessons. He also taught us calligraphy.
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Oh - was that in Leicester ?? My Mr. Walker taught us to ring the handbells, and he was a lovely cheery chap and very helpful ...
:) xin
Maybe not the same one then. Don't think my one was musical unless you count making us listen to radio 3 during art lessons. That was his 'punishment' if we'd misbehaved. The rest of the time we could listen to radio 1 and chatter all through lessons. He also taught us calligraphy.
When I was at school it was the Home Service, the Light Programme, and the Third Programme!! ;D ;D
Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg at home, of course!
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We didn't have any radio music at school at all ! And we were never taught calligraphy - or handbells . WIsh I'd gone to your school !!!!!
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I would love to play them now. I can remember playing 'the bells of st. mary's' .. it went something like.
dde dde dde dde -- etc - oh my ... I can hear it in my head now.. I was the 'd and e' bell. They were just alphabetised... not according to the actual note you were playing.. Simplest way as we were only 10ish.. I loved it.
xin
oh good times.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLXX-gCz6bo
I just found this... and I'm fillin up :) :)
xin
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We didn't have any radio music at school at all ! And we were never taught calligraphy - or handbells . WIsh I'd gone to your school !!!!!
Ummmmm - calligraphy is a visual art related to writing?! ;D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligraphy
Bell-ringing is campanology ;D
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dde dde dde dde -- etc - oh my ... I can hear it in my head now.. I was the 'd and e' bell. They were just alphabetised... not according to the actual note you were playing.. Simplest way as we were only 10ish..
Probably not good for future music development though. 'D' and 'E' not actually sounding like 'D' and 'E' could be very confusing for anyone learning to read/play music at a later stage. ???
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Yep get what you are saying, but at the time it was lovely.
I dont (as you can guess) play any instruments these days :) :)
xin
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Yep get what you are saying, but at the time it was lovely.
I'll bet it was. I love the sound of handbells. Like a lot of music-making, being able to read music 'properly' isn't always necessary. Some of the finest musicians in the world can't read a note - and I can't begin to match them! :-[
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Sunday Bath Night. The only one of the week in the early 1950's. First off the coal fire would be backed up at about noon. That was regardless of whether it was nearly sub tropical outside. You sweltered, whilst the fire heated the back boiler for hot water, ready for all three of us later. We were all put in the bath water together. The unlucky one got the tap end of the bath. Mum always made sure that the cold water went in first and then the hot. However, the cold tap remained cold and even worse in winter. No heating in the bathroom. Whoever was the unluckiest of us three to get the tap end nearly had frost bite off bumping into the cold of the tap. You were then taken out in order and dried with a towel that resembled sandpaper. No tumble driers, they were dried on the line outside or worse still, in winter on the fireguard. I swear it took several layers of skin off you. I think my mum invented exfoliation of the skin. Just as you thought you were comfy from the freshly laundered pyjamas (which had been warmed on the fireguard in front of the roaring fire), you then lined up for the 'nit comb'. Again several layers of skin were removed from your scalp in the hunt for any unwelcome visitors. Being the only girl, I then endured mum's attempts to turn me into Shirley Temple. Out came what I can only describe as toothed clamps. Mum would use her fingers to create waves in my hair and then clamp them (with another layer of my scalp) into the clamp. To this day I have a wave on the right side of my head which I swear the clamps made and where she later tied an excruciating bow into my hair. I knew I would then have a difficult nights sleep with the torture clamps in my head. Even worse was to come in later years, when mum decided I would look lovely with ringlets. Scraps of cloth were torn. My hair was then divided up and wrapped around the cloth. Along with my hair went several inches of my neck, it was excruciating. We also had toilet paper from the daily paper in the outside loo, spiders out there, a paraffin lamp to prevent the pipes freezing and I will follow with another post of the 'delicacies' we had to eat.
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Good evening,
You had a BATHROOM? our tin bath came in from the shed and sat in the middle of the kitchen in winter or the scullery in summer. Hot water was ladled in from the copper in the corner using a large saucepan. then we sat in front of the fire with ovaltine or Horlicks while the hot water bottles were filled in winter. No heating upstairs just lots of jack frost on the windows in winter, on the inside.
Cold water was pumped up from the well. From about 100ft it was COLD, but great to drink not having anything added to it like tap water.
John915
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Ringlets
Worm syrup
Nit comb
Syrup of figs
Loved My daily spoonful of malt! And shortbread in my lunchbox!
Ewww. My brothers had to have Lanes Emulsion. Yuck! Glad I was a girl!
:D :D. Jeanne
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dde dde dde dde -- etc - oh my ... I can hear it in my head now.. I was the 'd and e' bell. They were just alphabetised... not according to the actual note you were playing.. Simplest way as we were only 10ish.. I loved it.
I was a primary teacher in the early nineties, and I did exactly the same thing with groups in my junior class. Great fun and they loved it. I currently do some volunteer music focused work in a a rest home for the elderly, and guess what - tried it out with them,Vand they love it.
I printed them out their "music", just the alphabetical letters, but they were so busy looking and thinking and they would forget to come in on time. So now we just do it through once with their " music", and then they lay their music down, and I watch me and I conduct them through it! Much better and we can get it up to a really good speed.
Yep The bells of st Mary's is one of their favourites as well. Hard to find grown up tunes that only have 8 notes too. Have to adapt a little here and there. But we have about 10 going well.
Great fun!
:) Jeanne
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Just googled Lane's Emulsion -
"It's famous because it's good". - The original recipe contained cod liver oil, beechwood creosote, mineral lime, soda, brandy, vitamins, fresh egg yolk and some secret ingredients .
Creosote!! :o :o Must of burnt their insides!
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Yep, pretty potent all right! Dreadful smell, and made the boys do very impolite things that boys luv to do that also smelt dreadful!
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Famel cough syrup is made with creosote and I think you can still get it. I think it's probably a slightly different formula to the stuff you put on your fence, however.