What did people do of an evening?

[clematised]

I remember in the mid 50s we still had gas light then and we had a wireless with a battery that had to be renewed every so often and a man would arrive to replace it.
My parents were older than my friends parents and didn't go to the pub but sat rug making with strips of rag and a sack and a tool with a red handle to make the holes and pull through the cloth.

Parents would also practice handwriting using coloured inks and father would sit in front of the fire drying the clothes over the fireguard sometimes burning them with the fire in the old black grate with oven attached which housed our brick that we took to bed each night to warm the bed six bricks for six children.

We would have to go to bed at 9pm when the knockout man was coming (boxing on the radio) we were so much in fear of the knockout man.

Edna

[willow154]

We had a television for most of my childhood, but didn't rely on it as we do today. Still found time to read, make up plays, sew, knit, etc in the winter. play board games, dominoes, cards, jacks, snobs, etc.
In the summer we would play skipping, or french skipping in the road, or on the pavement outside ( not so many cars then), camp in the garden, explore, played cowboys and indians, etc, etc.
And later, homework of course.
Paulene.

[Erato]

1950s  - 1960s.

We did not have a tv until the mid '60s and even then my father installed it in the unheated cellar, so there was little inclination to watch it.  We all read.  All went to the public library at least once a week; sometimes two or three times.  My mother knitted constantly - she could read and knit at the same time.  Occasionally played cards [mostly hearts] or a board game [mostly scrabble].  Also sometimes played mah jong.  Homework.

We had strictly enforced bedtime but the rules were somewhat relaxed in the summer.  Then we played outside with neighborhood kids - kick the can, camping out" in the tent - also some yard and vegetable garden work.

[chinakay]

I read an interesting story a few years ago...wish I could find it now....it was 1800s America, and the family gathered in the evenings to read their books around an oil lamp. One day papa brought a new lamp home, bigger, brighter...and the family continued to read their books but farther away from each other. Space between each family member increased. Until papa replaced the new lamp with the original one, and they went back to being a "tightknit" family again

Apocryphal or not, I thought it was a lovely story.

Cheers,
China

[sallysmum]

My grandparents owned a general store in a mining village in Northumberland in the 1920s.  Granddad build an extension to the shop to house a billiards table for the men of the village.  He was apparently very strict and didn't allow gambling on the game.

sallysmum

[7igerby7he7ail]

Blimey, this thread has got me all nostalgic [wiping of eye]
I remember my mum was always knitting or sewing. We had a radio and I read books,books, mountains of books.
Plenty of board games. I was always making things from scratch. I still have a 'cigar box' that I made over 50 years ago.
We always communicated, I got hear some of the stories and family legends etc [true or not]
We lived next to a pub, but my father and later my stepfather never crossed its threshold.There only vice was football.I was taken to my first match c1955.
Ther always seemed to be motorbikes around, my grandfather was always 'tinkering'
Our 'local' team was Manchester City, we never mentioned Manchester U****d
No sweets, not much fruit, but we always had good wholesome food on the table.
No TV until the late 50's.
I always was out playing football, or cricket. I rode for miles on my bike, not much traffic to worry about in those days.
Summertime and the school hols, I would be off to my uncle and aunt who had a farm in Norfolk. I would come back as brown as a nut and weighing more.
We never had any cash to spare, but we as family always managed a week in Wales, or Bank Holiday in Blackpool.
No money, but we didnt feel like we were hard done by, that was how life went and we lived it.
I think it made me what I am today, my children were brought up with the same values, respect others, uphold the law,  be proud of your heritage and your country [right or wrong],be content with what life has given you. Hopefully my grandkids will get the same upbringing.

[Lydart]

It does depend on whether people lived in the city or the countryside I think.

I can't think that time was wasted when money was so short.  My grandmother told of her childhood in rural Hampshire, (1880's) where she was expected to help in summer evenings with the garden, feeding the pig, looking after her younger siblings.  Only Sundays were special, when no un-necessary work was done ... Sundays were for church or chapel, three times each Sunday, and for quiet indoor activities like reading and mending.

When I was growing up, late 1940's & early 1950's, I lived in town near the library, and consumed vast numbers of books, as did my parents.  We had a 'reading tea' on a Sunday when we all read our books while we ate !  We listened to the radio, played card games, Mother knitted and sewed, Dad had a shed where he pottered around making or mending and life on the whole was much quieter and more sedate than it is for my grand-children fifty years later.   I sometimes think in many ways it was also richer ?  I had to make my own games and pleasures; nowadays children expect to be taken out and have entertainment provided for them. 

[trish251]

My initial reaction to the question was to state, what I would call the obvious. All my families pre the first world war had large numbers of children, so to use a euphimism, I assume they went to bed early.

My grandmother's family did have a piano and they did all sing - boys included, but whether this was every evening or only for special events, I do not know. As a child I remember my grandmother singing at Christmas when we went to visit.

From my own childhood in the 50s/60s we didn't have a television. We always had the radio playing in the evenings, my mother and I usually knitted or read books (I did at times also do schoolwork), my father smoked cigarettes and often worked as he was a draftsman & took on extra work drawing house plans for local folks. At about 9.00 my mother would make a cup of tea which came with a biscuit or cake in summer and toast and jam in the winter. After which, everyone went to bed.

Trish

[suzard]

I have lots of information from old local newspapers 1880-1900 and there are lots of announcements for events in the locality.

Dances, concerts in the local hall, fetes, various societiy meetings -( churchladies/gents meetings once a week, children's evenings. sunday teas with sports for the children) Cricket , football matches. Of course these were mainly on the weekend.
During the week father would probably work shifts -so mother would be cooking in the evening . I can remember as a child being allowed to wait for father coming home from work and being allowed to sit at the side of him and "share" his meal - this was usually a game - where I had a chunk of homemade bread and dipped it into his gravy when he "wasn't looking"!!!

A lot of homes had a piano -or someone in the family did - families could gather round for a sing song n a weekend evening. Summertime Sunday evenings whole families could be seen out walking -all dressed in their sunday best.
Children could play out in the fields or streets -no cars to worry about.

My aunt (94) tells tales of dances etc which she used to go to.

Of course the working day was longer - shop and office workers didn't finish until 6pm at the earliest.-so there was not much time in the evenngs -bedtime had to be early as most had to be up at 5 am to stoke the fires, cook breakfast and be in work early.

In some ways life was busier then than now - no relaxing in front of the TV - or sitting at the PC!

Suz