As another child of 50's/60's I had similar pastimes. Reading mainly in the winter months snuggled in bed with dads army greatcoat over me and a torch under the covers if it was late. I remember The Famous Five, Secret Seven and the Mallory Towers series most of all.
We also had a dartboard in the kitchen they we spent many happy hours playing Round the Board, 501 or Killer. I remember my mum cheating as her dart was close to double nineteen and she said it was in and pulled her darts out quickly before anyone could prove it wasn't.
We played all sorts of card games and a homemade table skittle game with empty bullet cases as skittles was always a favourite.
Life was much simpler then and a shilling in the leccy wouldn't have lasted long with all the tv's, computers and electronic games we have now.
Reading this brought back memories - I actually remember going to bed early just for the pleasure of snuggling under the covers with a book ("What Katy Did" and "Alice in Wonderland" - never really got into the Famous 5 or Secret 7).
We also had a dart board - amny evenings spent in family "tournaments"!
We lived in a large Georgian/Victorian town house and the previous occupiers favoured large curtain poles which were not to Gran's taste, so they were swiftly removed and provided a bit of extra firewood. They had rather fancy finials at the end so these were sawn off and made very good "skittles" - played down one on the long straight paths in the garden - great fun!
Bonfires! My brother loved having a bonfire at the far end of the garden - usually on a Saturday. He cobbled together a sort of "incinerator" from an old metal dustbin, with a few airholes punched in the side to help combustion. He punched a larger hole in the lid and secured a large tin can on top to act as a chimney.
We also had a piano - Mum used to play before MS took its hold and affected the use of her hands. I spent many hours banging out tunes by ear (and still play now!) but no-one else was at all musical.
I agree with other comments that previous generations made full use of whatever "free" time they had. I wonder what they would make of us nowadays - with all the pursuits at our fingertips, yet we often hear people say they're bored!
