Remember When...

[Treetotal]

I recently bought a book from a charity shop called "Remember When":

This volume presents a picture of everyday life in the 20th century - from the late-Victorian era to the new millennium - exploring all aspects of society as reflected in the legacy of packaging, advertising, magazines and newspapers, toys and games, and royal and commemorative memorabilia that has accumulated over the century. A sourcebook of images and anecdotes for those interested in the past, it includes memories of the first Kit-Kat to Beatlemania, Meccano to the Picture Post, Bisto to Barbie and other brand names....What gem of a book 

Which got me thinking about toys from the past and what our ancestors would have received for Christmas...and also comparing the toys then and now.

Sweetshops, post office sets and games compendiums see so far into the past now with modern technology taking over childrens' lives.

I would love to hear memories from others about their favourite toys as we have school children who come into the Family History Unit where I am a volunteer, and I have created a corner with books and toys from the past....the favourite being a Victorian metal hoop with a stick attached...for hoop rolling.

Over to you 

[Meezer]

I remember my dad telling me that in the late 1920's one of his brothers got a tin mechanical toy that was a man pulling a rickshaw. It got trodden on on Christmas day and wrecked and that was an absolute disaster as that was his only present - it was as much as their parents could afford.

[Greensleeves]

Well done for starting this thread, Carol! 

One of my most impractical Christmas presents was given to me by my parents when I was six.  It was a tiny cooker  which really worked.  Can you imagine that - it heated up using little white tablets which you lit with a match.  There was one for each hob and one to go in the oven.  This contraption came with a full set of miniature saucepans and frying pans, spatula, fish slice etc.  It was brilliant.  The only draw-back, of course, was that it wasn't the sort of thing you could let a six-year-old play with unsupervised.  The only time it was ever used properly was on Boxing Day when my father and mother had great fun cooking a miniature meal of egg and chips on it, whilst I was made to keep my distance in case I knocked something over. 

[Treetotal]

Meezer....you can just imagine the heartbreak of that little boy on Christmas day can't you 

GS...that really cracked me ..up....It wouldn't happen today with all the "Elf and Safety" issues...I wonder how many times you have told that story???

Thanks for sharing.

Carol

[Meezer]

Oh gosh I had one of those cookers too but mine worked by having a pan of meths lit in it - talk about lethal! Like you I wasn't allowed anywhere near it (why did they buy us these things?!) I can just remember my dad boiling up some lemonade in one of the little pans.

[mrs.tenacious]

My interests as a child were quite opposite; if I wasn't out cycling, making dens/camps, roller skating, climbing trees or playing traditional playground games like hopscotch, I had my nose stuck in a book, was drawing/colouring, doing jigsaw puzzles or playing jacks.  The latter all the sorts of insular, quiet things that required great patience. I loved Spirograph, and one of my best ever Christmas presents was a box of Caran d'Ache felt pens that were just like watercolours.  I don't think they make them any more. I loved dressing my Sindy doll though!  And I remember being very fond of the cut-out paper dolls and their clothes with the little tabs you folded over the doll to change the outfits.

Last year our class at school spent a wonderful day out at the V&A Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green, London.  Their collection of toys spans from the 1600s to the present day - check it out on www.museumofchildhood.org.uk.  What a trip down memory lane that was!  But I would like to revisit it at my leisure instead of a rushed time in charge of a group of 5/6yr olds, on a snowy day coach trip with a child who was sick 

[missmolly]

Oh gosh I had one of those cookers too but mine worked by having a pan of meths lit in it - talk about lethal! Like you I wasn't allowed anywhere near it (why did they buy us these things?!) I can just remember my dad boiling up some lemonade in one of the little pans.

Remember buying our son a traction engine that run on meths but that was back in the days when it was "it's ok because they sell them for kids to play with" It's a wonder my generation survived when I think of the things we did

Mo

[SwissGill]

My interests as a child were quite opposite; if I wasn't out cycling, making dens/camps, roller skating, climbing trees or playing traditional playground games like hopscotch, I had my nose stuck in a book, was drawing/colouring, doing jigsaw puzzles or playing jacks.  The latter all the sorts of insular, quiet things that required great patience.

That just about sums me up too!

[Craclyn]

Those little white blocks for the cooker thing had a very specific smell and a brand name. Was it Meta-something? Never really played with mine as I was not the domestic type. Wasn´t much impressed by my toy ironing board or my dolls´pram. But a few years late the Man from Uncle gun was a real gem.