Which Childhood Toy Would you Bring Back?

[Familysearch]

And Victoria - my Mum had clogs!

[Viktoria]

Real Lancashire lasses .
My lot had to polish theirs  every evening ,even under the instep and wooden sole to make them waterproof .
Then all the children were washed for bed .

Then grandad would plait the girls ‘ hair as he did the tails of the horses he shod ,he worked as blacksmith for a funeral director .
In four strands ,Mum said if you did not screw your eyes shut it was hard to close them after ,he pulled so tight.
This would be from 1884, when he married,and the babies came along with great regularity .Twelve between 1884 and 1910.
The girls had black pinnies for  school and white ones for Sundays.
Pinnies being like an overdress , open at the back and a frill on the shoulders.
On Sundays their hair was loose with a big white bow of ribbon.

Grandma must have been a wonderful woman.
Sadly I never met her.
Viktoria.

[Rena]

During the war we had instructions to head for the cupboard under the stairs if the Klaxon Sirens sounded, which our dad  considered the safest place to be.  It was never used except that it permanently held two large rag dolls.  One had long yellow woollen plaited hair, pink face, rosebud mouth, and blue dress and the other had black woollen curly hair, a round black smiley face and red striped overall trousers.  I remember reading Milly Molly Mandy books and borrowing a couple of my cousins' annuals of "Oor Wullie" and "Rupert The Bear".  The council built a small lending library in our area when I was about ten years old and I regularly had my nose in every book I could get hold of.

I don't think fuzzy felt was around when I was small. I do remember having a piece of felt that I drew the profile of a mouse on, then cut two pieces of that shape plus a long shape for the base, two ear shaped pieces and sewed and stuffed a few toy mice - you cant normally see their feet so attaching legs was no problem..

I learned to ride on an old small rusty gents bike, which initially was too large for me so that I had to stand on the kerb to put one foot on a pedal and then sling the other leg over the crossbar and off I went.   I too went to dance class held in the kitchen of  a house down the street, where the lady had two golden spaniels.  I did so want a dog but no amount of pestering got me one.   Looking back I think my brother must have grown enough to be able to ride my bike because my dad offered to buy me a new bike but I'd have to give up dancing - it was my choice.  Until the day there was a knock on the front door and there was my dad with a new girl's two wheeler Rudge bicycle.  Once everyone had a bicycle, my brother and I were kept busy for a few hours at the weekend washing, polishing and coating with a thin layer of grease to keep them looking "as new".  I soon outgrew that bike which I see from a newspaper advert was sold for £7.  I got to choose my next bike, which was a brightly coloured "Sun".  It had straight handlebars that I sometimes turned upside down which gave the impression of a racing bike - plus I turned the back wheel round which meant that instead of using handlebar brakes I could stop by pedalling backwards. The bike that saw me through teen and adult years was a purple coloured Raleigh Sovereign sports cycle with all the extras. I spent many cycling hours feeling like the "bees knees" 
I think Bayco must have been busy manufacturing their house construction sets because I too received one for my tenth birthday.

[Viktoria]

Yes, we had to Vaseline anything chrome,whether it did any good I don’t know but I certainly did it to the chrome on the babies’ prams and pushchairs and their bikes.
I never had a bike until I was married and lived in Belgium ,then—— it was a motor scooter!
A Motobecane Mobilette !
But that is adult stuff .
I was allowed to ride my sister’s tricycle ,but it was never mine.
Viktoria,

[maddys52]

I had a scooter that I loved scooting around on.  I have a great photo of me and my siblings where I'm glaring very meanly at my younger brother (who must be aged about 3) because he was standing on MY scooter. Don't remember ever cleaning or maintaining it in any way ...

[Wiggy]

Just around our house was a concrete footpath - I had a wonderful trike and my brothers had pedal cars which we all rode around on these paths. 
Our paddocks and roads were too hilly and rough for bikes and scooters  when were bigger . . . . .
- but we loved using our cousins when we visited them - And their Pogo Stick was just wonderful!   

[Neale1961]

As we got older we went out for hours travelling all over the suburb with our scooters. We sought out the longest and steepest hills, and had wonderful fun. We never had bikes, which my mother considered too dangerous. If only she had known what we got up to on the scooters!! 

[Rena]

I forgot there was one blue child's scooter in the house that I did whiz around on along the tenfoot (back alley).  I don't think pogo sticks were around when I was young.  We didn't have stilts either, but we made our own by utilising either cocoa tins or the baby's empty food tins.   Some long sturdy string poked through a couple of holes in the brims and firmly knotted made great alternatives.  a slight stutter to start with when learning to keep the string between our hands and tin taut.   Our youngest brother was born at the end of WWII and Santa granted him a brand new red toy motor car which our brother found at 2.00 oclock in the morning and immediately tried to ride down the stairs with a horrible crashing noise that awoke the whole household.  As boys played games where one team were "goodies" and the other team were "baddies".  boys presents seem to consist of potato guns, knives with retractable blade and longbow and arrows !!  With warning noises from fathers of "Don't point it at anyone".  The day Santa left a Meccano Set for a brother was the cue for brother to cry as father insisted on building a crane , thus leaving nothing for brother to make.  My parents had a habit of buying us something they liked to play with, such as the skates Santa brought for myself and my brother , but had to wait hours whilst two giggling parents showed us how to skate with them.

I was 16 when I bought myself a blue £56.00 scooter paying about 5 shillings a week for several years.  It's fastest speed was 56 mph.  I did clean and service it myself and had to ask my dad what I was looking for when the instructions mentioned a "banjo bolt".

[Wiggy]

      The best sort of stilts Rena!!