DVD Shoot

Well, after several abortive attempts to see Ken Stott to do my little piece for the Woodcroft DVD the day in September finally arrived........and it turned out to be quite exciting.

We met at Novak's car park, which was formerly the site of The Globe slipper works. Ken asked me to walk up and down East Street which after all the intervening years did not really look any different. We re-created the photograph that had caused so much interest: 

2011

    

 1956 & 2011

The shoot was to take place sitting on the wall of No. 12, my very first home. I spoke of my memories of my time there and whilst we were filming the current owners came out and introduced themselves. Then came the wonderful gesture: would we like to go inside and film actually in the house! It was as I remembered it, but there was no Pat Boone or current pop idol picture in the attic, instead with some creative thought it had been turned into "His & Hers" offices. The bedroom that I shared with my sister no longer contained a bath, instead a bathroom had been made. The stone flags in the back room that were covered in lino and a carpet square when I lived there were now polished and exposed.
 I never dreamt that I would one day, after 48 years, that I would have the privilege of stepping back into "my old house".
That's what Woodcroft is all about: Camaraderie, and I thank the current owners of No. 12 for allowing me to step back in time and to Ken for the brilliant idea of making a Living History DVD.





    

Christmas

With Christmas now around the corner, it seems appropriate for me to write about it in more detail.
Christmas is still the magical time if the year, especially for children, but back at the time of my childhood it was far less commercialised. There was no internet shopping, well there were not even computers, or out of town shopping malls.

We were always very excited as Mum & Dad used to take us to Manchester and we could look at the Christmas lights and the department stores tableau window displays. The large stores had grottos where we would have to queue to sit on Father Christmas' knee and whisper to him what we would like him to give us.

We helped to decorate the house by making hand made coloured paper chains that we hung from the ceiling and glued balls of  cotton wool to the windows to make it look like snow. Sometimes we had rolls of coloured stretch crepe paper to hang up, you had to pull out the middle of the roll and twist it, we would hang these garlands and further decorate by putting tinsel, (lametta?), over it. NO health and safety in those days!
I remember that we always had a "real" tree and the fairy lights were rather large and depicted nursery rhyme scenes.

Many people in the '50's did not own a fridge and foods were not pre-wrapped so food had to be bought fresh to last over the Christmas period. I cannot really remember but I expect that large food orders were given to the local Co-op and Mr. Wilkinson. The turkey and meat Mum would have bought from the butchers in Rawtenstall.

On Christmas Eve we went to bed excited to see what presents would be left in our pillowcases. I always tried to stay awake to catch a glimpse of Father Christmas but when I awoke he had always delivered our presents. It was the most magical and exciting thing to happen. Christmas Day was probably quite structured and we put our best clothes on and got dressed up for the occasion. After lunch we sat around the radio and listened to the Queen's speech. Dad only ever bought alcohol for Christmas and this consisted of Cherry B's, Babyscham and sherry. Snacks included a box of dates, that no-one ate, but as it was Christmas it was tradition that they were bought! We usually had sweeties and a selection box in our presents.
 On Boxing Day we always went to the annual Pantomime in Blackburn - quite a trek by public transport.
As we got older we used to go and have Christmas Day with our grandparents. My Dad's brother and sister and their families would also be there, which meant 15 in total, however Granny managed to put on such a spread with such limited facilities is a marvel.

As soon after Christmas as possible we wrote Thank-you notes to those who had sent presents. This was never a "chore" but it was expected of us and I used to list things that I had been given. As I grew older there was always talcum powder and bath cubes, even a very tiny bottle of "Californian Poppy" perfume or mini manicure set. My, how times change. We were always grateful for what had been bought for us.

Pastimes

I'm back!! After months of writing about my recovery after my stroke, I have decided that it is time to put some more thoughts down about my childhood.

With very few people owning televisions, entertainment and pastimes revolved around indoor hobbies, but when the weather allowed the best fun was outdoors. We had our own favourites and as life was returning back to normal after the Second World War many of these pastimes had to be "home grown" and inexpensive.

Girls probably imitated mothers by learning to sew, knit or bake - skills learnt an early age. I always loved washing the dishes and helping to wash, which was Monday's custom. I used to go to Mrs. Hogan, who lived on the "Landing" and spend ages messing about with a sink full of water and dishes.

One Christmas I  received a scale model of a "Hoover" washing machine, which was made to work by turning a key in the back. The agitator would go round and suds would appear. On dry days I used to take it out into the backyard and wash my doll's clothes. Mum would take two dining chairs outside and secure string around the chair backs so I could peg out the clothes.

Scrap books were always good fun as was tracing and drawing pictures, sadly I never really progressed in the "Art Department" so I always drew the same kind of house: the one that was square with 4/5 windows, a fence and apple tree. Remember?

I used to collect stamps and Dad would take me to the book shop in Bank Street to make my purchases. Stamps were purchased in glassine bags and there was always the hope that you would find a rare or unusual one. This was a shared interest or hobby and duplicates could be swapped with a friend. Packets of loose tea contained sets of cards: fashion and footballers. Another inexpensive hobby and it was sometimes a race between friends to see who could complete their album first.
Stamp collecting was a good way to learn about other countries and geography, as were pen pals. Some comics used to have a column about children who lived in other countries who were looking for pen pals to write to. For a number of years I used to write to a girl who lived in Manila in The Philippines. We would exchange small and inexpensive gifts that related to our countries and learn about each others culture.

Card games and board games were popular and we owned a "Compendium" of games. This was a collection of games that included Snakes & Ladders, Draughts, Tiddlywinks, Solitaire and Ludo. Cards were, and indeed still are, very versatile, but we had special packs like "Old Maid" and "Happy Families"

Popular authors of that era were Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter - how we loved The Famous Five. I remember that I had "Bobbsey Twins" books that were written by Laura Lee Hope.I was also allowed to have two comics: The Dandy & The Beano before eventually moving on to Jackie & Bunty. Many of the popular comics produced an Annual for Christmas and needless to say these were always on our letter to Santa.

Outdoor street games, many of them group games, were played as often as we could or were allowed: hide and seek, tig, blind man's buff, hopscotch, what time is it Mr. Wolf. Boys would play cricket or football in open spaces or on Fairview playing field and if necessary would improvise by using coats or jumpers for goal posts. The more energetic girls would impress by doing cartwheels, handstands, leap frog or roller skating.


You can follow my progress in my quest to recover from my untimely stroke on my other blog: :http://fivesmallminutes.blogspot.com