British nostalgia

[Neo]

I was born in October 1958 at school I was probably the oldest in my class by birth month.
Kids back then in my town like other English towns kids were invited to the mayors Xmas party, a one off event, you didn't go to another one.
This was 1965. Christmas time A few days before Christmas my father took me in the bedford to the town hall where other kids were standing in line to go in, mum wrapped me up pretty good I can't remember being cold.

The usual stuff was put in front of me. Sandwiches, crisps, cake, orange diluted squash to drink, girls sat either side of me I remember. One was my cousin Katherine, she kept an eye on me and would report my behaviour to my aunt my mothers twin. https://i.postimg.cc/sfZj2Hd2/IMG-9712.jpg (https://postimg.cc/QVhG4bML)


The party had stage performers I remember, clowns and a juggler.

It's funny how I can recall nearly everything from my youth.


At the end of the party as we were told to queue, we were given a present, I clutched it firmly in my hand and and my cousins hand to walked outside to find my father waiting for us to take us home.

Still clutching my present my mother took my coat and warm clothes off and put me in front of the coal fire to warm up, my elder brother watched me like a cat looking at a mouse and asked what present I received, I opened my hand to reveal this in a black plastic cover with a square plastic box.

https://i.postimg.cc/qBN15RzN/IMG-9713.jpg (https://postimg.cc/Rqz13v1m)O

A Winston Churchill Crown.

Winston Churchill died in January 1965

Last year I gave it to my eldest grandson.

[Old Ridge Runner]

My childhood memories are a little different. We would have a party in class before Christmas and New Years vacation. My parents would take my brother and me down to town for the lighting of the town tree. We would stroll through the park looing at all of the little houses with Santa's elves making the toys he would be giving out on Christmas eve. Then we would go into the local department Store and see Santa and get a cup of hot chocolate. On the way home we would stop at the Salvation Army's booth and we would all make a donation; my father would explain it is important to do this so the poor can have a Christmas too.

When we moved to D.C. our parents would take us downtown to the Hecht Co. department store to see window displays. A stop for hot chocolate and a donation to the Salvation Army to make a donation and we were homeward bound.

[Neo]

My childhood memories are a little different. We would have a party in class before Christmas and New Years vacation. My parents would take my brother and me down to town for the lighting of the town tree. We would stroll through the park looing at all of the little houses with Santa's elves making the toys he would be giving out on Christmas eve. Then we would go into the local department Store and see Santa and get a cup of hot chocolate. On the way home we would stop at the Salvation Army's booth and we would all make a donation; my father would explain it is important to do this so the poor can have a Christmas too.

When we moved to D.C. our parents would take us downtown to the Hecht Co. department store to see window displays. A stop for hot chocolate and a donation to the Salvation Army to make a donation and we were homeward bound.
I remember nearly everything from when as a kid I became self aware.

The first Christmas I can remember is my brother and I waking up looking at the red Christmas felt stocking tied to our bed posts.

I am not joking when I tell you I found a white sugar mouse with a rope tail, an orange and a small metal racing car (British racing green)

[Old Ridge Runner]

My most favorite toy at Christmas was a cork rifle and a group of six multi-colored crows. The crows were hanged on a metal rod and when you hit the crows with a cork the crows would spin around the rod. I think the reason I remember this toy more than all the other is because it was my first gun that actually fired a projectile.

[Neo]

This is the toy that stands out in my memory, 1966?

Johnny West and his horse
I must have been a very good boy that year.

https://i.postimg.cc/MK7q1bkx/IMG-9718.jpg (https://postimages.org/).




https://i.postimg.cc/GtN8YF6v/IMG-9717.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Old Ridge Runner]

1966? I'm going to date myself. In 1965 I graduated high school and joined the Navy.

[Conservative Libertarian]

This is the toy that stands out in my memory, 1966?

Johnny West and his horse
I must have been a very good boy that year.

https://i.postimg.cc/MK7q1bkx/IMG-9718.jpg (https://postimages.org/).




https://i.postimg.cc/GtN8YF6v/IMG-9717.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

My brother had Johnny West.

The same company also made similar toys along the line of two different knights. Their horses had wheels on the feet so you could joust. We had those too. Those were some of the toughest toys too. They almost couldn't be destroyed. My brother tried to destroy all of his toys and these were nearly indestructible. They could get beat up looking but not destroyed unless you were playing with fire.

[Neo]

Guy Fawkes night.... November 5th

Every boy of my generation on council house estates made a Guy Fawkes and got money given them.


https://i.postimg.cc/FsD4jzMz/IMG-9719.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Big Wheeler]

For the benefit of those who don't know who Guy Fawkes was,he was a catholic who attempted to blow up parliament in 1605 including king james 1st.Basically we are celebrating the apprehension of a terrorist.Along with his co conspirators he came to a very painful and sticky end.Nobody in those days recommending a rehabilitation as a prison sentence!
Back to modern times I wonder how many of us would like to be rid of the current occupiers of parliament.It's a bit lively since the rochdale election result.

[Neo]

For the benefit of those who don't know who Guy Fawkes was,he was a catholic who attempted to blow up parliament in 1605 including king james 1st.Basically we are celebrating the apprehension of a terrorist.Along with his co conspirators he came to a very painful and sticky end.Nobody in those days recommending a rehabilitation as a prison sentence!
Back to modern times I wonder how many of us would like to be rid of the current occupiers of parliament.It's a bit lively since the rochdale election result.
"Penny for the guy Govenor?"

Guy Fawkes was one of the bravest Catholics of his times, he remained in the tunnels below Parliament guarding the gunpowder, he was caught. He and his co conspirators were tortured of course, others were broken, he was not.
On 5th November he was taken from his cell and taken to hung drawn and quartered, as he climbed the gallows he threw himself off purposely breaking his neck thus saving himself to further torture.


The Tories need stringing up like Mussolini and his mistress, from lampposts outside Parliament for the harm they've done to all of the people who voted for them.

[DonGlock26]

I have one of these in my collection:


https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ghcAAMXQNOZRB2Qe/s-l1200.webp




One of my ancestors from Cornwall (a tin miner most likely) brought it to the US to mine copper in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The tin mines in Cornwall had run out of tin, which had been mined there since the Bronze Age. Cornish miners travelled all over the Commonwealth and to the
US to find employment. It's called the Cornish diaspora.



We eat Cornish pasties to this day.





A pasty (/ˈpæsti/[1]) is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles.[2][3] It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetables, in the middle of a flat shortcrust pastry circle, bringing the edges together in the middle, and crimping over the top to form a seal before baking.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Cornish_Pasty_%28cropped%29.jpeg/220px-Cornish_Pasty_%28cropped%29.jpeg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty

[Neo]

DonGlock26

My paternal ancestors came from a place called Stone, not far from Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire.
As it's close to Lancashire they would have eaten Lancashire Pasties, these are made with carrots instead of Swedes. https://i.postimg.cc/KYjLV8zN/IMG-9721.webp (https://postimg.cc/JywGHmjD)

[Big Wheeler]

"Penny for the guy Govenor?"




The Tories need stringing up like Mussolini and his mistress, from lampposts outside Parliament for the harm they've done to all of the people who voted for them.

Why stop at the tories?Clear out parliament then continue with the house of lords.I'd stop here for a mug of tea while I think how to continue.
Just thought.Before my tea make a space for Bliar,Mandelson and Campbell.

[Neo]

Why stop at the tories?Clear out parliament then continue with the house of lords.I'd stop here for a mug of tea while I think how to continue.
Just thought.Before my tea make a space for Bliar,Mandelson and Campbell.
Blair.... yes he is the man who started the influx of immigrant's, he knew what he was doing just like Biden, Theresa May, Boris, Sunak.... and if that Labour idiot is voted in him too!

[DonGlock26]

@DonGlock26 (https://thepoliticsforums.com/member.php?u=89)

My paternal ancestors came from a place called Stone, not far from Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire.
As it's close to Lancashire they would have eaten Lancashire Pasties, these are made with carrots instead of Swedes. https://i.postimg.cc/KYjLV8zN/IMG-9721.webp (https://postimg.cc/JywGHmjD)

That looks delicious. :thumbsup20:

[Neo]

Apart from "Reform U.K" all the parties will not do anything to stop the illegals or the swathes of immigrants from the commonwealth coming here and being allowed a passport and habitation rights to stay here.

And the people are blind to put up with this colonisation, the British do not see it for what it is, a slow colonisation of foreigners taking over. The house prices, the rents all increasing because of demand. If they think it's expensive now just wait 5-10 years. People who rent will never be able to retire....... it's a national time bomb.

[Neo]

That looks delicious. :thumbsup20:

Greggs sell them nationally. (Limited amount) https://i.postimg.cc/hjrJMJWM/IMG-9722.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Dr. Felix Birdbiter]

1966? I'm going to date myself. In 1965 I graduated high school and joined the Navy.
Beat you out of high school by two years (1963) but joined the Navy in 1965 as well.

I remember my early Christmases standing on the corner in New Orleans, singing for a few bob so I could buy my saintly mother a shot of Beefeater's gin. My younger sister tap danced and was more popular than me for some reason.

[Neo]

By 1976, disco music dominated Billboard charts. Around that time performers like Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Gloria Gaynor, the Brothers Johnson, Earth, Wind & Fire, and many others, were the rage. By the late ’80s, the music shifted gradually changed by focusing on the rhythm and de-emphasizing the lyrics and melody. After all, you dance to the beat, not the words.

Luckily for me my town had great clubs to go and see a lot of American groups in the 70s and 80s

[Physics Hunter]

Cool memories.

A family friend who was from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (a "Uper") introduced us to pasties. Here ancestors were Iron miners. She said the Pastie was lunch. The miners would warm them under their armpit...

In the 60's, when I was 8, I got the greatest Christmas present of all time. A Browning Auto5 20 gauge shotgun. It was the envy of men and boys in the hunting field, like owning a Corvette! It was cut short for a kid. We belonged to two pheasant hunting clubs, one cheap that did not release many birds, and one for Gentlemen and Businessmen
The cheap one meant walking all damned day to maybe shoot at 2 or three birds... There were no stupid water bottles or hydration packs... When you got smart you would carry an apple or two to quench your thirst.
The nice place was like hunting disneyland, they released raised Pheasants every hour. Dad wrote it off as a business expense and regularly took customers out there. I was expected to know the drill and let customers do most of the shooting and not out-perform them or their kids. We would go early, eat a nice ranch style breakfast, hunt the morning and check in our birds (I got to carry the customer's birds...), have a giant cheese burger, fries and a Coke for lunch, then hunt until the customer got tired.
It's kind of crazy when you are 10 and you are driving out to hunt, and Dad says: Watch this kid today, he does not have a lot of control, don't let him shoot you, but don't make him look bad. Every once and a while, they would tell me that I could back up the customer or his kid if they emptied their gun and missed. My time to shine. I would crank my variable choke up to extra full and wait. Invariably they would miss or let one bird get away and I would drop it at an impossible distance; my Dad would say: You scared that bird to death. Everyone would laugh. But I had my moment. Then I would have to miss an easy shot on purpose...

[Neo]

In 1975 at 16 I entered the world totally of men and went to work, getting myself to work was a problem. Fortunately one evening I was giving my dad a hand working on his car and a exschool friend came up to us asking for help, his chain on his moped had come off.
My dad easily fixed it, my exschool friend told us he wanted to sell it, my dad offered him £50

All of my council hose mates had brand new mopeds, Yamaha, Honda, when they saw me riding around they obviously wanted to know how fast the bike went, to lads…speed is king.

This bike was an Italian moped called a Girelli Rekord, 50cc of pulsating power. Not as good looking as the Jap bikes but…it went faster as I was about to show them.

We all drew level on Shakespeare avenue a straight road…..the Yamaha was much faster accelerating but after 400yards I drew level then….the 5 miles an hour faster speed took over, it was warp speed technology to me.

Every young lad my age had a moped to get to work and impress the young chicks at the local youth club..


https://i.postimg.cc/NMtmxcMg/IMG-4271.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Big Wheeler]

Blair.... yes he is the man who started the influx of immigrant's, he knew what he was doing just like Biden, Theresa May, Boris, Sunak.... and if that Labour idiot is voted in him too!
Bliar,then as now,had it in mind to break up the UK.He started with separate parliaments for Scotland,Wales and northern Ireland and continued with his obsession with selling out to europe no doubt hoping for the top job as a reward.In the Middle East wars how many lives is he responsible for?His reward?Middle East Peace Envoy.Someone somewhere has a sense of humour.With his wife as a civil rights lawyer and him on the speech circuitI wouldn't mind half his bank balance.Even now he pops up to put in his 2 pennorth when no one asks.