Hot summers where as kids we played with melted road gas tar. Mum's face when we came home coated in the stuff and the lard she used to try to get it off our skin and clothes. I love lard

Lard

Lard was preferred method for removing melted gas tar on clothes and skin from hot summer days digging tar off the road

British Bulldog!

Jimmymaccer wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 4:39 am

Hills pop………..especially dandelion and burdock, and sarsaparilla.

Factory in Padiham

I worked at Hills on Wyre Street 70/71.

Margarine and Sugar, the Swarfega of the 50/60's.

Some strange characters in the 60s

The lad who used to walk around with a sombrero and a bandolier full of coloured felt tips. Never knew his name.

Walter Snakeface who was always docker picking.

Bloody nettles - they seemed to be everywhere.

In the absence of widespread mental health services there wasn’t half some characters in the 70’s/80’s.

In Manc we used to have a old guy known as “John the Baptist” , long white hair ,stripped to the waist ( think Jimmy Savile-esque looks) used to ride a huge old 3 wheel bike in all weathers literally swearing his head off at no one in particular.

10p bubble gum.
10p packets of space invaders - 35p now!

Can anyone remember getting Hollands steak & kidney puddings from the chippy in a tin instead of tin foil and when you took it back you got a refund on it.
Such happy days then unlike today, I'm to frightened to even go out to the chippy these days

Colburn_Claret wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:41 pm

It was pre Monty Python, because Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke Taylor were in the sketch, but I can't remember which show.

"At last the 1948 show"

I don't remember the 1970s as a land of peaceful milk and honey. Casual violence was pretty rife, but I don't recollect any large no-go areas, unlike today.

Clovius Boofus wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:53 am

I don't remember the 1970s as a land of peaceful milk and honey. Casual violence was pretty rife, but I don't recollect any large no-go areas, unlike today.

The difference being pulling a blade in the 70s & now you pull a shooter & it's not a Mickey mouse water pistol.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:55 am

The difference being pulling a blade in the 70s & now you pull a shooter & it's not a Mickey mouse water pistol.

Yep, and far more likely to happen in the large no-go zones than the leafy burbs.

Anyway, back to discussing the merits of Angel Delight and Bentos tinned muck.

Chobulous wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 9:59 am

Some strange characters in the 60s

The lad who used to walk around with a sombrero and a bandolier full of coloured felt tips. Never knew his name.

Walter Snakeface who was always docker picking.

Just remembered Dickie Pump, I think he was the guy that sold newspapers from a news stand at the bottom of Manchester Rd

No wrong again, that’s the club on Tunnel Street

Chobulous wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 9:59 am

Some strange characters in the 60s

The lad who used to walk around with a sombrero and a bandolier full of coloured felt tips. Never knew his name.

I believe he was called John Hopkins.

Buying single cigarettes from the shop near school....

White dog muck

Who remembers polio?

Having nowhere to go on Sunday because everything except the churches was closed.

Buying a loaf of bread from the back door of the shop.

Teddy Boys, they used to hang around the Concorde Bar and Grill.

The Pervy bits
Lying at the bottom of the stairs so you could see up your sister’s skirt when she went up (mine was 8 years older than me)
Asking your mother where the Freeman’s catalogue was (the older guys on the thread will understand)

School - pop-up fights, where the word spread fast and everyone gathered in a circle to watch it go down

When technology started to kick in as Christmas presents
- ComputaCar (sp?)
- Scalectrix
- Chemistry set (can’t remember the brand but I managed to smooth the popcorn ceiling in the bathroom when my test tube exploded)
- Joe 90 spy briefcase
- Johnny Seven

Carpet that stopped short of the edges of the room. That gap became my marbles racetrack

And as for white dog poo…… too many of you are not aware of one of the classic threads from this very forum (other one)

JohnMac wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:34 pm

And my favourite, Corned Beef Hash...
Technically South American, Fray Bentos tried to kill us in the '60's

Funny have been looking into Fray Bentos which is a town in Uruguay and yep they do a tour of their factory pies and all , half and half thinking of doing it as will be in Uruguay in December .

Open door double decker buses with those curved stair cases. Needed to get a firm grip on the rail on those stairs as the bus set off with a lurch. The conductor with their ticket machines. Recall the smell of the clutch burning as the buses negotiated the canal bridge on Manny Rd.

Walking to the local Co-op with the string bag and handing over mums shopping list with the "divi" number - always remember it began with a 96....

Fishing with jam jar for sticklebacks in the cut.
The cut swimming pool ( culvert bridge used in summer).

Rowing ( skiffs?) boats and motor boats in Thompson park - impatiently waiting in a long queue on summer afternoons.
The park rangers ( we called them yogi bears) on their motorbikes/scooters coming to lock up the parks.

Old changing rooms and cold showers on Towneley football fields.

Smell of, and getting covered with, smoke from steam trains passing beneath bridges and at Manny Rd station. ( sulphurous !) I remember Manny Rd station to be very busy - porters wheeling sack trolleys and plenty of people milling about. There used to be some small, single storey (wooden construction?) shops just on the road above the station - as there was on at corner of Rossendale Rd/Manny Rd and bottom end of West gate.

Nori1958 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:28 am

Buying single cigarettes from the shop near school....

Kids knocking on the door to ask if my Dad could lend their Dad a fag.

I'd forgotten that some cigarettes were sold in packs of 10, Players No 10, and there was a Gold Packet the name evades me. 3 drags and it was gone. If you smoked Players No 6 you were posh.
My Gran used to smoke Senior Service, untipped, and she could sit there knitting, and the cigarette would never leave her lip. I'd watch fascinated to see how long the ash would get before it fell off. When I got older and started pinching the odd one, I found it impossible to smoke them without getting the end as soggy as hell.

Here goes
The Mexican bandit guy I think was called Patrick Carlisle?
Helping Les from the paper shop in Hammerton St loaf all his stock into the back of his van every night as he had most burgled shop in north west!
Telling park warden (yogi) he couldn’t touch us cos we weren’t in park then park warden chucking us into park to deal with us
Doorman at Ribble Club throwing people in
Lucas social club- great place
70s away days - frightening and brilliant at same time
Walking from Holy Trinity to central baths on Mondays
Getting money for a bag of old clothes at a place in Cow Lane(?)
Smell from Masseys Brewery
Sitting on wall watching grown men dressed as cowboys going into Ponderosa Club
Standing at bottom of Albion St looking up before trafalgar flats
Thinking the new Keirby Hotel was a cool building!

The smell of the fresh bread from the local Bakers. I haven't smelt it for 50 years, but it's still there as a wonderful memory.
Is anyone fortunate to still have a local Bakers, that does their own bread.

NRC wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:29 pm

The Pervy bits
Lying at the bottom of the stairs so you could see up your sister’s skirt when she went up (mine was 8 years older than me)

Pardon?

Who remembers incest?

Stunning Bees with lolly pop sticks and then putting them into my dinky racing cars and racing them down the front path, smashing bottles round the back of Cowburns Pop Factory. PS the Bees wern't stunning they were stunned.

Socrates wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:08 pm

Pardon?

Yeah I had the same thought as you... bit odd is a mild understatement

ChrisG wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:25 pm

Yeah I had the same thought as you... bit odd is a mild understatement

Even more odder admitting to it all these years later

DCWat wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 08, 2023 6:28 pm

We used to take the empty Barrs pop bottles back to the shop for 10p per bottle, I think it was.

We'd go round the back of that shop and nick the empty bottles so we could get the return fee.

Playing 'slam' against the mill gates.
Early morning paper round ...mine was up Winewall all the way to the farms up top.
The Coalmen delivering bags.......covered in coal dust, what a job.
Raiding allotments.
Breaking windows in disused Mills
One bath a week (Sunday).
Liver, Braising steak, Sausages & spare ribs.
Everyone had license to give you a good clout round the head.

Nori1958 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:38 pm

Even more odder admitting to it all these years later

So the Freeman's catalog one gets off Scot-free then?

Having a cassette recorder with a plug in mike and recording the top of the pops on a Sunday and trying to pause it and restart without getting the chatty dj all over the recording

All this stuff sounds absolutely ****.

NRC wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 5:47 pm

So the Freeman's catalog one gets off Scot-free then?

Not quite in the same category as perving after your sister

The sister comment is creeping me out. He also said it like it was a common thing to do. Pass the sick bucket.

Colburn_Claret wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:56 pm

The smell of the fresh bread from the local Bakers. I haven't smelt it for 50 years, but it's still there as a wonderful memory.
Is anyone fortunate to still have a local Bakers, that does their own bread.

Beamish has a old bakery it's worth a visit if you haven't been there before, the 50 years will come back with other things as well.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:31 pm

Beamish has a old bakery it's worth a visit if you haven't been there before, the 50 years will come back with other things as well.

I haven't been to Beamish for 25 years, high time I went back again. Cheers

I remember when you walked down Westgate towards the Massey’s brewery, you got that strong smell of hops and other brewing odours, which got stronger as you approached the brewery itself until it became almost overpowering.

Colburn_Claret wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:58 pm

I haven't been to Beamish for 25 years, high time I went back again. Cheers

It's pretty much on my doorstep you can get a yearly pass to be cost effective but probably not so if you are only visiting once per year factoring in travelling costs.

NRC wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 5:47 pm

So the Freeman's catalog one gets off Scot-free then?

Knocking one out over some catalogue models is a bit more socially acceptable than your siblings.

Jakubclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 7:06 pm

It's pretty much on my doorstep you can get a yearly pass to be cost effective but probably not so if you are only visiting once per year factoring in travelling costs.

I'm in Catterick, so it's only an hour.

Colburn_Claret wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:53 pm

Kids knocking on the door to ask if my Dad could lend their Dad a fag.

I'd forgotten that some cigarettes were sold in packs of 10, Players No 10, and there was a Gold Packet the name evades me. 3 drags and it was gone. If you smoked Players No 6 you were posh.
My Gran used to smoke Senior Service, untipped, and she could sit there knitting, and the cigarette would never leave her lip. I'd watch fascinated to see how long the ash would get before it fell off. When I got older and started pinching the odd one, I found it impossible to smoke them without getting the end as soggy as hell.

Park Drive sold packs of five.....we used to buy them '69 '70.

Colne Dynamoes