Jewellery

When I was a child men only ever wore a wristwatch and sometimes a signet ring. Rarely a wedding ring. Women, however, had a few more adornments. A married woman wore a wedding ring and an engagement ring. Wristwatches for women were dainty and pretty.

Most women in my childhood didn’t have pierced ears. When dressing up and going out they would sometimes wear a pair of clip on earrings. These were usually either diamanté or pearl.

Pearls (real or fake) and other beads were very popular as necklaces, mainly for occasions.

An item which is less often seen now is the brooch. Neither my mum nor my grandmothers ever left the house in a coat or a jacket without a brooch on the lapel. Even girls wore brooches on coats and they were a popular gift to buy for sisters, friends, mothers and grandmothers. I have a few brooches which were my mum’s and my grandmothers’ and also a few of mine from when I was a young girl – because young girls wore them too.

My grandmother loved this brooch and wore it a lot. It’s from the late 1950s.

Three very old brooches which my other grandmother gave me (she knew I loved old things with a story!). They had been in the family since Victorian times so were probably my great grandmother’s.

At one time one of us, probably me or my sister rather than my brother, had been given a brooch making kit as a present. Crafting kits were very popular back in the 50s! It was a kit for making brooches out of felt shapes and included a brooch pin to put on the back. We made my grandmother one and she proudly pinned it on the lapel of her coat and there it stayed for ages. We thought it was beautiful, it was probably awful!

On the subject of grandmothers, neither of mine ever left the house without a hat on. They were both born in the 1890s so were Victorian babies. Their hats always had a hatpin or two in them. I’ve looked hatpins up and I found that ‘They were a fashion necessity in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.’ In earlier times women always had long hair, not short and wore it piled up on top, never loose. The hat pin went into the fabric of the hat, through the pile of tied up hair and out the other side. This kept the hat in position and stopped it blowing away in a breeze. But they were also a form of jewellery as the head of the pin became more and more ornamented. They are now quite collectible, especially the ones with precious and semi-precious stones and pearls.

Pierced navels, lips, eyebrows etc were yet to come!

This is a personal blog and not a historical document. I check facts thoroughly but my posts are mostly my recollections. Credit to Google, Google Images and Wikipedia. I try to avoid infringing copyright but if anyone objects to an image being used please contact me and it will be removed.

The Old Red Telephone Box

Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1924, the first red phone box appeared on Britain’s streets two years later. The design went from K1 (Kiosk 1) to K8 (Kiosk 8) and was finally replaced by the KX. The K6, which was designed in 1935, was designed to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of George V. It was consequently sometimes known as the “Jubilee” kiosk. It went into production in 1936. The K6 was the first red telephone kiosk to be extensively used outside London, and many thousands were deployed in virtually every town and city, replacing most of the existing kiosks and establishing thousands of new sites. In 1935 there had been 19,000 public telephones in the UK: by 1940, thanks to the K6, there were 35,000.

Public telephones were an essential part of life until relatively recently when mobile phones arrived on the scene. When I was a child most homes didn’t have a phone in the house. Even if you did, once you were away from home the red phone boxes were plentiful. The photograph below is what the interiors of phone boxes were like when I was growing up. A local call cost 4d – four old pence – and took four penny coins. When your call had been put through you posted your four coins into the slot and pressed button A when it was answered. If it wasn’t answered (no answering system in those days!) you pressed Button B and got your coins back. There was a shelf in the kiosk which held a telephone directory. When I was in my teens and old enough to go out with friends in the evening at a weekend, my dad always made sure I had four penny coins with me in case I needed to call home for a lift or some other reason.

The old 1d (one penny) coin which was enormous compared to today’s coins.

Although their number and use has declined in recent years, many of them have already been repurposed by communities. Through the ‘adoption scheme’, for just £1, more than 5,000 communities have turned our iconic red phone boxes into something that brings value and enjoyment to local people – from libraries, to food banks, and defibrillators.

Some communities have adopted kiosks as libraries or book exchanges.

Many kiosks now serve as defibrillators.

The following three are are pictures of phone boxes not far from me which are used as mini art galleries and museums with exhibitions changed regularly.

A picture of a so-called ‘phone box graveyard’.

The KX which replaced the traditional red kiosk. Even these are few and far between now.

As always, credit to Wikipedia and Google Images. I make every effort to avoid infringing copyright but if anyone objects to the use of any image or info in my posts, contact me and it will be removed.

Obsolete Household Equipment

Recently, I reached into my kitchen drawer for something and my mind wandered on to how household gadgets and equipment have changed over the years. I started thinking about items which, back in the 1950s here in Britain, were in every household. Some of these are virtually unknown now, others are still seen in some households but are no longer commonplace.

LAUNDRY

In the 1950s here in Britain there were no washing machines. My mum got her first one in the late 60s and it was nothing like the ones we use now! It seemed like luxury but was really very basic. Before that, clothes were washed by hand. the aids which most people used were 1.) a washboard or rubbing board. Wet soapy clothes were rubbed up and down against it to loosen the dirt. 2.) a mangle or wringer to squeeze more water out of the clothes than hand wringing could, thus shortening drying time, 3.) once people were electrified, a water boiler was invented – here the main brand was Burco – which was basically a very large electric kettle which enabled people (women!) to heat larger quantities of water for family laundry. My earliest memories of laundry in the 50s are the Burco boiler combined with the old fashioned mangle. The washing tongs was essential for dragging clothes out of boiling hot suds into the rinsing water. They were wooden with a meal joint at the top Big hand wash items, such a blankets from the beds, were washed in the bath.

Mangle

MAQUINÁRIO 4 - Hand-operated mangle used to wring water from wet laundry at a mental health hospital in Victoria, Australia, circa Manufactured by Nicoll, G. Vintage Iron, Vintage Tools, Mental Health Hospitals, Old Washing Machine, Washing Machines, Vintage Furniture, Furniture Design, Wash Tubs, Vintage Laundry

Always used outside because the water just ran straight out of the wrung clothes onto the floor.

Washboard/ rubbing board

Washboards | Old washboards, Vintage laundry, Washboard

Burco Boiler

Vintage Burco Boiler for sale in UK | View 23 bargains

Washing Tongs

VINTAGE WOODEN LAUNDRY washing tongs metal spring kitchenalia ...

CLEANING

Before the days of fitted carets and vacuum cleaners, there were loose rugs and mats which were cleaned by being shaken and beaten outside, There was also a non-electric gadget called a carpet sweeper which was use for picking up bits and fluff in between beatings.

Carpet beater

Rattan Rug Beater - Home Decorating Ideas & Interior Design

Carpet sweeper

Pin on Bissell Through the Ages

COOKING

Mincer

VINTAGE 1950'S MEAT MINCER - SPONG 701 WITH WOODEN HANDLE - PLEASE ...

My mum used her mincer every week. Each weekend we had a joint of meat for Sunday lunch in true British style. The leftover meat was minced on Monday and turned into something ese like shepherd’s pie. The gadget clamped on to a table and you fed lumps of meat into the top, turned the handle and minced meat came out of the front.

Jelly mould

Vintage 1950's Aluminium Rabbit Jelly Mould, Chocolate Mould ...

No children’s birthday party would have been complete without jelly! Weekday jelly was just made in a bowl but for special occasions you could use a mould. I’ve chosen this photograph because it’s exactly like the one my mum had. The rabbit jelly was always the centrepiece of the birthday tea.

Pyrex

1920s vintage Pyrex Ad

Pyrex was the what every modern kitchen had to have in the 50s and 60s! Young couples were bought Pyrex oven to table wear as wedding presents,

Hand whisk and rotary beater.

The Magic Whisk | Etsy Blog – Australia Stainless Steel Collectable Small Kitchen Hand Mixers for sale | eBay

The electric hand held mixer and later the food processor (remember the name Kenwood Chef?) rendered the rotary whisk obsolete.

THE BEDROOM

Chamber pot

Antique/vintage small cream china potty or planter dated | Etsy

Many of the households I was familiar with as a child didn’t have indoor plumbing. This included my paternal grandparents’ house. When the facilities are at the bottom of the garden, the chamber pot or ‘potty’ was under the bed ready for you.

THE BEDROOM

Paraffin heater

paraffin | Remembrance of Things Past

My dad had one in his greenhouse and we three children had one in the bedroom in winter to take the chill off the air as we were getting ready for bed, also in the morning when we were getting up. Central heating was a long way in the future when I was young!

Eiderdown

Pretty Vintage Quilt Eiderdown C.1950s Rosy Floral Shabby Chic ...

Back in the 50’s in Britain, bedding consisted of a top sheet, a bottom sheet, woollen blankets, a coverlet or bedspread and an eiderdown which was a feather stuffed quilt and a sort of precursor to the modern duvet.

Candlewick Bedspread So new and stylish in the 1950s!

Irish Candlewick Bedspread from 1950s Pink peach color with white ...

The Dawn of the Plastic Era.

Plastic are in the news every day just now. Although the problem isn’t new there is now an increased awareness of the damage we are doing to the planet by continuing to use non biodegradable plastics.

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This is not going to be a historical or scientific post about the invention and use of plastics. Those facts are readily available on the Internet – and make fascinating reading! This post is about how I remember plastics arriving in our lives in the 50s and quickly reaching every aspect of our lives over the next few decades.

I do remember some of our toys being plastic. I also remember toys made of tin which sounds really odd now! On one occasion when I was quite young I was bought a small doll as a present. I remember showing my mum the letters and numbers embossed in the plastic somewhere on the body of the doll. I thought the doll’s name was Pat which was also my mum’s name. What I had seen was the patenting information which began with Pat but actually said ‘Pat. pending, Pat. applied for or Pat. number’ which seemed to be on a lot of items then.

Picnic ware from my early childhood was enamelled metal. Remember the white mugs and plates with a blue edge? Later on we had plastic beakers for garden and picnic use.

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My baby doll, which I received for Christmas when I was about eight, was made of pottery. She wasn’t a shelf doll, made to collect and display. She was for playing with and I had years of fun with her. I must have been quite a careful child as I still have her. Three years later my sister was given a baby doll and she was made of a soft pink plastic.

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Apart from the creeping in of plastic toys and housewares, there are other everyday differences which come to mind. Bread was wrapped in tissue at the baker’s, fish and meat wrapped in greaseproof paper and then an outer layer of brown paper or newspaper. Fruit and veg was weighed and put into brown paper bags. Sweets were weighed out from large jars into white paper bags. Packaged food came in tins, packets or boxes. All this shopping was put into shopping bags brought from home or brown paper ones provided by the shop. Larger quantities would be carried or delivered in a cardboard box.

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At home, leftovers were covered with an upturned plate or bowl to keep the, fresh. There was no such thing as cling film. Milk bottles and pop bottles were all glass and all returnable. No food was sold in plastic pots, bags or containers of any sort.

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School Uniform in the 1960s.

There have always been school uniforms and certain features never change – dark colours, ties, blazers, badges etc. One of the main things I remember about wearing a school uniform is that it was a rite of passage. Back in those times, in Britain, state primary schools didn’t normally have uniforms. My first school uniform was my high school one. How exciting it was, during that summer, to buy all the items on the list in readiness for moving into my new school in September! Learning to tie a tie was one of my tasks over the summer holiday before moving up to ‘big school’.

At that time, in my school and probably most others, the first and second year pupils wore gymslips (girls) and short trousers (boys). A gymslip, for those unfamiliar with the term, is not an item of gym wear but a pinafore dress, much like a skirt with a bib top. In your third year, as you were coming up to 13 years old, girls moved on to skirts and boys to long trousers. With the skirts, gymslips and short trousers we wore long socks. Girls wore short white ankle socks in summer. Under the skirt or gymslip we wore big, thick navy knickers. They were worn over normal white cotton pants so I can only think they were for warmth and maybe decency – in case your skirt blew up? They were perhaps the least favoured item of uniform.

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The hat was an intrinsic part of the uniform. In our school the girls wore berets, the boys caps. Our berets were called tams. The hat had to be worn whenever you were outside the school premises in your uniform, even if it was well outside school hours. If a member of staff or a prefect spotted you in the town without your hat on you were punished. Most girls pushed the limit by clipping the hat so far on to the back of the head that they looked as though they had no hat on – which was also punishable! We had uniform scarves too, and navy belted gaberdine macs.

There was no choice of school bag style – it was a leather satchel. I had the same one all the way through high school – seven years! On PE day the regulation sports bag was a navy duffel bag.

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This is a photograph of a group of girls from my school with two teachers showing the shirts, ties, skirts (regulation length – although we used to roll the waistband over when there were no teachers looking to make them more like mini-skirts) and the white ankle socks.

As an afterthought, here is a photograph of all the staff at my high school in the mid 60s – no uniform except for the fact that those who had degrees taught in black gowns. . . .

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. . . and one of a class (we called them forms) with their form teacher for that year, who was our Geography master.

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In the Kitchen.

One of the things which has changed a lot since I was a child is the equipment used in the kitchen. Here are some things you might remember seeing used in the 50s and 60s.

Every home had a mincer. This was clamped to the work surface or table top and food (mostly meat) was fed in through the top. As the handle was turned minced food came out of the front. My mum normally used it for mincing cold leftover roast meat on a Monday and using the minced meat, in pies, rissoles (who ever uses that word now?) etc.

The picture above shows a mill which also ground food up using a slightly different mechanism. This lighter weight gadget was for herbs such as parsley and mint.

This is a pressure cooker. My mum cooked all her vegetables and all her soups and stews in hers. They were considered to be very high tech and they cut the cooking time to a third. The vegetables sat above the water and were steamed losing less goodness – although I don’t think anyone thought about that then.

bowl We all have mixing bowls but back then many of them were this colour and design.

whisk

This is how eggs and cream were whisked before electric mixers and food processors.

plate Every household had enamel ware in different shapes and sizes. All tarts and pies in our house were baked in these.

The ubiquitous lemon squeezer! The design has not changed but then they were all glass. I still have (and use) my mum’s.

tea-strainer Less common now since tea bags arrived on the scene, but back in the ‘old days’ you couldn’t make tea without using a tea strainer.

This blue glass and chrome ware was extremely popular. My mum just had a sugar bowl (for best!) and I thought it was beautiful.

egg-slicer When I was a child every salad had sliced boiled egg on the top. I used to sneak into the pantry and puck the wires to play a tune and if my mum heard she would tell me off thinking I would snap the wires. I now play guitar – perhaps that’s where it all started?

pastry-tool funnel

The first picture above shows a tool for rubbing fat into flour for pastry and dough mixtures. You can now buy them again and I wouldn’t be without mine! The middle one I remember seeing but have no clear memory of what it was used for. Cutting potatoes for wiggly chips perhaps? The third one is a pie funnel. You can now by some great ones if different shapes and designs but they used to be just plain white china. My mum didn’t have one but always used a china egg-cup placed upside down in the pie.

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This is one of my favourites. I hadn’t seen one for years until recently when they reappeared in the shops. My mum used one for all weighing and measuring. They are brilliant. I now have one and no longer use a kitchen scale. The design hasn’t changed in decades. The only difference is the use of metric instead of imperial measures.

Telephones.

First of all, the word. Hardly anyone says telephone now. Phone is the word. Anyway, I thought I would cover phones in this post. A friend gave me the idea – thanks, Lynn! I have touched on them in an earlier post when I talked about communication but this is to be solely on telephones.

We didn’t have a phone when I was very small. I remember the telegraph poles and wires being put up when we got our first phone. It would have been the mid 1950’s. It was SO exciting!

It looked like this one. The cables were cloth covered as all cables were in those days. There were letters and numbers on the dial. In areas where you could dial direct you dialled a three-letter prefix first, then the number. My brother, sister and I used to fantasise about inventing a phone with pictures so you could see who you were talking to – never thinking it would ever be possible. Now Skype and Face Time are household words.

Our first telephone number was 9. We called the village post office (number 1) to be put through to anywhere outside the village.When, a few years later, we were linked up to the town exchange we became 209. The switchboard in the village shop looked a bit like this one and is now in a museum.

switchboard

Public phone boxes were well used and equipped with directories which were kept on the shelves which can be seen in the photograph. I never saw one then with broken windows or without the directories.

ab-phone-box-inside

Our next style of telephone at home was one we considered very stylish as it was a more modern shape and was not in the original black but cream. The cable was plastic coated and spiral coiled.

cream phone

Here a few examples of the different phones I have lived with since then.

Moving beyond the 60s, my first house phone as an adult was a design known as a Trimphone. It was lightweight, streamlined and had a distinctive new ring. Amost a chirrup or trill rather than a ‘bring’.

Trimphone

early cordless.png An early cordless. How cool it seemed at the time to be able to walk around with your phone – and to have two or three in different rooms!

Motorola_DPC550 My first mobile phone! It lived in the car and I brought it in every few months to charge it. The battery alone was massive – it’s the hump on the back of the phone. Mine had no letters, just numbers, so it was pre-texting. It was for emergencies – car breakdowns etc. The weight and size of it meant carrying it around in a pocket or a handbag was not a good option. And yes, you had to pull the aerial out to use it. I recently sold it on Ebay for £30. Since then mobile phones have grown smaller and smaller and are now getting bigger again now that we are in the age of the smart phone – slimmer and lighter than my old Motorola, though!

Childhood Memories of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s.

'Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.' Chilli Davis

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