Do you remember when ....

The Ridger!!! That was it! I worked all over Wirral actually in Neston, Wallasey and Hoylake! The Ritzy!!! Being knocked back next door at 5th Ave was something I always endured! What was the name of the American bar next to the cinema?

louisedvs - my husband is old, just like me ! He actually finished his 5 year apprecticeship 46 years ago !! Think I went to the Ritzy once. but used to go to Leighton Court quite often. Super Reds - where did you work in Hoylake and did you live there ? I used to go sailing on the Marine Lake. Not sure which pub on Frankby Road you mean, Red Cat, Farmer's Arms, Ridger, or one that I can't bring to mind ? Agree, absolutely the best years. <em>edited by amelia on 19/04/2012</em>

Should I continue the nostalgia and geog lessons!!??? And don't say anything louisedv!!!!! Worked in Hoylake for 7 years however lived in the Wirral for 33! We only popped over to West Kirby on special days! Marine Lake! That pub on Frankby Road on a tiny roundabout! And who doesn't remember the legendary Flat Foot Sams???!!!n the best years without a doubt! Ritzy in Bromborough haha OMG this is all fab!

Love Chester with its lovely old Tudor buildings, The Rows, used to go boating on the river and have picnics on the banks. My DH came from Llandudno and I met him whilst he was doing his MANWEB apprenticeship in Hoylake (next door to Meols) ! Been to Flat Foot Sams many times. It was part of the Stanley Hotel where we had our wedding reception. Have friends in Willaston and one of my oldest friends from school lived in Bromborough so know that quite well too. It's a small world ! How old is your Husband? My Brother is 44 and stayed in Meols with a landlady who took in the apprenticeship boys Monday to Friday I will always be a Chester girl at heart, love my home town :-) Very small world!!!

Should I continue the nostalgia and geog lessons!!??? And don't say anything louisedv!!!!! Worked in Hoylake for 7 years however lived in the Wirral for 33! We only popped over to West Kirby on special days! Marine Lake! That pub on Frankby Road on a tiny roundabout! And who doesn't remember the legendary Flat Foot Sams???!!!n the best years without a doubt!

Love Chester with its lovely old Tudor buildings, The Rows, used to go boating on the river and have picnics on the banks. My DH came from Llandudno and I met him whilst he was doing his MANWEB apprenticeship in Hoylake (next door to Meols) ! Been to Flat Foot Sams many times. It was part of the Stanley Hotel where we had our wedding reception. Have friends in Willaston and one of my oldest friends from school lived in Bromborough so know that quite well too. It's a small world !

louisedvs - did you live on the Wirral ? It's a lovely area. I lived in West Kirby until I was 20, then moved to Hoylake, on to Meols when I got married and finally ended up in Dubai ! Hello, i am from Chester. Lived there for 35 years :-) I know Meols well as my Brother did his apprenticeship for MANWEB there :-) Used to go to Flatfoot Sams and so may other places growing up My Sister lives in Willaston and my BIL is from Bromborough :-)

louisedvs - did you live on the Wirral ? It's a lovely area. I lived in West Kirby until I was 20, then moved to Hoylake, on to Meols when I got married and finally ended up in Dubai !

Love this thread and I really am ancient because I can remember nearly all that has been mentioned. Hard to think of things to add to it really but do remember coming home with my Dad one evening to find water cascading down the stairs as a frozen pipe had burst. We had one coal fire in the lounge, an electric one in the wall of the dining room and a free standing one in your bedroom. Ice on the inside of the bedroom window. They seemed to be really hard winters but we also seemed to have lovely summers (rose tinted specs. ??) Pottery covers to go over the milk bottles to keep them cool outside when they were delivered. Stone hot water bottles. Pleated navy blue gym slips for school uniform, navy knickers with a pocket in for your handkerchief and liberty bodices to keep you warm. Going to the Co-op to buy their gorgeous crusty bread and my Mum's dividend number there - 39063. The tubes whizzing overhead to the cashier's office. Local sweet shop that also made their own dandelion and burdock lolly ices - fab. Having summer days out as a family and walking up the Great Orme in Llandudno to see my grandfather. My Dad was born on and lived up there until he left home to get married. Spending most of the summer holidays with friends from school either riding our bikes to various places for picnics, going sailing or to the outdoor swimming pool. We used to buy a season contract but you had to come out at lunchtime as they closed and we would hang around to go back in until early evening. Parents didn't need to worry about us being safe. Dances at the local YMCA when we saw the Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Cilla Black, The Searchers, etc. before they were ever famous. Most Sundays taking the train from West Kirby on the Wirral and then the number 11 tram in Liverpool to go to my Grandmother's. Many of my Mum's brothers, sisters and their children would gather. Often twenty people round the table for roast dinner and high tea later. Happy days and many wonderful memories. edited by amelia on 19/04/2012 We used to do day trips to Llandudno and Prestayn in the school holidays.. West Kirby OMG we used to go there all the time!

I remember all this too. I didn't eat spag bol until I was invited back to a university friend's house and her parents had to politely tell me how to manage it! I remember the TV test card with that girl at the blackboard. getting the bus to school, bags of rubharb rock on a Saturday night after my dad had gone to get his paper. Bored Sundays nothing to do after church, lovely warm summers playing tennis at school and at the local club. We had a party line! Crackerjack and Blue Peter. I could crush a grape! OMG memories

Excuse my ignorance, but why did they have machine guns? Did you live in a guarded compound?

Machine guns!?! Where was that?

My mom still has a VCR which we got out last week when I was back home in the UK to watch family videos of when we were kids. My four year old took one look at the video tape for the VCR and asked where do we put the CD in?!! I have to admit that I don't know most of the things on the OP's original list, but in comparison to my kids even I feel ancient sometimes!

I remember all this too. I didn't eat spag bol until I was invited back to a university friend's house and her parents had to politely tell me how to manage it! I remember the TV test card with that girl at the blackboard. getting the bus to school, bags of rubharb rock on a Saturday night after my dad had gone to get his paper. Bored Sundays nothing to do after church, lovely warm summers playing tennis at school and at the local club. We had a party line! Crackerjack and Blue Peter.

Love this thread and I really am ancient because I can remember nearly all that has been mentioned. Hard to think of things to add to it really but do remember coming home with my Dad one evening to find water cascading down the stairs as a frozen pipe had burst. We had one coal fire in the lounge, an electric one in the wall of the dining room and a free standing one in your bedroom. Ice on the inside of the bedroom window. They seemed to be really hard winters but we also seemed to have lovely summers (rose tinted specs. ??) Pottery covers to go over the milk bottles to keep them cool outside when they were delivered. Stone hot water bottles. Pleated navy blue gym slips for school uniform, navy knickers with a pocket in for your handkerchief and liberty bodices to keep you warm. Going to the Co-op to buy their gorgeous crusty bread and my Mum's dividend number there - 39063. The tubes whizzing overhead to the cashier's office. Local sweet shop that also made their own dandelion and burdock lolly ices - fab. Having summer days out as a family and walking up the Great Orme in Llandudno to see my grandfather. My Dad was born on and lived up there until he left home to get married. Spending most of the summer holidays with friends from school either riding our bikes to various places for picnics, going sailing or to the outdoor swimming pool. We used to buy a season contract but you had to come out at lunchtime as they closed and we would hang around to go back in until early evening. Parents didn't need to worry about us being safe. Dances at the local YMCA when we saw the Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Cilla Black, The Searchers, etc. before they were ever famous. Most Sundays taking the train from West Kirby on the Wirral and then the number 11 tram in Liverpool to go to my Grandmother's. Many of my Mum's brothers, sisters and their children would gather. Often twenty people round the table for roast dinner and high tea later. Happy days and many wonderful memories. <em>edited by amelia on 19/04/2012</em>

Wow such memories and I do remember so much of the below and yes I too must be ancient! The comment that made me laugh the most were the insurance man coming for the premiums and the party line on the phone! We used to go to my Grandmas every Saturday afternoon, my dad and uncles would be in the pub and then come and join us and we would all sit and watch the football results on the teleprinter thingy on BBC Sport! I remember before we had central heating and double glazing and only one gas fire in the lounge and my mum would warm my clothes in front of the fire and I would run downstairs in my undies to get dresssed! Special memory for me, walking down Ashton Old Road in Manchester as we used to stay with the Grandma in the holidays and we went to the corner shop for Iced Gem biscuits and BlackJack sweets and pop tar bubbles on the road on the way back - we thought it was so hot! We had to wait for our lunch till my uncle came back from the local swimming baths as he went there for a bath as my Grandma had all outside facilities! She had a pot under the bed lol! Happy Days!

using a phone box down the road, cos we never had a phone until 1981. oxo crisps and spangles. changing the bulb thingy in the back of the tele once a year when it popped and having to get up and actually press buttons or turn the button to change the channels. gas mantles in my grandmothers caravan and no heating. boring boring - sunday dinners and the london paladium or black and white minstrel show. having to walk every where or catch the bus. small supermarkets where everyone knew your name. scrumpy for a penny a pack ( scrumpy was the old and odd bits of batter left in the fryer from the battered fish, they used to sell it off for a penny a big bag) . everything cooked in lard. thinking that my friend across the road was odd and rather exotic because they ate spaghetti bolognese ( this was early 60's). roller skating on 4 wheels. skipping with friends in the street for hours and hours. the pop man calling on a friday. disco dancing.

I am from a world of 3 TV channels! When people borrowed our home phone they would pop 2p in the money box next to the phone to pay for their call! 5 pence worth of 1/2 pence sweets.. after swim class... brill, made swimming worthwhile cos the pool was always freezing.

My father used to tell me that when he was growing up in the 1950s, his mother would send him outside in the morning when there was no school and he was on his own until bedtime but came home for mealtimes. I think that was normal practice back then. Can anyone imagine doing that nowadays?

ahhhh! Those were the days!! But these days are very good tooo! Can't imagine myself without my extra limb....my cell phone!

Oh and I am so sorry Debliz, got sidetracked seeing louisedvs! Oh I remember the small coke bottles, the black and white tv, milk bottles, no computers so playing in the streets without fear or care. And yes, we ate at home every day, family get togethers were often and mostly everyone made an effort to meet up and get along. Long, quiet, lazy summer days with just the sound of fluttering pigeons....I used to meet my cousins every summer till we were in high school and even after.....my DD hardly ever meets anyone from the extended family coz they are all far apart in their ages and locations...I wish she had seen those days...

This is brilliant...memories of the lowcocks wagon delivering pop, my mams twintub washing machine out on a sunday morning and my grans mangle on her wash days, candlewick bed throws and playing british bulldogs and marbles out on the streets, lets not forget hopscotch ( my favourite ) getting the first generation atari console with space invaders and pacman, half penny dainty toffees and bergerac!!....watching bucks fizz win eurovision and the royal wedding on a tv that you had to get up and turn over manually, sitting in front of the fire to dry your hair on a sunday night before school and wearing white knee high socks and buckled shoes for school!!!! Fond memories :-) Im 40 btw..:-) <em>edited by aplouman on 18/04/2012</em>

This post made me very nostalgic and gave me goose bumps No X Boxes or playstations and come rain or shine we were kicked out of the house during all holidays, weekends and school nights and only came back if we were hungry or had to be home. No computers, no mobile phones. Gosh the world was a better place back then No fast food except from the chippy on a Friday! We didnt even have a freezer until chest freezers in the garage became trendy. Until then it was a tiny freezer in the fridge that held ice pops and fish fingers haha The good old days :-) True, I was out and about every day, no phone, mother didn't know where I was until I returned home around 9pm. I remember our party line, it was constantly in use by the other party :) Played out on the streets every day after school and weekends in all weathers with all the other kids who were kicked out of their homes so their mothers could have peace and quiet. We had a TV that operated with 50ps and a larder before our fridge (with the ice pops and fish fingers in the wee freezer bit). Life was definitely much slower paced than it is today.

loiusedvs! desperately need your help!!! Please please write to me at niari70 at gmail dot com. Please!! I know I am sounding hysterical but it's really something you had mentioned on a couple of threads. I will be sooo grateful!! x

you used to get letters through the post from penpals! I'm going to dig out my old letters and try & find him.

This post made me very nostalgic and gave me goose bumps No X Boxes or playstations and come rain or shine we were kicked out of the house during all holidays, weekends and school nights and only came back if we were hungry or had to be home. No computers, no mobile phones. Gosh the world was a better place back then No fast food except from the chippy on a Friday! We didnt even have a freezer until chest freezers in the garage became trendy. Until then it was a tiny freezer in the fridge that held ice pops and fish fingers haha The good old days :-)

Debliz,thanks for the walk down memory lane.... I fall under the positively ancient category ! LOL When the first Ccards came out DH and I got one strictly for medical emergency reasons. The warnings from our parents about this plastic money were dire. It took a long time to convince the folks that plastic money was legit. Another thing that stands out for me was the bliss of life without the cell phone.I had a pager for business,it made me contactable but at a time and place which was convenient. The younger generation today are expected to be on duty 24/7 which IMHO is causing the stress related medical issues of the times. My fear is that with the way things are going with the texting generation, people are going to lose the art of sitting and having a faceto face conversatin with each other. Just the thoughts of a "positively ancient " person LOL:)

Fizzy pop (Dandelion & Burdock, Limeade and Cherryade) in glass bottles, that you could take the empties back to the 'paper shop' and get 10p back per bottle. I used to love that, my mum used to save them up and then I'd take loads to the shop on my bike in one go (a carrier bag full hanging on either side of my handle bars) and she'd let me spend the money I got back on sweets - 10p mixes (20 half penny chews) :-)

Yay!! I am still young, not bad for someone in the mid 30's!!