Four Yorkshiremen

[sage]

In tribute to our very own Tim Brooke-Taylor, has anyone got any stories or jokes about how poor they were as kids.

When I was 3 and 4, I had to share a double bed with my brothers who were 4,5 and 10 years older than me. They all used to argue about who had to sleep next to their 3 year old brother for obvious reasons.

[GboroRam]

During the miner's strike I was introduced to the concept of Bacon Shapes as a sandwich filler.

Fry the bacon, put it on the buttered bread, press down and remove the bacon. One bacon shapes sandwich.

[Mucker1884]

Sister 1 had her own (small) bedroom.  I shared a (decent sized) bedroom with sisters 2 & 3 (I was child 4).  I didn't get that small bedroom to myself until I was about 10, and big sis moved out at about 19, (and as my 4th and youngest sister moved from cot in parents room to "The new girl's room"!) 

We often had banana and sugar sandwiches, and the rhubarb from the garden was a "treat" (I use that term very loosely!)

Lot's of hand-me-downs... mainly between my sister's of course, but I'd probably be lying if I said some stuff didn't reach me!

Mum always seemed to have no less than two jobs at any given time (Cleaning/school and/or factory kitchens/Moreledge Chippy etc).  Dad always worked 5.5 days per week as a carpenter/building site foreman.  Every Saturday (he worked until lunchtime) he'd treat himself to a couple of bob on the gee-gee's, and a bag of tripe for his lunch... whereupon we'd all leave the house, as it reeked of boiling tripe!  ?

Pay day (Thursdays) saw the highlight of the week... the very exotic Vesta curry and rice (boil-in-the-bag... no takeaways in those days, aside from a fish & Chip shop).

We kids never wasted any food served up.  What we didn't eat got served up with the next meal!  ?

I do vaguely remember the blackouts, and having candles on standby in every room.  Was that early '70's?  (I was born '63).

First colour telly (rented!) was late '70's... I'd have been in my teens, and distinctly remember The Flintstones being the first programme I saw in full colour!  Fantastic!

Free school meals at 15/16 had a bit of a stigma attached to it.  And I had to have a school cast-off for a blazer, as parents flatly refused to pay out for something that would only fit me for a year at best!  (I guess having a brother would have come in handy there!)  

I was in my 20's before I slept overnight in a centrally heated house!

[Chester40]

We didn't have a car until I was about 10. We used to go to Skeggie Butlins and we borrowed a friend's car to get there. 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

1 hour ago, sage said:

In tribute to our very own Tim Brooke-Taylor, has anyone got any stories or jokes about how poor they were as kids.

When I was 3 and 4, I had to share a double bed with my brothers who were 4,5 and 10 years older than me. They all used to argue about who had to sleep next to their 3 year old brother for obvious reasons.

 

1 hour ago, GboroRam said:

During the miner's strike I was introduced to the concept of Bacon Shapes as a sandwich filler.

Fry the bacon, put it on the buttered bread, press down and remove the bacon. One bacon shapes sandwich.

 

31 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

Sister 1 had her own (small) bedroom.  I shared a (decent sized) bedroom with sisters 2 & 3 (I was child 4).  I didn't get that small bedroom to myself until I was about 10, and big sis moved out at about 19, (and as my 4th and youngest sister moved from cot in parents room to "The new girl's room"!) 

We often had banana and sugar sandwiches, and the rhubarb from the garden was a "treat" (I use that term very loosely!)

Lot's of hand-me-downs... mainly between my sister's of course, but I'd probably be lying if I said some stuff didn't reach me!

Mum always seemed to have no less than two jobs at any given time (Cleaning/school and/or factory kitchens/Moreledge Chippy etc).  Dad always worked 5.5 days per week as a carpenter/building site foreman.  Every Saturday (he worked until lunchtime) he'd treat himself to a couple of bob on the gee-gee's, and a bag of tripe for his lunch... whereupon we'd all leave the house, as it reeked of boiling tripe!  ?

Pay day (Thursdays) saw the highlight of the week... the very exotic Vesta curry and rice (boil-in-the-bag... no takeaways in those days, aside from a fish & Chip shop).

We kids never wasted any food served up.  What we didn't eat got served up with the next meal!  ?

I do vaguely remember the blackouts, and having candles on standby in every room.  Was that early '70's?  (I was born '63).

First colour telly (rented!) was late '70's... I'd have been in my teens, and distinctly remember The Flintstones being the first programme I saw in full colour!  Fantastic!

Free school meals at 15/16 had a bit of a stigma attached to it.  And I had to have a school cast-off for a blazer, as parents flatly refused to pay out for something that would only fit me for a year at best!  (I guess having a brother would have come in handy there!)  

I was in my 20's before I slept overnight in a centrally heated house!

 

23 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

We didn't have a car until I was about 10. We used to go to Skeggie Butlins and we borrowed a friend's car to get there. 

Do you find those experiences increase the appreciation you have for any modern amenities you enjoy today, or is it all long forgotten?

[Mucker1884]

10 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

We didn't have a car until I was about 10. We used to go to Skeggie Butlins and we borrowed a friend's car to get there. 

Ooh good one!

We never had a family car.  Dad claimed he could drive a tank (He was ex-army), but never held a civvy driving licence.

When we had a holiday (certainly not every year!), it was local bus to town, then National coach to Caister (Nr Yarmouth)... The long wat round, via at least half a dozen stops ... pretty sure it was a good 6 hour journey!  Then final leg on the local bus to "California Cliffs Holiday Park"!  All with those big, heavy, battered and bruised cases!  No matching luggage in those days!  Ha Ha!  

 

Ooh...
Family legend has it (Before I was born), that trains used to stop (merely for timing, not a recognised stop) at the seven arches (Now the Paddock Pub/Near Morrisons), before trundling in to Derby.  Dad jumped off to leg it the few hundred yards home to turn the gas/water back on (Remember doing that!) and get the fire/back boiler going, leaving mum to traipse back from Friargate station with two toddlers, one push chair, and a couple of big suitcases!  Nice one, dad!   ?

[Mucker1884]

2 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

 

 

 

Do you find those experiences increase the appreciation you have for any modern amenities you enjoy today, or is it all long forgotten?

Good God Yes!

... And it's a great reference point, when talking to kids/grandkids, when in a "You don't know you're born" kind of mood!  ?

[FindernRam]

36 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

I was in my 20's before I slept overnight in a centrally heated house!

Then the owner came down and you were arrested.

[Chester40]

5 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

 

 

 

Do you find those experiences increase the appreciation you have for any modern amenities you enjoy today, or is it all long forgotten?

I think you forget and just get used to modern luxuries, but in your DNA there is a willingness to take hardship in your stride...so if its raining when you are on holiday you don't have a meltdown or if it's too icy to drive you don't mind the long walk... 

[sage]

6 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

 

 

 

Do you find those experiences increase the appreciation you have for any modern amenities you enjoy today, or is it all long forgotten?

I appreciate lots of stuff I didn't have as a kid, central heating, my own room, foreign travel.

Amusingly the way my parents brought me up, not that I'm complaining as I had a very happy childhood, would get me the sack as a foster carer. Things like in the last half term of infant school, walking home on my own for half a mile, crossing 3 roads.  

[FindernRam]

Living in a 3 bed Council house with 3 younger sisters. I had the "box" room, I think that's why I never grew above 5' 8". Most stuff was hand me downs from older cousins who lived locally (families tended to stay local in the 50s).

Ice forming inside the windows. Dad's idea of central heating was a Paraffin heater at the bottom of the stairs!

TV was a 12" Phillips with glass panel over the screen and a very erratic vertical hold. 5 minute warm up time, and one channel.

I remember "we can't afford it!" was a regular mantra. But we had food on the table and I don't remember being unhappy.

Do I appreciate what I have today with a life of comfort, compared to those times? Yes I do, big time. 

[ram1964]

Remember going to the chippy asking for any fish bits,( bits of lose better from the fish) was a scraggly looking kid and some times was given a few chips thrown in?.

Used to the up last at ice cream van and ask if he had any broken cornets?, one day the guy have me a corner with ice cream and a flake and said . Don't tell the other kids I have given you this. If course being about 4 ,I went prancing down the street showing off my ice cream dripping with raspberry sauce. The next day the ice cream van had about 20 kids queing asking for broken cornets.

Didn't view it as begging,not even being cheeky, was only four or five ,it was just a way of life.

[FindernRam]

1 hour ago, ram1964 said:

Remember going to the chippy asking for any fish bits

My part of the world (Devon) they were called Scribblins. Used to be a race after Scouts to get to the Chippy first and get some. Miserable git that ran it used to demand you spent 3d on a small bag of chips to get topped up with scribblins. 

[Wistaston Ram]

3 hours ago, FindernRam said:

Living in a 3 bed Council house with 3 younger sisters. I had the "box" room, I think that's why I never grew above 5' 8". Most stuff was hand me downs from older cousins who lived locally (families tended to stay local in the 50s).

Ice forming inside the windows. Dad's idea of central heating was a Paraffin heater at the bottom of the stairs!

TV was a 12" Phillips with glass panel over the screen and a very erratic vertical hold. 5 minute warm up time, and one channel.

I remember "we can't afford it!" was a regular mantra. But we had food on the table and I don't remember being unhappy.

Do I appreciate what I have today with a life of comfort, compared to those times? Yes I do, big time. 

Yes I remember the ice forming on the inside of the windows. Would be so many blankets on the bed all tucked in, that it was physically impossible to turn over!

[Gritstone Ram]

1 hour ago, FindernRam said:

My part of the world (Devon) they were called Scribblins. Used to be a race after Scouts to get to the Chippy first and get some. Miserable git that ran it used to demand you spent 3d on a small bag of chips to get topped up with scribblins. 

Scraps.

[Spanish]

5 hours ago, sage said:

I appreciate lots of stuff I didn't have as a kid, central heating, my own room, foreign travel.

Amusingly the way my parents brought me up, not that I'm complaining as I had a very happy childhood, would get me the sack as a foster carer. Things like in the last half term of infant school, walking home on my own for half a mile, crossing 3 roads.  

I dare say there is a stat somewhere which will state that more kids are brought up in poverty now than there were 50 years ago.  

[sage]

9 minutes ago, Spanish said:

I dare say there is a stat somewhere which will state that more kids are brought up in poverty now than there were 50 years ago.  

It's all relative. 

[Tyler Durden]

When I was very young I remember being taken to the Army Barber in Dinington as a luxury to get my hair cut otherwise it was a chop at home with nail scissors.

[RamNut]

We weren’t skint when i was a kid. We had a comfortable home. We were never the first house to get a colour tele, or a freezer or whatever else, but we got them in the end.

We never had foreign holidays but we didn’t do badly at all.

occasionally I’ll tease my mum by reminding her that I never had a train set or a cricket bat or roller skates or - my particular favourite - a Johnny Seven. Remember them? A toy gun worth £500-£900 if you can find one now. They were the coolest thing to have. I only knew about two or three kids who had one.

 

But as a student my god we were skint. All our money went on rent and books and equipment and other costs. 

i remember working out what was the cheapest meal - which was two slices of bread, toasted, without butter, and half a tin of tomatoes dumped on top. Cost 20p? I had that day after day when the money had run out by the end of term.

it was normal to open the fridge and find that all we had was half a pint of milk and a half a piece of cheese at the most.

at the end of the year when I had to get some clobber to go for interviews i remember buying some trousers in a sale which when I got outside the shop into daylight turned out to be a grey/lilac colour. The jacket came from Age Concern for £5 and the woman serving took pity on me and gave me the tie to go with it. 

I don’t know where people get their money from these days. Everyone seems to have flash cars, posh kitchens, exotic holidays. I have young cousins who never went to college or university who are millionaires. Others who own multiple homes. Even my brother has a big flash car, big house, and retired at 58. Compared to them I feel like a pauper. Fortunately I am not materialistic and I don’t hanker after stuff, but it would be nice to be a bit more well off.

Never mind.....whenever I open the fridge and see it’s full  I always think back to those student days and how things have changed.

still can’t afford a Johnny 7 ?

[BaaLocks]

2 hours ago, Gritstone Ram said:

Scraps.

Mix is a Derby phrase as well - first time after left home walked into the chippy and asked for a Curry Mix to deafening silence....