Blast from the past

I'd a lovely new pair of Clarks brown lace-ups with punched uppers which looked quite grown-up. It was cold, my desk was beside the radiator and I put my feet on it .... and burnt a hole in the sole of one. You can imagine my mum's reaction. Luckily for me she wasn't a violent woman. There was a good cobbler available and a new sole was stitched on. I looked after those shoes very carefully after that until I outgrew them.

Agus - yes, I remember Clarks brown lace up shoes also. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. At the age of 14 I finally persuaded my mother, thank goodness, to allow me to wear fashion shoes (they were cheaper - and by then it was almost 1960).

Since then I have put my daughters initially into Clarks shoes (they are good). And now, decades later, I wear Clarks shoes with pleasure (they are good - and comfortable).

OK for you gals with your lovely, thick, warm Lyle stockings. I can still feel the stinging pain from my red and chapped little thighs in the winter. Those coarse, hairy grey school shorts used to rub, and rub just like sandpaper. I really hated them, and the strong-smelling Germolene ointment they used to put on.

I remember rubber buttons on my PJ's.

Rubber buttons on the sides of the liberty bodice were for suspenders. They were about six inches long and had a button hole which you attached to the bodice, I wore long grey socks which I fastened to the suspenders. My kilts had bodice tops too and very cosy they were

Hose even. Hoes would have been unacceptable!

Ana and Nonu.

My Mother had my kilts and pleated skirts made with liberty bodices attached that had two buttons instead of the usual row of small buttons.

Ah yes, onmyown, the full outfit was, at least as far as I remember, the proper dress for girls here, in the 50s, Fair Isle jumper/twin set, kilt, fawn top hoes and Clarks brown lace up shoes. I have a few photographs sporting 'the look'

aaaagh - combs - - - and I thought woolly vests and liberty bodices were the worst things ever - - -

I had liberty bodices with lots of rubber buttons, but I also had to wear combinations (aka 'combs'), which had short legs like knickers with a split down the back below the waist, so that I could go to the toilet unimpeded!

NotTooOld - yes I was told about that. And goose grease slapped on the chest as well, to last all winter - - - So I was expected to be grateful that all I had to deal with was a yellow (itchy) woolly vest together with a liberty bodice. And Fair Isle twinsets knitted beautifully by my grandmother, which I thought were so unattractive (this was in S England, not in the Scottish Highlands) - and which I now want to wear - - - -

I remember being told that kids were once sewn into their winter underwear in October and not let out until the weather warmed up again. Poor little blighters - how itchy would that be?!!

I remember ghastly liberty bodices. Yes, rubber buttons all the way down. No other girls in my village primary school wore them. I think my mother, in the 1950's, was under the misapprehension that they were a sign of extra and much needed care and protection.

I now believe they were a result of their experiences of low income and poverty and no NHS in the 1920s-1930s. I was also forced to wear yellow-coloured woollen vests. Again, no other girls I knew wore them.

Yes, what were those extra buttons on a liberty bodice for? I seem to remember my Mum telling me and my sister that they were for holding up stockings but I don't see how that would work.

Agus, you just have got to tell us , don"t be shy !!!

The mind boggles!

It's a memory thing Ana. My liberty bodices did indeed have a row of rubber buttons. I was remembering another garment I had to wear.

They did ANA, !!

I'm sure my liberty bodice had a whole row of little rubber buttons all down the front, not just two...

After I'd had pneumonia at the age of 6, I had suspenders attached to my liberty bodices so that I could wear (under protest) thick lisle stockings, Yuk!

I'm sure there were extra buttons for bits of underwear. Did some knickers button to your bodice perhaps?

I do remember the kilt with liberty bodice attached, Agus. I think, as it was war time, it was a hand-me-down from my cousins. Younger sisters had new ones!

I wasn't aware of extra buttons, just two at the front for fastening.

It shows how often I look in (or clean) my wardrobe but I found 2 packa macs hanging there!

But what were all those extra buttons for??

Oops, Anno?