Oh pleeeeeease let me have one!!!

"I had forgotten about 'Birthday' shoes!!"

Are they like a birthday suit? My father was at school with lots of kids who were in bare feet during the depression in the 1930s. The only reason he wasn't one of them was that his dad was able to do some cobbling on the kitchen table to bring in some money when he was out of work.

When I was a kid I had a pair of Tuf Wayfarers, the shoes with a compass in the heel and animal tracks on the soles. They were the first and last fashion item I ever got because they were expensive and they didn't last long, so that was just too much for a dad who had felt lucky to have any shoes at all.

When the other fashions came and went I did without: Chelsea boots, Stacks, Platforms, Budgies, Crombies, Tonics, Ben Shermans, but it left me with a healthy disrespect for fashion though.

I had a green tonic suit (skirt/jacket) and a pink and white striped Ben Sherman. I thought I was the "bees knees"

When I did cookery at school aged about 13 the teacher said we had to buy a wicker basket with a plastic cover to take home our cookery in but I had to make do with a mushroom basket (so embarrassing.) My parents were really hard up because my dad couldn't work after the war.

I was also desperate for a big white plastic hair slide which you clipped onto the back of your hair, they were all the rage at school. (late 1950s)

I had got used to never asking for anything but one day I cracked and said to my parents "I really really need a proper basket for cookery and one of those big plastic hair slides."

They were so shocked because I never asked for anything and they gave me 5 shillings to go and buy the basket and the hair slide.

I can remember walking to school complete with cookery basket and the slide fixed to the back of my hair feeling soooo happy.

I inherited some silver slip on party shoes from a friend's daughter. For some extraordinary reason , they had to be wrapped in black tissue paper when not in use . I don't remember hankering after clothes - as an only child most of them were pass-me-downs from the same friend and it was always exciting when another bag arrived! I do remember wanting a transistor radio with ear plugs. I was at boarding school by then and everyone seemed to have one, so my Dad said if I saved half, he would then double it. I saved threepenny bits and sixpences from pocket and birthday money. It took 18 months by which time I had almost gone off the idea., but it did have a lovely brown leather case which I can still smell to this day as it was secreted under my pillow for illicit use at night..

I too longed for the silver party shoes. I didn't get any, despite lingering looks at the shop window. I only ever wore Clarkes ' jonquil'! Not very elegant with a pretty dress!

Funnily even now, I've never owned silver shoes. I think I'll treat myself!

They used to be wrapped in black paper because the light would tarnish the silver in the fabric.

x

Reading through this thread it struck me just how very modest most of our childhood yearnings were: jelly sandals, bonnets, plastic slides, shop bought cardigans, patent shoes. I wonder what today's youngsters, with their X-boxes and eye-wateringly expensive trainers, would make of these rather humble aspirations?

"Oh granny you are/were crazy!" seems to be the response I get to most things.
I had forgotten about boarding school. I wanted to go as well. Preferably to the Chalet School!

Oh I so wanted to go to the Chalet School! Jo with her tribe of children and the triplets who all seemed to arrive without any male involvement....it was all very chaste! I always wanted a pet, it didn't matter what, just a pet, but it wasn't possible being a Forces family plus having an animal phobic mother! I once had 2/6d birthday money and went to the local pet shop and bought myself a kitten. I must have been about 7 or 8, I can still remember my mother's hysterics and being made to take it back. I was heartbroken. (Felt quite sorry for my younger self there) Consequently I've had cats since I left home and my mother sat with her feet curled under her every time she visited.

I loved the Chalet School books and read all of them. It never occurred to me at the time that these girls were really rich and I certainly wasn't. It was also a completely male free environment which looking back seems odd. Were there any men in the Chalet School books?

I also loved the Jennings books and used to laugh out loud at the carryings on of Jennings and his friends. Also the Just William books had the same effect.

My favourite comic was School Friend and I had the annual every year until I was 13 went on to Valentine and Romeo comics.

Yes we wanted very little.

My own children now in their mid forties and late thirties didn't have much more really when I look back although they did have a very early computer which my DH made for them (he was a computer buff.)

My grandchildren think of Tablets, Lap Tops and mobile phones as the norm. I think they'll have to really as the future becomes more and more high tec.,

Yes, there were Dr Jem and Dr Jack who married Joey and Madge and presumably fathered all those children. I think they spent most of their time effecting miracle cures at the sanatorium as they were seldom around!

When passed scholarship to go to grammar school my Mum bought me a canvas satchel, every girl in the class had a smart leather one, I will never forget. With my children I remember how kids love to conform.

I don't remember the lipstick holder on my Pink Witch bicycle Greyduster but am sure it must have had one I can remember my Father impressing on me that I had to clean it and polish it after I used it and I did I was so thrilled to have been given it . As for the pink crib * ninathenana* well I have had plenty of flowers since so shouldn't complain and I am sure my hormones were all over the place at the time but I can remember actually crying 'cos no one had bought me one - how shallow was I ? Have to say I probably haven't changed much

I wanted a Gondola basket when I was about eleven. These were a craze for carrying school books at the time. My friend had one, and I was not allowed one because mum said they were common! I also longed for, and needed a bra when i was fourteen. Mum never mentioned getting me one so my friend and I went to a little shop that had a sale on. We bought a bra each for half a crown. They were really old fashioned and had pointy cups. When we wore them we were so embarrassed. It was at least a year later that mum let me buy a proper bra from Bhs!

When I passed the 11+ DM bought me a satchel with two short straps which was meant to be worn on my back - I longed for one with one long strap like my friends' satchels.

I saw a group of schoolchildren on the tv recently (I think it was the Ann Robinson programme about spending habits).
They were comparing mobiles - one boy casually said his had cost ??600 - ??700 he said his dad had had to work extra hours to pay for it. His dad was a gardener.

I blame the stupid parents - they will create a generation of greedy self-absorbed spoilt brats.

I don't know wh5 that came out as ??600 - ??700 - it was meant to be pounds!

I longed to have ballet lessons but we couldn't afford them. I had to spend a lot of time at church as my mother was very involved in many of the activities there. I was SO jealous of all the girls who passed me on the stairs of the church rooms attending the Ballet school on the top floor, wiith their hair in tight little buns and their crossover cardigans.. I can still remember the agony!

Nanacat, I had the ballet lessons, and tap dancing, and piano lessons, none of which I wanted, I wanted singing lessons, which were always denied me.

I had piano lessons, which I managed to get out of after 3 years.

How I wish my mother had made me continue them!

I was desperate for a doll's pram. A neighbour's kid had a coach built one with lift- out interior base where she kept the doll's clothes, which I was very envious of. She never allowed me to play with it.There was no point in asking for one as my mother was an invalid, bringing up two children alone, after being deserted by my selfish father. We were poor, but proud. It does teach you though, that you don't always get what you want. In fact, after marrying a stingy husband I was determined to be able to reward myself, so having been forced to leave school at 16 to earn, I studied hard as a mature student to gain qualifications so as have earning capacity. Oh, the joy of having enough pension income to be able to treat myself to, no, not a doll's pram but a blingy watch or an expensive garment. I hope I don't sound smug, but everything I have I have earned, no inheritances, my ma, a brave woman, just left enough to pay for her funeral.

I longed for a pony. No one in my family was remotely interested in horses and no one had the kind of money that enabled me to have a pony, or even riding lessons. At 11 I got a paper round and used my weekly wages at a local stables where I rode a pony every Saturday afternoon. It seems remarkable now, to think I cycled or walked around delivering papers, often in the dark and then walked or cycled 2 or 3 miles to the stables, which I found with no parental help, to ride a pony. No hard hat or parental supervision. A couple of friends longed to join me, but their parents refused either to let them get a paper round or to ride a dangerous wild animal.

Indinana Oh, yes, I so longed for one of those bonnet/hat thingies... the ultimate must-have accessory for any fashion-conscious 8 year-old in the 1950s. My younger cousin had one - I was very jealous - but like you, and several others on here, I never had one myself. Strange how so many GNs wanted one, but never had one.
I have a suggestion... perhaps one of the GN knitting experts could come up with an adult-sized pattern and we could each make ourselves one . Then we could have a meet-up where we all wore them and hopefully then we could move on and put our years of deprivation of bonnet/hat thingies behind us...

Joybloggs and Indinana I suspect that somewhere, in a box of my mum's stuff, is a knitting pattern for the hats you describe. I don't want to provoke envy, and I'm really sorry to admit this, but I did have several of those hats (sorry!) in varying multicoloured shades, all hand knitted by my mum. Not only that, she supplied several of my friends and various neighbours' children with them as well. Now if I could just track down that pattern ......

nightowl Ooooh, lucky you! My cousin's hat was very colourful too... I think it may have been a Fair Isle design. I think they were really quite clever, the way they didn't need ties or ribbons. So, you will let us know if you track down that pattern, won't you...?

Roller skates. From about aged 8 to 15. They were a complete no no.
I broke my collar bone when I was young, and was never the most athletic of types, so that combined made roller skates off limits as far as my mother was concerned.

Indinana and others Three Alice Band hat patterns for sale on this page www.thevintageknittinglady.co.uk/ladieshats.html Search page for "Alice Band" to find them.

PDF to download for ??1.50, photocopy for ??1.99.