Memories of the 40s

Horrible ankle socks that never stayed up!

Haven't we already had the 50's? on this thread?

I think we had the fifties before the sixties. As threads on here I mean !

X post, Indinana

Sorry Cath but we have just had a fifties thread, so don't know if there will be an interest in more, why don't you start a seventies thread instead?

Sorry about that, I obviously thought there would only be a few of us who can remember that far back!
Perhaps I should put the fourties! Although I do remember in the late fourties,when a tiny kid, right up in the north of Scotland, when seeing the snowdrifts higher than myself and the snowmen that my mother made. Also a lot of what happened in the hotel where my father was a manager. Also being taken out with my dear nanny and brother in one of those yellow blow up army boats.The boat was tied to the main one that took the residents out to the Isle of Skye. I also remember wondering why the family left as, being such a small village, everyone seemed so friendly

There will be others who remember the forties here, some of our members are in their 80's and even 90's, so start a 1940's thread and see what happens?

Better call it the 40s or we will get confused. I will have to leave you to it, but read with interest, born 1949. Nappies and milk and sleep.

Being in Mummy's tummy!

1949 born 1950

Mickley Mouse gas mask

Born 1948 so no memories of 40's but interested to read others memories.

Hearing the siren, and then the all clear. I still shiver when I hear these sounds in old films.
My mother sitting in the the back row at church bartering sugar for butter for my brother and me.
The big radiogram and Stuart Hibberd reading the news. I thought he lived in there.
Using slate boards when I started school.
Pleated gym slips with sashes.
Oh this wasn't meant to be alphabetical was it. .???

Born in 1940, I had a great childhood in the West of Scotland, where there was little fear of German bombs. I remember my Dad's Home Guard uniform - itchy woollen fabric; his bike which he sometimes rode to work at the explosives factory; my uncle's bus company which took us on jaunts to Largs. My uncle and aunt had chickens which supplemented the egg ration and I helped my aunt to make the mash for them. They also had a greenhouse and the smell of fresh tomatoes always takes me back there. My granny in Fife had a big garden with any amount of soft fruit, for the picking. My first bike for my 9th birthday - a black Hercules with no gear change. It eventually took me to school and through University. Ah, school! and the belt - that traditional Scottish weapon to oppress small children. I don't think I was specially naughty, but must have got under the skin of some of my teachers who were always ready with the belt. I'm beginning to think I could write a memoir which I'm sure you don't want here, so maybe I'll do it for my creative writing group instead!

I love hearing all these memories!

Born in 47 , but memories of infant school at two,when I was allowed to go early as mum was expecting my younger sister , keeping chickens and pigs , jaunts out in Dads tandem and sidecar , an outside toilet and water from an outside pump.
We were so happy

Annodomini I also had a black Hercules with no gears. I really wanted a red bike like the boy next door had. Those bikes lasted for years. It was still in good condition when DH put it in a skip ten years ago. Heavy though.

Tartan skirts, navy blue gabardine macks and grey knee high socks held up by elastic sewn to make a band. Bombed buildings (Plymouth). Once you start thinking about it all sorts of memories come back.

I remember clothing in th '40s was called Utility and bore the CC49 label to prove its authenticity. The choice and styles were pretty basic. In our town there was a clothing exchange where good, outgrown clothes could be exchanged for something better fitting. My mother knitted all our jumpers and made quite a few clothes too.
We had lots of soft fruit bushes in the garden, along with vegetables and a couple of apple trees. I don't remember being hungry but probably wasn't used to eating much.
On a visit to my Grandad in Ireland in 1944 I saw sweets for the first time. The journey to and from there was horrible. The boat from Holyhead was not stabilised and the sea was very rough. The boat was jam packed with people and we had to sit on the deck. We got soaked by a wave at one point as the boat listed to one side.
Blackout curtains at home every night and a shelter in the back room. As I was a small child I didn't really know anything else.

Yes I had a red Hercules at 11 so that I could cycle to my new school. It did have three gears, which I was very proud of!

Born 46 but I remember the bomb sites in Liverpool. Also the little shops, buying sugar in blue bags and the ship assistant made the bag from a square of paper, that fascinated me. Broken biscuits. Sawdust on the butcher's floor, rabbits and chickens hanging unplucked and unskinned, huge sides of pig, sheep and cow. We go over to see my sister in law in Yorkshire we stopped in a little village pub for lunch and there was a traditional butcher there and he was fighting a petition to stop him displaying meat in this way.

My youngest sister got a smart red bike and was I envious! She now says she never enjoyed cycling! In 1949, so soon after the war, a black Hercules was just about the only choice!

My grandparents queued at Bunneys (toy store in Liverpool, it might have sold other things not of interest to me) for a doll's pram it was navy blue and my pride and joy. I also had a knitted duck, it was a mauve colour, with a green frill round its neck.

annodomini my parents were on the west coast of scotland. But a different part to where you were must have lived.
They were Bombed in the Clydebank Blitz. They missed the shipyard and hit houses.
My dad's parents house and his grannies next door took a direct hit. I have a Piece of the shrapnel from the bomb that hit my dads home.
My parents often spoke about German planes flying over.
My gran's sister didn't make the shelter and was killed.
My parent were both children during the war.

I remember the Bombing of Glasgow , we stood at the top of the Park in East Kilbride and saw them fall ! My Granda went past us with a sad look , he was a joiner and was away to work to make coffins . I was born in 1937 and we were evacuated from Glasgow , we lived in Rutherglen for a while before getting to Grandas place . I had my tonsils out on the kitchen table , Mum was afraid to let me go to Hospital, but I did end up in the Fever hospital with scarletfever and she wasn't allowed to visit , first thing the Nurse did was cut off my long Plaits