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A history 55 Church Road, Portslade |
1920s family picnic
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Happy times 'During the summer months we would all go up to Mile Oak on the hills, Mum and Dad with the picnic tea and kettle. Catch the single decker bus from the Battle of Trafalgar Pub to the Water Works stop, younger ones played rounders or cricket while Dad boiled a kettle and Mum unpacked any food stuffs. Ivy and Joyce might bring along a boy friend. The high spot of the outing was the arrival of the ice cream tricycle; ‘Walls’ probably. Mad rush to be there first, or at least beg our parents for some of their hard earned pennies. Ices cost 1/2d or 1d in old money, sounds cheap but then 10/- or today’s 50p would pay Mums grocery bill for the week. This would be a Sunday outing of course when Dad's not working. Another memory is the annual invasion of Daddy-longlegs in the outside toilet, dozens dotted all round the walls. No good being scared of spiders in those days. No insecticide to kill them off. Sticky fly papers were another familiar sight, no home was without them, even more in food shops. Spent a good deal of my school holiday playing down by the canal. Crabbing quite often. Very cheap fishing gear, a long piece of string and a fish head. Penny worth of fish heads from the chip shop would feed the cat and supply the bait. Thread the string through the eye sockets and tie securely. Toss it in the canal and wait, not very long usually. As soon as you saw a crab on the bait began the tricky bit, a slow gentle haul up onto dry land or a quick whisk up, gambling he’d be ashore before he dropped back in the water. We spent hours at this, lost in a world of our own. |
George Langrish with family
dog Sylvia
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On one such day we took our dog Sylvia with
us and lost her, so engrossed in our play we forgot her. Lucky for us she
had gone home on her own, mind you we got a good ticking off about it. Back
to crabs, most got thrown back in after a count to see who had captured the
most. They were not the large eating type that you got over the beach. We
tried shrimping too with a piece of round tyre and sacking but Mum said the
canal was too dirty to eat the catch. There were a couple of places where you could hire rowing boats and spend a few hours swanning up and down the river, nice boats they were, each had a name painted on it. During the summer you could go across the canal on a ferry boat, a fair size rowing boat, for a penny return. This was to reach the beach behind the gas works which was our nearest. Didn’t use it much but walked to Hove beach by the lagoon, we all fell in it at least once fully clothed. Over reaching for a sailing boat, put me in at one time. Dad made a fair size sailing boat and took us down a few times, not sure if he did it for his pleasure or ours, I think we lost interest if it got becalmed too often. Model boat racing on Sundays went on for years at Hove Lagoon, for adults mainly with handmade boats. |
Evelyn with Floss and kittens
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Cats and
more cats A word of two about the cats at home. All households had one, not as pets but to catch mice. Female cats were the best at this job so this is what we had, one was named Floss, a family favourite I believe. Having a female cat had its drawbacks of course, they got pregnant all too often so we grew up with this. When her time drew near a corner of the floor level cupboard was cleared and lined with a piece of blanket. If Floss crept in there we had strict orders to leave her be. In due course the kittens were born and still we had to stay clear, only perhaps a quick peep was permitted. After a few days it was a case of watch your step if they were exploring the kitchen and making sure they all had a share of the saucer of milk and not tip it over. Most were found a home when they were old enough to leave their mother, replacements for cats getting too old, or new homes needing a cat. Sometimes a mouse got indoors, frightened Mum by leaping out of a cupboard perhaps. The cat then got a telling off for not earning her keep and Dad had to find the hole it came from and block it up by nailing a piece of tin over it. Food Sunday morning Mum liked to get most of us out of the house while Sunday roast dinner was cooked. Polish our shoes, put on our Sunday best and go for a walk. ‘Don’t spoil your clothes and be home by one o’clock sharp’ was the order. Dinner waits for no-one. A man with a hand barrow called most Sunday mornings with ready cooked winkles, Mum had a pint or more regularly. Put to soak in clean water till tea time to clean out any sand or grit. Whoever laid tea had to be sure every place had a pin of needle for winkle picking. The younger ones like me needed help to start with, but soon left to get on with it on our own. Jelly was another Sunday regular but getting them to set was sometimes a problem. No fridge in those days. Made overnight and stood in bowls of cold water was about all you could do, and still sometimes it only half set, I didn’t care I liked runny jelly. Great presents Popular present for us boys was a battery torch, bigger the better. To own a torch that could shine a spot on the houses opposite was really “wizard”. Lots of houses, including ours, still had gas lighting and electric things were a new idea. Candles were used to light your way to bed and to the outside toilet; great fun trying to keep a candle a light on a windy night. Sometimes better to take matches and to light the candle out there. One-upmanship was to take your very own torch. I’m not sure what year we had electric light put in at 55 Church Road, but I remember I had to stand on a chair to reach the light switches. Swapping comics All keen comic readers as kids we had regular swapping sessions when a friend would bring a bundle along to exchange. First lay them out in the hall. Go through them to check we’d not read them, then do the swap, one for one, 2d book for 2d book, 1d comic for 1d comic, all very fair and above board. Sounds pretty silly now but I suppose its where you learn your sense of values. My close friends called me Shrimp in those days, probably because I was small.' Bonfire night 'Bonfire nights were quite special and most families with children had fireworks. Dad had no problem getting sawdust for the guy and scrap wood from where he worked at the timber yard. After our own fire and fireworks we would go out and watch other kids up the roads opposite. There were always some late starters. Gordon and I went really mad one year and spent every penny we could lay our hands on for weeks before Nov. 5th on fireworks. On the night we had so many we got bored lighting them one at a time and were setting them off two and three at once. I think we must have been older then to have had pocket money, it was probably our grand finale and didn’t bother anymore after that.' Christmas 'I don’t remember Christmas trees at home but we did all the other decorating and put up holly, paper chains and balloons. Mum made three Christmas puddings and two quite large cakes, the puddings had to boil for hours and the cakes taken across to the bakery where they were baked in the bread oven for 2d each. Mum left Dad to do the icing or Ivy would call in and do it. We kids did our share by cutting up peel, skinning the almonds, stoning the fruit, taking samples here and there. All had to stir the pudding for luck and last and most important, clean out the mixing bowl. Lets hope that there will always be some excitement and magic for children at Christmas time as there was for us. Nothing is quite like finding your toys on Christmas morning, shining your new torch on the ceiling, or magic lantern slides on the wall. Allowed your first drink of the forbidden drink that was for ‘grown ups only’ on Christmas Day'. |
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