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Christmas gifts of the past

mbenne

mbenne

master brummie
Xmas.jpg Just over 57 years ago I documented the presents I had on Xmas day.
Not only because it was memorable but because in infants school we had to write our weekend news. I still have the original exercise book ( my Mom and Dad rarely threw anything away). Entry for 10th January 1961.

Times were hard for Mom and Dad and money was tight. We had moved from rented accommodation ( My Nan and Grandads front living room in Sheldon). Dad, having taken on a mortgage found that he was put on short time working and Mom did evening bar work at the Sheldon pub. We had no heating apart from a single coal fire in the living room and occupied the front bedroom only. As we had no garage at the time the back bedroom was used to store my Dads fishing tackle and various spare parts for his BSA C11 motor bike! On cold days the back bedroom was where I played until one day I found the door had been locked and bolted. I didn't understand why and my Dad was spending an awful lot of time in there. Despite me hammering on the door he wouldn't let me in!

All was to be revealed on Xmas day, he'd been making me a model railway layout - imagine my surprise on Xmas day. It was short lived as a few months later I was given the front bedroom, Mom and Dad occupied the back and my train set was cut in into four pieces and dumped! From then on I had to assemble the train track in the living room and put it away when I finished.

'My News' written on 10th Jan 1961. Terrible phonetic spelling for infants class but roughly translated, and I actually remember writing this!.......

On Xmas day I woke up and saw my stocking full of toys (it was actually a pillow case). I opened the biggest parcel. When I opened it there was an electric train set, a cowboy set, Two Tins of toffees, a Popeye game and a Dan Dare Radio Station and some more toffees etc etc

I managed to find some of the items on ebay!!! Electric train (Duchess of Athol) Hornby Double 0, Dan Dare Radio Station by Merit Toys. The toffees were Bluebird with unusual flavors like Mint and Licorice!

My news from 27th Feb shows that the train layout was no more and I'm playing with the track in the living room :) ps our pet dog appeared in a lot of my drawings at that time.

Happy New Year.

What Did You have for Xmas?
 
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oh how wonderful mbenne...what lovely memories and how good is it that you still have your original notes...reading your post took me straight back to my very happy childhood christmas days..its a bit late now had a long day but i will get back and post my memories...thank you for sharing yours with us and a very happy new year to you and yours:):)

lyn
 
That's a great record mbenne! Thanks for posting. I too shall cast my mind back and post memories. Viv.
 
I forgot to add. It was a second hand train set but I didn't care. Also we slept in the front bedroom as it used to get heat from the chimney breast. Even then the curtains used to stick to the windows in cold weather lol
.
 
This is my line up, not all at once, but over a period of years. My favourite present was without a doubt the Ferguson Transister. The picture is the exact model I had. It was such a great little radio. I would have been about 12 or 13 when I got it. I listened in to the pirate stations (mainly Caroline) as well as Radio 1. Think I must have later listened in to BRMB on this. Remember those dials you'd twiddle to tune into stations ?

Second was the vanity case - mine was red. It was a very grown up and personal thing. I loved it. The strap could be adjusted to make the handle shorter or longer. The bottles inside were eventually separated from it after a perfume making experiment in the garden involving rose petals and water. They were never reunited.

Sindy was a magical gift. I got it with a case that opened out like a wardrobe. There were little hangers inside. Don't think there were extra clothes in it. Had to acquire those in time.

The weaving loom was a smaller version of the one in the picture. Made blankets and scarves for my dolls and teddy bear. Quite a fiddly thing but after much trial and error I eventually produced some decent weaves.

The cassette recorder was another well received present. Think I'd have been about 14. Rubbish sound to it, but lots of friends had one as it was the 'in' thing to have. They were nice and compact but made of very cheap plastic - unlike the sturdy Ferguson radio.

One other thing, a mustard and brown striped, bell bottomed trouser suit ! Must have been about 15. I thought I was the bees knees.

Can honestly say, my mum did her utmost to make sure we had nice presents. And she certainly succeeded at that.

Viv
 

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Sorry, I don't have a picture, but my favourite toy has to be the little cooker I got one year after gazing at it every Friday evening when I got off the 78 tram at Streetly Road terminus after visiting my nans at Witton Lakes and Salford Bridge . It was in the window of the paper/sweet/toy shop which used to be on the corner. Imagine my delight when it arrived. Magic! It had tiny saucepans and you could light these pastilles so that you could 'cook'. H & S would have a fit today. I was very lucky in that although it was just after the war my Mom always made sure we had something special. I also had lots of Aunties & Uncles so did really well for presents.
 
My first written record of what I had for Christmas was in 1958 (aged 16). These were: a brush and comb set; a rubber torch; a tin of toffees; other sweets (no wonder I was always going to the dentist); a ruler and pencil set; cuff links; and cash from various aunts and uncles totalling £2-7s-6d. On Christmas day we watched the Queen, Billy Smarts Circus and Christmas Night with the Stars. We also played housey-housey and "stop the bus". No idea what the latter was. Dave.
 
I had a Chad Valley Bowl a Strike game form Christmas in the mid-sixties. After seeing the adverts on TV, it was an extremely disappointing gift, and failed to deliver what it said on the tin.

The following year my mom got me a Merit Chemistry Set, I loved it, and used it to death. I was so absorbed with this new hobby that I would spend all my pocket money of extra chemicals and test tubes. The Midland Educational store in Corporation Street use to stock a few lab supplies. I would get there just to drool at all the lab equipment I could not afford.
Chad Valley Bowl a strike.jpg merit chemistry set.jpg
This simple gift left me with a lifelong interest science and chemistry
 
Christmas 1947. A hand cranked 9.5 mm film projector with a film of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki expedition. And I bored people for the next thirty years with 35mm holiday slides!
 
The two prezzies I remember most fondly were a Frog flying model of a Spitfire, which inspired me to a hobby that has stayed with me for life, and a bit later a Diana 0.177 air-pistol, which on Christmas night my dad used to shoot down most of the decorations using 'safe' indoor pellets.

All I get for Christmas these days are indigestion and a hangover....

G
 
absolutely adored christmas as a child...eldest of 6 and like most large families money was tight but mom and dad made sure we didnt go without...always remember having a toy sewing machine that really worked oh and a pair of rollar skates which gave me my love of rollar skating resulting in me attending spring hill rollar rink 5 times a week....dad was very clever with wood so he would make wooden dolls houses for the girls and garages and go carts for the lads...happy days
 
I forgot to mention my Dads old RAF socks which were given a second life as Christmas stockings when we were little. If they were hanging at the bottom of the bed it gave us the all-clear to go downstairs to see what presents awaited us. The sock stockings had various little gifts in them - the usual orange, coins, some sweets etc - but it's what they represented that sticks in my mind. There was nothing like that surge of anticipation and excitement on realising 'he had been'. Viv.
 
I had an old Army sock. Usually a satsuma in the toe or chocolate money - just small things to open sitting in my parents bed - but one year I thought I had a mars bar wrapped up. It turned out it was my first watch in a box! I was an only child but I know my parents had to save for my presents so a watch was fantastic. I must have driven my Dad mad shouting "has he been yet" at what I now know was about half an hour after Dad got into bed after coming home from Midnight Mass.
 
One year I got a Bayko building set (yes - I was more into helping Dad than Mom). I think Dad got as much fun out of it as I did. I often got up to find he had built something after I went to bed! Like Pen I had a cooker but it was sadly underused.
s-l225.webp
 
Would have adored those two Maria. Oh well, but when the grand children come along ...... ! Viv.
 
Yes to the Post Office set Maria and the Bayko. I remember them well. Another memorable Christmas brought us (my brother and me) a Dansette record player - the sort you had to put the records on individually - and 4 records. If I remember correctly, Craig Douglas, Only Sixteen, Sam Cooke (can't remember), Bobby Darin, Mack the Knife and a CD with music from Coppelia (Dad snuck that one in). We had a lovely Christmas playing them over and over again but it must have driven Mom mad!
 
Oh yes, EPs, LPs and 45s. Our first 45" record - for Christmas - was "My Old Man's a Dustman" Lonnie Donnagen. Dreadful record, but of its time I suppose. Viv.
 
I'm always amazed at how many of these old songs we can sing ALL the words to. We must have hundreds of songs wandering round in our minds.... altogether now 'he had such a job to pull 'em up that he called 'em daisy roots'!
 
My best present was a Subbuteo football set..played it for years. Simple yet spent hours painting the players...putting badges and number onto.their shirts...great game
 
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