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Jemina said:
Re Corona pop I think the Jingle went like this "Corona with the big big C Corona just for you & me it's got a sparkle in the middle and a tickle at the top"
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When I was small we used to have a crate of four bottles delivered every week - ginger beer for dad, dandelion and burdock for mom, limeade for me and lemonade for us all to have with a dollop of icecream in it.
 
Is anyone old enough (like me) that they can remember changing a 'flat' accumalator battery for a fully charged one at their local wireless/electrical shop (wireless was the old fashioned name for the radio - has a completelly different meaning now). Eventually we bought a modern 'mains' set, this would have been early 40's. I think the batteries where 6 or 12 volts and you paid a small charge for the charging. Eric
 
Yes indeed Eric, we had one of those radios. It had a large 12v battery, a smaller battery called a Grid Bias, don't recall the voltage of that, and the infamous accumulator, filled with battery acid, that had to be exchanged at regular intervals.

Ours was exchanged at a place on Hockley Brook, can't recall the name of the people who ran the shop though.

Barrie.
 
I seem to remember a very large battery to go with the accumulators that could give several voltages, dpending which hole you put the plugs in
 
I remember the 'Caser' I t would always go down while we were playing football. We'd get the nozzle of the bladder out, blow it up again and refold & tie it. It used to get so heavy on wet days as we never had any dubbin to rub into it. I was youngest of 4 brothers and we used to have old leather football boots with nail-in studs. The nails always came through the inside and if they weren't bent over, they wouln't half make your feet sore
carolina said:
What about playing football with a 'caser'.
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Frothblower said:
Breakers was a wonderful drink, I got bladdered on it a few times. It's like knat's p--- now
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...any B14'ers remember when the Breaker lorry crashed on Millpool Hill in the early 1970's?.......it spilled its load of cans across the road but luckily the civic-minded citizens of B14 soon had the mess cleared up...:D
 
cookie273uk said:
Is anyone old enough (like me) that they can remember changing a 'flat' accumalator battery for a fully charged one at their local wireless/electrical shop (wireless was the old fashioned name for the radio - has a completelly different meaning now). Eventually we bought a modern 'mains' set, this would have been early 40's. I think the batteries where 6 or 12 volts and you paid a small charge for the charging. Eric
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When I left school in 1946 (Handsworth Tech) I began work at a Radio shop in Soho Road called Potter Sound Systems,one of my jobs(apart from making the Tea) was charging the "Accumulators" -which were 2 volts , to test the state of the charge of the battery a hydrometer was used to test the specific gravity of the acid solution, I forget what the figure was but to make it easy the the hydrometer was marked Red Yellow and Green, Red being low Green fully charged, you could also get a good idea if the battery had a good charge by the colour of the plates, one should be almost black the other grey, if the were both a brown colour it was discharged.If there was a lot of sediment in the bottom of the battery as they got older I had to wash and flush them out with tap water and refill them with a solution of Acid and Distilled water which was contained in two large carboyds, after a while my overall began to look very moth eaten due to the acid splashing onto it and burning holes in it. The other batteries I recall were the "HT" battery I think was 180 volts with various tappings and the "Grid Bias" battery, which also had a selection of voltages , I think they were 4.5v, 9v and 18v. I remember "Varley" brought out a "Dry" accumulator which only needed to be kept moist with a drop of distilled water.
During the war I remember my father connecting a cycle battery in place of the accumulator if it became discharged.
Regards , Reg the "Roverman"
 
I loved my treadle sewing machine. it was given to me by a lady several streets away, and I pushed it home! After I'd oiled it and adjusted everything it worked like a dream. I made all my baby sheets and pillowcases, curtains, and clothes too. I've got a lovely machine that "does everything" but I'm still nostalgic for my treadle!. Also I could still sew in the power cuts of the '70's!!
 
Hi All,
Someone mentioned the plastic rain hats earlier. I'm sure they were called Rain-Mates. Mom used sell them in her little drapery shop. Also, what about Pakamacs with the strange plasticky smell?
Cheers
 
As I look at many of the street photos and videos on the forum dated in the 50's, I notice many of the men are wearing Gabardine macs which don't seem common these days.
I did do a search to see if the word Gabardine has been mentioned before...and the word is somewhere in the thread 'Canals of Birmingham' but I haven't found it yet, although that long thread looks well worth reading, with loads of nice photos.
I had a Gabardine mac in the early 50's and was so proud of it, but left it on a seat at the Ice Rink and someone with a ciggy accidently burnt a hole in it...I was gutted...
oldmohawk...:)
 
Carolina, they were the "in thing" about 1953/55 one I remember in particular was bright red with a side slit. Thought I was the bees knees.
 
Does anyone know if Wrights Vaporisers are still available ??

Just checked...apparently they are not because of health and Safety issues
 
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I remember a man who used to deliver milk in the road where I lived. He drove an open back high sided cart and there would be four or more milk churns on the cart and he would ladle the amount you wanted in to your containers. I can't recall the name of the dairy but it used to be around the back of Bournville park I think.
 
On behalf of my hard-working char lady Mom, who died in 1976, I'd like to mention two types of furniture polish she swore by;

MANSION HOUSE

LAVENDOE (probably got the spelling wrong but it did smell of lavender & came in a suitably coloured tin which was decorated with sprigs of lavender).

When Mom couldn't get the fire to "draw" she sometimes used to smear dabs of polish on the firewood to give it a boost or block the fireplace with a double page of "The Mail" so as to create a vacuum that soon got the fire roaring up the "chimbly".
 
I loved the lavender polish from the "Brush-men" who came to the door. They sometimes had little free samples too. Spray polish just isn't the same!
Do they still make Windolene? We used to daub it on the windows if the curtains were down for decorating. The little shops used something similar to write on the windows.
 
rosie said:
I loved the lavender polish from the "Brush-men" who came to the door. They sometimes had little free samples too. Spray polish just isn't the same!
Do they still make Windolene? We used to daub it on the windows if the curtains were down for decorating. The little shops used something similar to write on the windows.
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Don't know what it was called but it was a duster on a stick that you pushed into an oblong tin and it loaded more polish. We bought it from the door-to-door salesman with the suitcase. Never seen one since, so maybe it was one of those innovative products that were simply....... well ...... rubbish! Viv.
 
Is it this little fellow?

(Replacement)

Nenette Duster/Polisher - great for removing dust from polished surfaces. product has been marketed for over fifty years. still smells the same as the one your granny had!! nenette brush comes in its own tin to keep the polish fresh, so after use always put your nenette back in its tin. The Nenette polishing brush has a long fringe which is impregnated with a petroleum wax based liquid polish (Nenetol) that pick up and literally absorbs dust, while polishing the bodywork and dashboard of your car both quickly and easily.
 

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doe's anyone know if "Duroglit" is still for sale, it was a sheer delight when in the army saved ages when doing brass's, and can you still buy "Blanco".
paul
 
barrie said:
Is it this little fellow?

View attachment 69704

Nenette Duster/Polisher - great for removing dust from polished surfaces. product has been marketed for over fifty years. still smells the same as the one your granny had!! nenette brush comes in its own tin to keep the polish fresh, so after use always put your nenette back in its tin. The Nenette polishing brush has a long fringe which is impregnated with a petroleum wax based liquid polish (Nenetol) that pick up and literally absorbs dust, while polishing the bodywork and dashboard of your car both quickly and easily.
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Well blow me down Barrie! It's still available! :D I always believed there was a magic bottomless supply of polish in that tin! Must have been something to do with the salesman's pitch for the product!: Viv.
 
carolina said:
Does the school bell still ring?
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Not an actual product, more part of a service .... cardboard library tickets. Remember those? I think I had up to 9 at one time. They used to slot into one another. They had one corner cut at an angle. The card from the book you wanted to borrow slotted into the ticket and was stored until you returned the book. Non of this fancy electronic paraphernalia and self service rigmorole :D Viv.
 
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Does the "Outspan" label on oranges still exist ? and how about the orange drink at the pictures -"Kiora" ?

What about Rolls Razor and their washing machines ?
 
Kia-Ora used to be sold in the UK by Schweppes, and according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kia-Ora ) is still licensed to Coca Cola here , which would fit in. Hadn't realised it was a Maori greeting though. I always remember the awful "orange" drinks in the cinema, which always tasted of sthe wax from the waxed paper containers. When diluted from bottles the drink never used to taste much of real orange, always very artificial tasting
 
Cresta Pop is another thing that has long gone.......
The slogan used to be... " It's frothy man ".
Texan Bars are no longer with us... In the Summer they were soft and chewy but in the Winter they went hard and broke your teeth.
OMO washing powder is another name that died... It is said, so I've heard, that women who were having an affair used to put a box of OMO in the window as a signal to their bit on the side, as it stood for Old Man Out.
Nutty Bars are another confectionery that's with us no more... It was a roll of fudge covered with peanuts.
Cadbury's Bar Six...... There's another one. Similar to today's Kit-Kats.
I never used it personally but my Mother swore by it and that was Bikini Sun Tanning Oil. That's long gone now.
Tree Top Cordial, my Grandmother used to buy a bottle for us when we were kids, but where has that gone???
Happy Days, we'll never see the like of them again, unfortunately.
 
Don't forget the No 6 King Size and the packs of No 10 you could get, I think the contents of a No 10 cigarette were what they swept up from the floor of the factory. They were strong and cheap, a poor man's No 6 I suppose.
 
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