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Worm Cakes

Di.Poppitt

Di.Poppitt

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
I was talkiing to my sister today and we were chewing over the old days in Witton. We had lots of laughs of course, as you do. If you are reading this Dave she remembered the name of the newspaper shop next to the X Ray on Witton Road - Olivers - where I used to have to queue up on Saturday night for dad's Argus. :roll: They were sold out if you weren't sharp.

I digress, what really made us laugh were the worm cakes we were made to 'take'. Mom got them from Buckinghams chemist on Witton Road; they were biscuit shaped and had a chocolate coloured coating which was covered in hundreds and thousands. They were foul tasting things, and I dread to think what would have been in them. Maybe Sue can tell us. What I can remember is that although I was always slim I had a fairly healthy appetite, and sooner or later some well meaning soul would watch me scoff my food and remark 'she must have the worms', which was enough to get me dosed again. :D
 
:D we were given stuff that looked like cold tea for worms and as you say about your cake it was foul tasting. We also had a table spoon dose of Cod liver oil given to us on a daily basis at the 'special schools' I attended in Highgate and Perry Common, most of the kids hated it but I liked it and so was always first in line and was the one given the job of wiping the spoon each time it was dipped into a white enamel bowl of what started of as boiling water but ended up cold after each child had, had their dose. Using the same spoon in this manner would not be allowed today as kids and adults here in NZ have caught Meningitis by shearing the same drink bottles at sports games, Were we healthier back then as a result of our parents worrying about what we might catch as lot of childhood illnesses were fatal, or just more germ resistant because of the poverty most of us lived in :?:
 
I loved Cod liver oil and malt,a bit like treacle.Also loved the orangejuice from the local clinic in a flat bottle.Do you remember this juice and the tins of National dried baby milk,you could also get these from Lewis's.
Gripe water or better still its sweeter alternative Dinnefords,I used to take it for indigestion when my kids were little.
Rosehip syrup in a small container under a dummy,how many little teeth did that ruin.
 
I was lucky to escape the dose of codliver oil, I got the codliver oil and malt, which I aslo loved.
Pom I also wonder if one of the reason for our rude health was because we didn't sit around in doctors' waiting rooms to pass on our germs.The doc came out to us. I only ever had measles and whooping cough, and for the whoop mom used to take me to where they were mending the road and stand me next to the steaming barrel of tar, then told me to take deep breaths. :D
 
Oh Diana! Your memories of worm cakes just about made me ill :( I haven't thought about them in 50 yrs! Also brought back my Scott's Emulsion days. I did like the orange juice though, I had to go and get it and the dried milk for my little brother (aka Nipper) from the clinic in Upper Sutton Street.
 
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