Do You Remember When?

[C.F.W. Walther]

Speakling of old cars. My mom was really ahead of her time. She wanted her own car so as to be able to drive it to work (she worked for the war aid during W.W.II)...but, Dad drove our car and one car in those days was a luxury when most people took buses or even taxi cabs.

So...she collected change out of my Dad's pants pockets every night when he hung up his pants and didn't take out the change. He didn't even notice and after a year or so she bought a nice car for $300 much to his surprise and hearty approval.

hmm......sounds like mom during WWII following dad around from army camp to army camp with the model T. She said shoud could fix anything on it with paper clips, hair pins and rubber bands and hosiery. She said if a belt broke she would take her hose off and tie it around the pulleys and it worked till she got somewhere were she could buy a belt

 

[McWilliams]

Hey, we're talking about strong women there, birdie and Radidio both! Mothers like that promote their kids to be fearless and tackle anything that challenges them!
When my dad was transferred to D.C. during WW11 we thought he'd return shortly but when he didnt my mom went back to work and was soon also transferred to D.C. We traveled there on the train, had a drawing room. This was such excitement for me and my older brother but my mom was also carrying my baby brother. What challenges women faced. I loved living there during that time (2 1/2 yrs)but had little comprehension of the world situation! I loved the blackouts, air raids, defense collections. I was even facinated with all the ration stamps with no true awareness of hardship as I was quite protected. All that reminds me of the movie, Life is Beautiful. If you've not seen it be sure to get the DVD and do so soon. Such a touching story of how a father protects his little son during war torn Italy. Once again it shows the strength and response to great need of women in their families!

 

[fieldlily]

Hi everyone, I have been away from the P.C. a few days and it is such fun to return to this thread and see all of the memories especially from those "War" years. Remember how we always called W.W.II "THE war."

Adding to the tale of my mother's courage. Yes, McWilliams, she was a "strong" woman. She drove a tow motor in the war aide depot where she worked during those years when so many of the men were overseas. This machine was used to move boxes and she named it after my older (much older) brother and sister who were both in the service then. My brother, then 20, was in the Pacific and my sister, then 22, was stationed in England.

When the war was over I think Mom missed that job; but eventually when my dad died in 46 she went back to work and in time started her own business. She was chosen business woman of the year in the town where we lived. That was about the time she retired in 1971. She had strong faith and I think that is what kept her going through those challenging and difficult years.

 

[Hackett]

Hi everyone, I have been away from the P.C. a few days and it is such fun to return to this thread and see all of the memories especially from those "War" years. Remember how we always called W.W.II "THE war."

Adding to the tale of my mother's courage. Yes, McWilliams, she was a "strong" woman. She drove a tow motor in the war aide depot where she worked during those years when so many of the men were overseas. This machine was used to move boxes and she named it after my older (much older) brother and sister who were both in the service then. My brother, then 20, was in the Pacific and my sister, then 22, was stationed in England.

When the war was over I think Mom missed that job; but eventually when my dad died in 46 she went back to work and in time started her own business. She was chosen business woman of the year in the town where we lived. That was about the time she retired in 1971. She had strong faith and I think that is what kept her going through those challenging and difficult years.

Hey there!! Good to see you back online!!

 

[flaglady]

Was just talking with my oldest sister and we were recalling how, when she had a tiny a baby and her partner had walked out, we had been regarded as 'stuck-up' in the council estate. I was a newly qualified nurse, moved in with her to help her out. I tell you this not curry sympathy but to explain that we had very little in the way of money and things (who did in those days!!!)

We managed to get a council house but he ex had left us with awful debts when he went so I had temporarily abandoned nursing and joined her as a clippie on the buses. Another clippie lived a few streets away and called round to see us one day. The very next day, word was round the garage that we were 'posh' beyond imagination!!

How so? We had scanned the small ads and obtained strips of very cheap carpet. We laid these in the hallway, all up the stairs and around and almost under the beds. It looked for all the world like wall-to-wall carpeting and she had been completely fooled!

Also, on our local town market, there had been a guy who used to sell furnace seconds from the local Worcester, Derby and Dalton factories. They were lovely traditional shapes and white, unpatterned. One day it was near closing as she was passing his stall, and she heard him call out "5 shillings for all you can carry!" As it happened, my sister had her little wicker basket on wheels so she filled it up with all this beautiful stuff for only a few pennies!!

So mock fitted carpets and cheap 'posh' china and we were the snobs of the council estate!!

 

[C.F.W. Walther]

Sorry but what is a "council house" and a "clippie"?

 

[flaglady]

Oh, you Yanks!!!

In this country, our working classes were able to get houses built by the goverment. They paid rent to the local councils and were therefore 'council tenants'. Some people (like another of my sisters) moved into these houses as newly weds and lived the rest of their lives in them. The council, being your landlord, would attend to all maintenance like painting, repairs and upgrading.

(Extra useless info!!! However, in the 80s Maggie Thatcher (you've heard of her!!!) decided that - as all this maintenance was a heavy drain on the public purse - these people should have the "right to buy" their council house and be responsible for it themselves. If they'd lived in it for more than a certain period of time, got a handsome discount. I got my ground floor two bedrm flat in 1983 for £10k which was about ¼ of its market value. I had lived in it for 12 years!!! I sold it in 1999 for £53k and one year later it was sold on for £69k. Last year is was sold for £220k!!!)

And a clippie, my good sir, is a bus conductor, one who takes your fare and gives you your ticket. My sis and I looked a little like this in our uniforms!! Complete with cap, cash bag, ticket machine and whistle! Unhappily, the advent of one man buses has all but seen the end of the dear old clippie.

​

 

[pilgrimgal]

Sorry but what is a "council house" and a "clippie"?

I didn't know this either and I think it is fine to ask questions. Different cultures use different terms and jargon. And we can learn from one another.

Happy Birthday to you...Radidio...

Peace.

pilgrimgal

 

[flaglady]

Oh, you Yanks!!!

I was only joshing, pilgrimgal! Honestly!!

 

[fieldlily]

I was only joshing, pilgrimgal! Honestly!!

I just read your post and can see that you were, as you say, "joshing"...but I think pilgrimgal is simply stating as she did that it is okay to ask questions when we don't understand terms...not criticizing you. There are also some terms we use in the US which sometimes need explaining to all of you "Brits."

From one of the Yanks,

birdfriend.

 

[fieldlily]

Hey there!! Good to see you back online!!

Thanks, Hackett.

God bless you!

birdie

 

[fieldlily]

hmm......sounds like mom during WWII following dad around from army camp to army camp with the model T. She said shoud could fix anything on it with paper clips, hair pins and rubber bands and hosiery. She said if a belt broke she would take her hose off and tie it around the pulleys and it worked till she got somewhere were she could buy a belt

Hi Radidio...now that is one creative lady! Ah, memories!

 

[Hackett]

Are there any former GA's out there? That was a missions organization for girls at our church.

 

[McWilliams]

O.K. now, testing for memory of what I think were old commercials, such as the ditty for Chiquita Bananas!

I'm chiquita banana and I've come to say
That bananas have to ripen in a certain way
They are flecked with brown and have a golden hugh
Bananas are the best and are the best for you!

You can put them in a salad, you can put them in a pie yi yi!
Any way you want to eat them
Its impossible to beat them!

LOL, cant believe I remember all that! I was eating a banana and the silly tune and words came flying back!


Hackett, I never was in GA's and I dont think they had them in our church.
Remember the Sunbeams?
Jesus want you for a sunbeam
To shine for Him each day
In every way try to please Him
At home, at work, at play!

A sunbeam, a sunbeam
Jesus wants you for a sunbeam
A sunbeam, a sunbeam
I'll be a sunbeam for Him!

(thats it from the darkened corners of this mind! LOL)

 

[fieldlily]

Fun, McWilliams. Thanks for sharing these "commercials" The bananas ditty sounds very vaguely familiar to me. I do remember the old radio commercials and once in a while one will flash forth from the ole memory bank..e.g. J E L L O....as a little gingle. I think that was for Henry Aldrich.

Or "Autolite presents...Suspense".

Or "Lux presents "Hollywood."

Then there was "Brill Cream..a little dab with do ya."

I wasn't in GA's either. What is GA short for, Hackett? I am guessing..."God's Ambassadors" which sounds a little familiar. Maybe I had a friend in that in her church.???

birdie...

...

 

[Hackett]

Fun, McWilliams. Thanks for sharing these "commercials" The bananas ditty sounds very vaguely familiar to me. I do remember the old radio commercials and once in a while one will flash forth from the ole memory bank..e.g. J E L L O....as a little gingle. I think that was for Henry Aldrich.

Or "Autolite presents...Suspense".

Or "Lux presents "Hollywood."

Then there was "Brill Cream..a little dab with do ya."

I wasn't in GA's either. What is GA short for, Hackett? I am guessing..."God's Ambassadors" which sounds a little familiar. Maybe I had a friend in that in her church.???

birdie...

...

Good Guess. Girls Auxilary. It was a missions organization. We did lots and lots of scripture memorization, studied about missionaries world wide, held Christmas in July parties and send all kinds of things to the missionaries world wide that would arrive at their location by Christmas.
We also had camp each summer where one or more missionaries would come and tell us all about their story.

Such a rich experience that was. The boy's countepart to GA's was RA's Royal Ambassadors where they learned how to grow into Godly men.

 

[leytonstones]

Hey....don't leave me out. I can't help being only 51 and English!!

 

[C.F.W. Walther]

Good Guess. Girls Auxilary. It was a missions organization. We did lots and lots of scripture memorization, studied about missionaries world wide, held Christmas in July parties and send all kinds of things to the missionaries world wide that would arrive at their location by Christmas.
We also had camp each summer where one or more missionaries would come and tell us all about their story.

Such a rich experience that was. The boy's countepart to GA's was RA's Royal Ambassadors where they learned how to grow into Godly men.

Is that in the Baptist church? I though I remember seeing those groups at a Baptist church were I helped with the youth group in their "road ministry".

I helped train all the kids in singing and acting and the pastor would coodinate everything. Then once a year we would take it on the road. The kids had done sales, car washes, collect paper, sell candy to be able to buy a use school bus and a trailer to haul groceries, lighting and sound equipment. We would have a major destination in mind and then stop at churches along the way and put on a Christian musical production.

One year we headed to the World's Fair in uhh....lessee...Chatanoga TN...I think....another year we went to New Orleans. Another year to Colorado and Pikes Peak area. It was great.

 

[fieldlily]

I grew up Catholic and our youth group was called Jr. Newman because the college groups were called, Newman Clubs after John Henry Newman who had been a Cardinal so high school groups were called Jr. Newman.

Later this group was called CYO or Catholic Youth Organization. Both groups included both boys and girls. Not sure what they call them now.

 

[fieldlily]

Hey....don't leave me out. I can't help being only 51 and English!!

Jump right in and share some of your memories with us.