colly0410 1,181 Posted December 16, 2017 Report Share Posted December 16, 2017 I can remember when Mam told me Santa wasn't real. I was so upset I got in my car & drove to the pub... 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted December 17, 2017 Report Share Posted December 17, 2017 Pinching this one Colly! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
woody 552 Posted December 17, 2017 Report Share Posted December 17, 2017 I think the Airfix kit mentioned was known as Betta Hilda. There was a base kit and then add on parts. The first thing that had to be used was a flat green plate with pins on that formed the base of everything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Carol singing - Bah, Humbug! The only time I ever heard my ex-wife Carol, singing, was when our divorce papers came through! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colly0410 1,181 Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 I remember when I gave SWMBO a new bag & belt for Christmas = the hoover worked perfectly then.. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Smiffy49 590 Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Does anyone know when the very first Christmas tree was put up in the Market Square? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DAVIDW 1,681 Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 It appears to be much later than I thought it would be . Can't see any mention of one on the Square before 1948 . Christmas Tree for Nottm. CITIZENS of Nottingham are to have their own giant Christmas tree this year. It to be illuminated and placed in Old Market Square for all to see. 30 November 1948 - Nottingham Journal This one gives the precise date....and time !! Appeal by Lord Mayor Nottingham’s first municipal Christmas tree will be illuminated officially, the Lord Mayor, in the Old Market-square at 5 p.m. on Friday December 17th, the Post was informed, following a meeting held to-day ......the selected tree will be 20' to 30' high , be brilliantly illuminated and be removed on Boxing Day . 06 December 1948 - Nottingham Evening Post - Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Smiffy49 590 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 Thanks for your interesting reply David. Looks like Christmas 'proper' began about a week before the day and finished promptly on Boxing Day, not the 3 month extended epic it is now. I have a vague memory that the tree was donated by a Scandinavian country as thanks for our help during the war, or was this the Trafalgar Square tree? I remember too the wonderful Christmas shop displays in the 50s put on by places such as Griffin & Spaldings etc. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TBI 2,351 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 I was only talking about this to my mum yesterday, we were reminiscing about when I was a kid. Back then, 50's and 60's, shops didn't start their seasonal displays until December, we'd put up the decorations at home, 'trimmings', about a fortnight before Christmas day. Christmas tree, a real one, with balls and an angel stuck on the top. Those concertina paper streamer things across the ceiling, all with that lamenta stuff liberally draped over everything. Not much extra spent on food, we always had chicken for lunch on the day with Christmas pudding after, a bottle of port or sherry appeared on the sideboard with some crystaline fruits, turkish delight and a box of those sticky date things. Teatime always included a big trifle and pork pie. Boxing Day and it was nearly over, the food leftovers hoovered up in sandwiches, horse-racing on the telly in the afternoon. That was Christmas, it wasn't an extended period, no New Year bank holidays then. Everyone looked forward to it, it was enjoyable. Not these days. Btw, I think it's just the Trafalgar Square tree that gets donated don't think the Norwegians would supply free trees to all the provincial cities, might be wrong though. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,115 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 No decorations go up in our house until Christmas Eve. No point in prolonging the misery! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,270 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 As a kid I remember waking up to the stocking on the end of the bed which was filled with a couple of mandarin oranges, brazil nuts, hazel nuts and walnuts, dates, chocolate money and most importantly selection boxes. It was only one "big" present each yearWe always had chicken for lunch (a luxury meat then) along with roast pork and all the trimmings. Like TBI tea was usually leg ham followed by a trifle UGH! and left overs if any in sandwiches on Boxing Day. First Christmas in OZ, 100 deg F wandering trough a shopping centre with the air conditioner blasting you and hearing Christmas songs like White Christmas and of course Santa Claus. Now it is still the usual Christmas late lunch, turkey and all the trimmings but usually kick off with prawns and oysters and of course icy cold beer, champers', red and white wines finishing of at the end of the day with either Port, Scotch or Baileys. Boxing Day is usually quiet, a walk on the beach then watching the start of the Melbourne Test match, switching channels to watch the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race then back to the cricket and if it is hot nipping outside for a swim in the pool and of course left overs if any. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,599 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 Must have been a big stocking, Oz, to get all those treats in - or were selection boxes smaller in those days? I can't really remember ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NewBasfordlad 3,599 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 My favourite Christmas memories have nothing to do with childhood but started on Christmas 1971 the first after I married. We spent the first part of the day with my mum and dad then went up to the in laws in Buxton, what Christmas's they were out and about with the 2 brothers in law at lunch time, rest of the family at night. Up early next morning wandering the fields with the 2 brothers shotgun under arm, breakfast when we got back was a plate sized oat cake with eggs, bacon, sausage and tomatoes not forgetting the brown sauce, that would see you through till tea time. It was a real old fashioned family affair and we usually had .......................snow... As to the extended holidays now days they started with the building trade I believe. Companies were made to give their men more annual leave to catch up with everyone else, so as not to lose good weather in the summer they were given as a compulsory holiday tagged on to Christmas. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,270 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 MargieH, No normal sized long socks, they were those Santa sock net type of selection boxes with only two or three small chocolate bars. I think we got those to keep us quiet for a bit longer before getting to the tree. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gem 1,430 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 It was a Christmas present, hubby hates it gives him the creeps. It is a room box only not part of a house....I love it 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gem 1,430 Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 TBI the tree in Newcastle is donated from Bergen the reason being that they are twinned cities, always a lovely tree. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,408 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Gem I'm with your husband, that is seriously creepy... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,270 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 More than creepy, quite macabre, definitely not for me. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 8 hours ago, Gem said: It was a Christmas present, hubby hates it gives him the creeps. It is a room box only not part of a house....I love it I love it too. The drapes, the widow in her weeds, the flowers (should be lilies on the coffin to counteract the smell). The coffin - with its viewing window? The only thing missing is the master's whimpering dog with its paws on the coffin. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gem 1,430 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Thank you Chulla, its not to everyone's taste but its part of life, as to your comment about the lillies they were to big to sit on the top of the coffin. My daughter arranged the flowers under protest she also thinks its creepy, my youngest grandaughter says it should be put in the attic or the bin. My family have no taste. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,580 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Brilliant, I really like this,the Victorians knew how to mourn death and be open about it, Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gem 1,430 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Didn't appeal to everyone, some of the comments have given me more ideas, especially Chullas wimpering dog. My friends say i am downright morbid i also have a victorian Mourning establisment which will soon be joined by an undertakers. Gem 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,580 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Not sure whether you know or not but there is a whole room in the York castle museum dedicated to Victorian funerals ,well worth checking out,things to include fixing a bell on top of the coffin just in case the occupant is not dead they can alert the outside world by ringing it,materials used to make the coffins, furniture and fittings to display in the room the deceased is layed out in,all funeral attire etc Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gem 1,430 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 3 hours ago, plantfit said: Not sure whether you know or not but there is a whole room in the York castle museum dedicated to Victorian funerals ,well worth checking out,things to include fixing a bell on top of the coffin just in case the occupant is not dead they can alert the outside world by ringing it,materials used to make the coffins, furniture and fittings to display in the room the deceased is layed out in,all funeral attire etc Rog Definitely makes a visit to York a must, I had no idea it existed. We visit York twice a year once for the Dolls House Fair the other just to wander, won't mention to hubby why I want to visit or I will end up going by myself. Gem Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,427 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Rog. I think the bell Idea gave rise to the expression. ' He's a dead ringer.' I heard that they would even run a string up to a bell in the churchyard. Horrible thought. The idea of being buried alive, I mean. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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