Things we did as Kids

[Fynger 841]

Yep we built dens in the woods...Bramcote woods...what we knew as Bluebell Woods..at the top of Bluebell hill...not the same woods that you mention Firbeck ( yours were near the Quarry ) ours were up Town St..off Common Lane ( chilwell side ).

[Fynger 841]

And how many out there had one of them balsa wood planes with the laggy band wind up propellors that lived past its first landing ??

then we had them solid plastic delta shaped planes that you fired by laggy band....hurt when they hit ya.

[firbeck 859]

My brother spent weeks building a laggy band powered FW 190, it was huge, all built out of balsa fuselage and wing formers and covered in doped fabric. It crashed and burned on it's first flight.

The placcy Vulcans were great, 3d from our local sweetshop I recall, available in a variety of strange colours. Again, my brother built a launch ramp out of Meccano, several feet long, looking like something they fired V1 rockets from, it was fitted with an industrial strength piece of elastic that you'd probably use for bungee jumping these days. A bit of plasticine on the nose and these things would traverse several gardens before looping the loop and dissapearing for ever, though I wouldn't be surprised if several back garden hedges up Plantation Road still had a few unwelcome guests lurking, great fun.

[RWK 0]

You had a lesser spotted woodpecker, firbeck? Still waiting to see one of those!!

It's all geese and waders here this at time of year..

This thread's fantastic. The things I'd forgotten doing as a kid.

I remember balsa gliders covered with doped tissue paper. I think they were made from plans in some model mag back then.

Anyway I remember being out with my dad one sunny and WARM day in the early 1960's. we lived at the then very new Bestwood park and our house backed onto what is now Ridgeway.

There, there was what was affectionately named T*ts Hill which looked down onto the now long gone Top Valley farm.

We timed it right to be out and about and witness the maiden flight of this guys newly built glider, all four foot of wing and all!

A few minor adjustments to the trim and a light launch into the breeze………

Well, the last we saw of him he was heading in the general direction of Bulwell in pursuit of the model plane as it rose on a thermal then fell and glided on, rising again…………….

It's probably still up there!

[Fynger 841]

Hands up.... whos first guitar was a Tennis Raquet.

[Ashley 288]

doing the shadows walk?

[Fynger 841]

Hopscotch...piece of string and do cats cradle...laggy round two kids legs to play french skipping....yo yos that went down and stayed there,...i had one of them gyroscopes that you pulled with string and stood it on yer fynger whilst it was spinnin....SPACE HOPPERS.....plimmies onto the phone wires. and OUCH...Clackers.....banned from most schools....specialy the resin ones.

[katyjay 5,091]

I'd forgotten about gyroscopes, had those in my day

[tomlinson 879]

I'd forgotten about gyroscopes, had those in my day

And don't forget pea shooters and those 'bombs'which you took apart to insert a cap, then threw by spinning on the end of a string.

[katyjay 5,091]

Thinking about those gyroscopes, I don't recall buying one, I think it was something that came free in a comic. Often there was something in them, cardboard plane kit, or something or another. Cornflakes had a little toy in sometimes, usually a submarine that never seemed to work.

[Ashley 288]

yes I recall the comic free gifts,and the "baking powder" submarines, seem to recall I got some to work? One model I do recall making but no idea where it came from was of the queen's coronation coach, not sure if not handed out at school?

[littlebro 234]

Remember the frogman that was put in a pop bottle? When the stopper was screwed down the frogman dived.

[plantfit 7,608]

Did anyone ever make one of them "spinning things" out of a bean or tomato tin lid? punch two holes near the center of the lid and thread string through the holes, tie a knot in the string, hold each loop of string and gently start to twirl the tin lid, once the string was more or less spun up start pulling the ends of the string outwards then let the string go slack, do this a few times and the tin lid would spin like the clappers and make a buzzing sound, had to make sure the string didn't break though as the tin lid could slice your face off

Rog

[mick2me 3,033]

They used to sell those made of cardboard, with coloured patterns on.

[Limey 242]

We used to make them with large buttons.

[katyjay 5,091]

Oo-er, I thought those were the gyroscopes in a previous posting, made out of coloured cardboard and string. That's what I was talking about, getting a free one in a comic.

[denshaw 2,872]

Do you remember those cardboard triangular shaped things you got in comics, folded up inside was a thinner piece of paper and when you brought it down quickly it made a loud bang. Seem to remember them being in the Beano.

[radfordred 6,284]

Used to get a blown up lorry inter-tube from Chettles yard carry it all the way to Bobbermill about 10 of you would travel down the river leen when you got out you had blood sucking lechers stuck to you legs which you had to burn off.

Build a bonfire on bakkies in September then live in it until Bonfire night !

Go out @ 8 in the morning and not return until 10 @ night , and your Mam & Dad never asked where you had been , and you where only 6 !

[Fynger 841]

And tomorrow would be get up dead early to see what was downstairs in yer pillow case.

[Paulus 541]

!! John Bull printing outfits...........little rubber letters (not Gallic)you had to put into a wooden block with tweezers..........then press on the inkpad & print?? all took ages, so I soon tired of it............

[Fynger 841]

Before they changed payphones we'de ring ' dial a disc '....used to get about 4 notes before it wanted your money...so we had to guess the song from that little bit.

[Paulus 541]

Before they changed payphones we'de ring ' dial a disc '....used to get about 4 notes before it wanted your money...so we had to guess the song from that little bit.

!rotfl! That's what I'd call living life on the 'edge'............taking a walk on the wild side

[Ashley 288]

In the "good old days" when hardly anyone "working class" had a home phone I'd ring my schoolmate (his dad was a cinema manager) who lived some miles away if I was going round from a callbox without putting money in, if I rang he knew I wanted to come but couldn't hear me, I however could hear his "yes ok" or "not tonight" worked quite well till his dad found out and barred such for "defrauding the GPO" ! Lol

[Limey 242]

We spent many happy hours trying to figure out ways to "defraud" the GPO. All sorts of schemes to avoid the toll - including "tapping out" secret codes etc. Don't think we ever found one that would work! We did know a sequence to dial that, after you hung up, would make the phone ring! That was O.K. for fun until me dad found out!

[Ashley 288]

yea Limey know what you mean, by tapping the reciever rest same no. of times as the digits of the phone no. you wanted you could get it FOC, once it actually worked for me but mostly the operater came on! at the time it was thought by us kids to be some secret way for tied up bank managers etc to contact the police! lol