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When I was small
Posted by
Vanda
,
18 February 2011
·
99 views
We did not have many shops in Chalford.
I can remember Alexandra’s, where we bought Tinker from, a small Post Office, another shop along London Road called Sollar’s which was quite a walk from where we lived and we only went there when we had to and a wonderful shop called Carpenter’s.
Carpenter’s was located in the High Street, if you can call it a High Street as it is only wide enough for one car, opposite the Post Office and was the favourite shop for us kids to visit.
My Sister and I would eagerly wait for our weekly pocket money and grasp Gran’s hand, find Tinker who wasn’t far away and make our way down the winding paths from our house to the road and then onwards to Carpenter’s shop.
It was an old fashioned sweet shop with lots of glass jars full of every kind of sweet a young child and adult could ever dream of. On the counter were the usual array of “10 for a penny sweets” so we had plenty to choose from!
We would excitedly open the door and gaze longingly at the jars of multi coloured sweets. “Oh Gran, can we have some of those? “ we’d cry as we pointed to the jars which were filled to the brim with every kind and colour of sweets imaginable.
With only a few pennies each we would thrust our chubby little hands into the various containers on the counter and choose our sweets. This could take some time as we both pondered what to buy. My favourites were Flying Saucers, Lemon Dust, Sweet Tobacco and liquorice. Having chosen what we wanted and parted with our pocket money our sweets were put in a paper bag and out we scuttled.
Our little hands grasped our bags of delight, Oh, The joy of it! We could hardly wait to get out of the shop to eat our weekly treat.
We also had an Ice Cream Van which used to call round once a week and would stop at the top of our lane. We knew what time he would call so again it was “Gran, can we have an ice-cream please?” She would thrust her hand in her purse and give us a few coppers and we would run up the lane, followed by Tinker, to the waiting Ice-cream van. “One for the dog as well” he would say as he found a broken cone and put a bit of ice cream in it. Tinker thought that it was wonderful as he sat licking his cone. I’m sure he heard the sound of the Ice cream van before we did.
There were also a few shops at Chalford Hill.
We used to go to Chalford Hill School and when we were very small Gran used to meet us from School and we would call into the Butcher’s for some meat. Sometimes it was just a handful of mincemeat for Jack, our Jackdaw, or my favourite which was breast of lamb.
Even as a young child I have always loved my food! I would sit on Gran’s lap and scrape the bones clean with Tinker salivating at every mouthful I took! My Sister was a bit more picky than me as to what she would eat so it was all mine!
I did not enjoy School very much, in fact from day one I would rather have stayed at home. On the first day of School I was shouted out for letting a door bang and took an instant dislike to School. Quite often I would say to Gran “I don’t feel very well Gran”. Her reply was “That’s ok my little Lamb-o, you stay at home today” as I snuggled into her large bosom.
If Jack, our jackdaw was around I had to be careful as he liked to sit on her bosom too and if I tried to get close to her he used to peck me. It didn’t half hurt and I cried on many occasions.
A little later on she would turn the TV on and let me watch “Tales of the Riverbank” with Hammy the Hamster and was narrated by Johnny Morris.
It was my favourite programme and I later had a Hamster who I named “Hammy”. I am sure he was Houdini as he escaped several times but that is a story for another day.
(“Tales of the Riverbank was shown in the traditional Watch With Mother slot and featured real animals and their related adventures, with the narration for the stories was lovingly provided by Johnny Morris.
The principle characters were two friends, Hammy the hamster and a white mouse. Both animals lived along a riverbank and shared adventures with their neighbours.
The stars of the show were real animals, which were shown moving around in miniature boats, cars, balloons and even aeroplanes. Their homes were fully furnished with appropriately sized furniture. The fifteen-minute episodes were filmed at double the normal speed to allow the camera to slow down the movements of the animals.
Tales of the Riverbank was produced in Canada and screened on television in England, Canada, Australia, and in 34 other countries around the world.
After the original series in the 60’s an additional 26 half-hour episodes were produced in the early 1970's.
The concept was to create a program that was non-violent and highly entertaining, that kids would love, and that their parents could watch with them.”)
Sometimes we would go into Stroud if I wasn’t “Too ill”. She would catch hold of my hand and off we would go. “Stay there Tinker” Gran would say as we locked the door with Tinker sitting in the porch.
Tinker was never locked up and very rarely put on a lead. He would just take himself off to where ever he wanted to go. He even came up to School in the lunchtime and snuck through a hole in the fence and played with us all until the bell sounded for the end of playtime.
We would amble down the path to the road and look back over our shoulders only to see Tinker “Hugging the walls” thinking that we would not see him.
Having caught the bus into Stroud we would stroll around a bit until it came to Lunchtime.
“Do you fancy some Fish & Chips” Gran asked. “Yes please” I replied eagerly.
So off we would go into “Tuck’s Café”.
To any of you who do not remember Tuck’s Café it was a local “Greasy Spoon Café”. It was located just opposite The Subscription Rooms and had large glass windows. As you went in there was a high counter with various “Cold Milk Dispensers” “Orange Juice Dispensers” with plastic oranges floating round and a “Milk Shake Machine”. There were lots of tables and benches and a couple of fish tanks. There were also stools in the window where you could watch the world go by. It was a great café and catered for everyone from Old Dears to Kids. The food was tasty and relatively cheap. I think it closed down in the 1970’s.
Gran would order our fish and chips and it wasn’t long before they arrived. This is better than School I would think as I tucked into my lunch, followed by a donut and sometimes I could wangle a Milk Shake as well. Mr. Tuck would pour some milk and flavouring into a chrome container and place it into its stand and whizz it up. He would pour it with a flourish into a large glass and top it up with a couple of stripy straws. Oh, the bliss, my upset tummy was instantly forgotten.
Occasionally we would go to McFisheries, a fish shop, and she would buy me some sprats. This was a real treat. Fried until they were all brown and crispy I used to munch every little bit, bones and all. Fish roe and pigs trotters were also a favourite of mine.
When we had finished lunch and shopping we would catch the bus home.
Guess who would be waiting in the bus shelter at Chalford – Tinker!
I can remember Alexandra’s, where we bought Tinker from, a small Post Office, another shop along London Road called Sollar’s which was quite a walk from where we lived and we only went there when we had to and a wonderful shop called Carpenter’s.
Carpenter’s was located in the High Street, if you can call it a High Street as it is only wide enough for one car, opposite the Post Office and was the favourite shop for us kids to visit.
My Sister and I would eagerly wait for our weekly pocket money and grasp Gran’s hand, find Tinker who wasn’t far away and make our way down the winding paths from our house to the road and then onwards to Carpenter’s shop.
It was an old fashioned sweet shop with lots of glass jars full of every kind of sweet a young child and adult could ever dream of. On the counter were the usual array of “10 for a penny sweets” so we had plenty to choose from!
We would excitedly open the door and gaze longingly at the jars of multi coloured sweets. “Oh Gran, can we have some of those? “ we’d cry as we pointed to the jars which were filled to the brim with every kind and colour of sweets imaginable.
With only a few pennies each we would thrust our chubby little hands into the various containers on the counter and choose our sweets. This could take some time as we both pondered what to buy. My favourites were Flying Saucers, Lemon Dust, Sweet Tobacco and liquorice. Having chosen what we wanted and parted with our pocket money our sweets were put in a paper bag and out we scuttled.
Our little hands grasped our bags of delight, Oh, The joy of it! We could hardly wait to get out of the shop to eat our weekly treat.
We also had an Ice Cream Van which used to call round once a week and would stop at the top of our lane. We knew what time he would call so again it was “Gran, can we have an ice-cream please?” She would thrust her hand in her purse and give us a few coppers and we would run up the lane, followed by Tinker, to the waiting Ice-cream van. “One for the dog as well” he would say as he found a broken cone and put a bit of ice cream in it. Tinker thought that it was wonderful as he sat licking his cone. I’m sure he heard the sound of the Ice cream van before we did.
There were also a few shops at Chalford Hill.
We used to go to Chalford Hill School and when we were very small Gran used to meet us from School and we would call into the Butcher’s for some meat. Sometimes it was just a handful of mincemeat for Jack, our Jackdaw, or my favourite which was breast of lamb.
Even as a young child I have always loved my food! I would sit on Gran’s lap and scrape the bones clean with Tinker salivating at every mouthful I took! My Sister was a bit more picky than me as to what she would eat so it was all mine!
I did not enjoy School very much, in fact from day one I would rather have stayed at home. On the first day of School I was shouted out for letting a door bang and took an instant dislike to School. Quite often I would say to Gran “I don’t feel very well Gran”. Her reply was “That’s ok my little Lamb-o, you stay at home today” as I snuggled into her large bosom.
If Jack, our jackdaw was around I had to be careful as he liked to sit on her bosom too and if I tried to get close to her he used to peck me. It didn’t half hurt and I cried on many occasions.
A little later on she would turn the TV on and let me watch “Tales of the Riverbank” with Hammy the Hamster and was narrated by Johnny Morris.
It was my favourite programme and I later had a Hamster who I named “Hammy”. I am sure he was Houdini as he escaped several times but that is a story for another day.
(“Tales of the Riverbank was shown in the traditional Watch With Mother slot and featured real animals and their related adventures, with the narration for the stories was lovingly provided by Johnny Morris.
The principle characters were two friends, Hammy the hamster and a white mouse. Both animals lived along a riverbank and shared adventures with their neighbours.
The stars of the show were real animals, which were shown moving around in miniature boats, cars, balloons and even aeroplanes. Their homes were fully furnished with appropriately sized furniture. The fifteen-minute episodes were filmed at double the normal speed to allow the camera to slow down the movements of the animals.
Tales of the Riverbank was produced in Canada and screened on television in England, Canada, Australia, and in 34 other countries around the world.
After the original series in the 60’s an additional 26 half-hour episodes were produced in the early 1970's.
The concept was to create a program that was non-violent and highly entertaining, that kids would love, and that their parents could watch with them.”)
Sometimes we would go into Stroud if I wasn’t “Too ill”. She would catch hold of my hand and off we would go. “Stay there Tinker” Gran would say as we locked the door with Tinker sitting in the porch.
Tinker was never locked up and very rarely put on a lead. He would just take himself off to where ever he wanted to go. He even came up to School in the lunchtime and snuck through a hole in the fence and played with us all until the bell sounded for the end of playtime.
We would amble down the path to the road and look back over our shoulders only to see Tinker “Hugging the walls” thinking that we would not see him.
Having caught the bus into Stroud we would stroll around a bit until it came to Lunchtime.
“Do you fancy some Fish & Chips” Gran asked. “Yes please” I replied eagerly.
So off we would go into “Tuck’s Café”.
To any of you who do not remember Tuck’s Café it was a local “Greasy Spoon Café”. It was located just opposite The Subscription Rooms and had large glass windows. As you went in there was a high counter with various “Cold Milk Dispensers” “Orange Juice Dispensers” with plastic oranges floating round and a “Milk Shake Machine”. There were lots of tables and benches and a couple of fish tanks. There were also stools in the window where you could watch the world go by. It was a great café and catered for everyone from Old Dears to Kids. The food was tasty and relatively cheap. I think it closed down in the 1970’s.
Gran would order our fish and chips and it wasn’t long before they arrived. This is better than School I would think as I tucked into my lunch, followed by a donut and sometimes I could wangle a Milk Shake as well. Mr. Tuck would pour some milk and flavouring into a chrome container and place it into its stand and whizz it up. He would pour it with a flourish into a large glass and top it up with a couple of stripy straws. Oh, the bliss, my upset tummy was instantly forgotten.
Occasionally we would go to McFisheries, a fish shop, and she would buy me some sprats. This was a real treat. Fried until they were all brown and crispy I used to munch every little bit, bones and all. Fish roe and pigs trotters were also a favourite of mine.
When we had finished lunch and shopping we would catch the bus home.
Guess who would be waiting in the bus shelter at Chalford – Tinker!
