Things we did when we were kids

[leeblue]

Bunked off school (porters grange) and spent my days down at the old kursall and park/shelter where Sealife is now, paid for a few rides by climbing the fence behind wood grange post office and getting the corona/r wights bottles to return back to them!

I too bunked off from porters grange to hang out in various parks and of course head to the seafront......mid eighties....

 

[leeblue]

Wearing different coloured luminous towelling socks.

Gear!

YES, had to have my farah trousers and yellow Le shark jumper........80s woooooooooo

 

[Uncle Leo]

What ever happend to the bubble car that your Dad and Uncle Charlie used to have outside there house when they were about 18 .

I only ever heard of that car, haven't ever even seen a photo; it was a few years before I came along! Must ask Uncle Charlie next time I see him (caught up at Christmas and he was on great form)

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Bonchurch Park with the kids gang. Playing 'it' and jumping across the brook. I think Jones memorial had the highest slide. As kids, we used to make a day of it by walking all the way from Leigh along the brook paths behind Manchester Drive and Fairfax Drive. Play in that great park for hours, and then walk all the way back. About 7 miles there and back. Kids together don't even walk one mile these days. Blenheim Park with the teenage gang, wild times. Walking from Leigh to Roots Hall, then bunking in along the Shakespeare drive alley. Football in all the parks.

Airfix.

Penny for the guy.

Pinball in the cafes.

Working at Chalkwell Fair in the school summer holiday.

Down the seafront all the time. I had lots of coups on different machines down Southend seafront. The machines were more based on skill in those days, so it was easy to make money, as long as you stayed off the one arm bandits. I would start one end of Southend's golden mile full of machine arcades, and by the time I went back, the machines I had a coup on, were ready to be fleeced again. Kids were always asking me where did I get my money from. Happy days. Bank Holiday Mondays were the busiest and best earner.

Paper round.

Throwing and playing with fireworks, tut tut, I know, but it was very common in those days.

I got all my prank/tricks from Argosy Toys London Road in the early Seventies. They had a great little section for that kind of stuff. I used the flash and exploding cigarette's on adults in my circle, and itching powder, finger trap chewing gum, stink bombs and hand shake electric shock at Belfairs school. Lol. Happy Days. The itching powder was the worst, as once it was down your back you needed to shower and wash the clothes to stop itching all day.
The exploding/flash cigarette's were absolutely hilarious. You had to get someone's cigarette, and push this little thin thing right into it with a needle. Then you waited for them to smoke, and hoped they picked that one.

And of course.........The North Bank.:smile:

 

[LCBB]

I only ever heard of that car, haven't ever even seen a photo; it was a few years before I came along! Must ask Uncle Charlie next time I see him (caught up at Christmas and he was on great form)

Ask Charlie about the moped they had, your dad would sit on the back of a bus going to Southend and Charlie would ride behind , and on the way back your dad would ride the moped and Charlie would sit at the back of a bus .

 

[Gremlin]

Does getting fingered by Top of the Pops presenters count? I'm asking for a friend.

 

[Blueronron]

Every Saturday getting The Hotspur, Victor and Goal comics and magazine to read with my old man.
Going to Shoeburyness during school hols and eating ham sandwiches with a a handful of sands thrown in.

My dad getting me an AC and Inter Milan football shirt and was the **** of the school at PE, itchy wool material but I didnot cae

Pretending I was Geoff Arnold or Ken Shuttleworth as I bowled another over in cricket and some how not finding it weird when workmen asked to play during their lunch hour as we played in the park, normally got a shilling from them to buy a bottle of pop as thanks

Watching Dave Chambers on a Friday night at Roots Hall and wishing I was him,watching teams without sponsors on their shirts and happy to give kids an autograph during warm up

Four penny blacks or fruit salads for one old pence and Im sure Sherbert dabs were bigger as with Sherbert fountains, eating an Azetec Bar,Texan bar and the old Nutty bar guarenteed to break your teeth.

Todays kids may have hi tech software but I believe the age of innocence was better and a nicer place to live in, no one seemed to parade in fake designer clothes, have the best of everything even if they cannot afford it, boast of taking drugs and having a tag on their leg, seeing a policman brought respect not anger and teachers could teach and not be guided by stupid laws, a flying black board rubber was more effective than a raised voice

UTS

 

[Rob Noxious]

Bonchurch Park with the kids gang. Playing 'it' and jumping across the brook. I think Jones memorial had the highest slide. As kids, we used to make a day of it by walking all the way from Leigh along the brook paths behind Manchester Drive and Fairfax Drive. Play in that great park for hours, and then walk all the way back. About 7 miles there and back. Kids together don't even walk one mile these days. Blenheim Park with the teenage gang, wild times. Walking from Leigh to Roots Hall, then bunking in along the Shakespeare drive alley. Football in all the parks.

Airfix.

Penny for the guy.

Pinball in the cafes.

Working at Chalkwell Fair in the school summer holiday.

Down the seafront all the time. I had lots of coups on different machines down Southend seafront. The machines were more based on skill in those days, so it was easy to make money, as long as you stayed off the one arm bandits. I would start one end of Southend's golden mile full of machine arcades, and by the time I went back, the machines I had a coup on, were ready to be fleeced again. Kids were always asking me where did I get my money from. Happy days. Bank Holiday Mondays were the busiest and best earner.

Paper round.

Throwing and playing with fireworks, tut tut, I know, but it was very common in those days.

I got all my prank/tricks from Argosy Toys London Road in the early Seventies. They had a great little section for that kind of stuff. I used the flash and exploding cigarette's on adults in my circle, and itching powder, finger trap chewing gum, stink bombs and hand shake electric shock at Belfairs school. Lol. Happy Days. The itching powder was the worst, as once it was down your back you needed to shower and wash the clothes to stop itching all day.
The exploding/flash cigarette's were absolutely hilarious. You had to get someone's cigarette, and push this little thin thing right into it with a needle. Then you waited for them to smoke, and hoped they picked that one.

And of course.........The North Bank.:smile:

Love this ... and that brook was a brilliant place to play. Me and my mates smoked our first cigs down there, underneath the bridge near the White Hall tennis courts (Southbourne Grove end). And around that time ... Summer of '71 ... Choppers for the boys, hot pants on (and for) the girls and T. Rex riding high in the charts. Happy days.

 

[GrumpyBlue]

Playing in timeless football matches in Blenhiem Park - but always being home by tea :stunned:

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Love this ... and that brook was a brilliant place to play. Me and my mates smoked our first cigs down there, underneath the bridge near the White Hall tennis courts (Southbourne Grove end). And around that time ... Summer of '71 ... Choppers for the boys, hot pants on (and for) the girls and T. Rex riding high in the charts. Happy days.

What a summer that was Rob. The times, the music and the fashion, and the girls. I loved the early Seventies. If I had a time machine, that's where I would go back to. We had some great summers back then. Would be light and warm up till late. Some days I was having so much fun I wouldn't go home for my meal. My stomach rules these days.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Playing in timeless football matches in Blenhiem Park - but always being home by tea :stunned:

If you are talking the early Seventies, I probably played footie with you. In those days, you turned up in parks and could join in with anyone. If a game had already started, you always went on the losing side.
Yep, some of those games went on all day, with different players joining or going home or just knackered. A few times I went home for dinner and came back about an hour and a half later and started playing again.
Everytime I go past Blenheim Park nowadays, I never see anyone playing football.

 

[Benfleet A1]

Years ago the local Chinese takeaway used to have everything delivered in wooden packing cases. We used to nick them and build tree houses out of them up the willow tree in our back garden. Another favourite was to blow up termite nests in Westwood woods. All we did was give the nest a bit of a stir with a stick and tip a bit of paraffin down the hole. Chuck a match in and try to get out of range. We were such delightful kids back then.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Roller skating in the old place on Pier Hill, wearing huge jeans with side pockets, 3 button waists and whizzing around to David Essex "I'm gonna make you a star".

 

[BrettieAngell]

Playing football for as long as possible after school, stopping only for dinner and/or Jossy's Giants.

Yes!!!!!!!!

 

[GrumpyBlue]

If you are talking the early Seventies, I probably played footie with you. In those days, you turned up in parks and could join in with anyone. If a game had already started, you always went on the losing side.
Yep, some of those games went on all day, with different players joining or going home or just knackered. A few times I went home for dinner and came back about an hour and a half later and started playing again.
Everytime I go past Blenheim Park nowadays, I never see anyone playing football.

I was earlier in the 60s:omg:

 

[Rob Noxious]

I was earlier in the 60s:omg:

Ha - you were but ... I remember trying to get the ball off you in Blenheim Park about 1970. I failed time and time again.

 

[ozzie]

If you are talking the early Seventies, I probably played footie with you. In those days, you turned up in parks and could join in with anyone. If a game had already started, you always went on the losing side.
Yep, some of those games went on all day, with different players joining or going home or just knackered. A few times I went home for dinner and came back about an hour and a half later and started playing again.
Everytime I go past Blenheim Park nowadays, I never see anyone playing football.

yes,great stuff,use to do the same,but at chalkwall park..25 a side, play for hours,lucky if you kicked the ball 5 times..go home in winter,shorts on,caked in mud.getting on the bus,everybody looking at you, by the time you got home,the mud had all gone hard, so you picked it off with your finger nails!!! always loved the smell of a new football,leather or plastic,same as new "footie" boots..

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

always loved the smell of leather or plastic.

The mind boggles as to what you buy your missus at Christmas!!!!!!

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

yes,great stuff,use to do the same,but at chalkwall park..25 a side, play for hours,lucky if you kicked the ball 5 times..go home in winter,shorts on,caked in mud.getting on the bus,everybody looking at you, by the time you got home,the mud had all gone hard, so you picked it off with your finger nails!!! always loved the smell of a new football,leather or plastic,same as new "footie" boots..

Yes I used to play in those games at Chalkwell as well. I remember Ian Franks and Rupert's(Legendary Southend supporter) younger brother playing a few times.

 

[ozzie]

The mind boggles as to what you buy your missus at Christmas!!!!!!

my wife is german:blush: