Toys of your youth

[oldwheels]

We didn't have adventure playgrounds as such, but....... we did live not far from a functioning coal mine, complete with waste heaps.

There were several "pit ponds" formed, I suspect, from water pumped out of the mine, plus, rainwater which ran down the spoil heaps and collected in the valleys.

We used to make rafts, from pieces of wood, old oil drums, and, in later years, bits of polystyrene foam, and, "sail" across the ponds. We never risked swimming in the ponds, the water was foul. If you were unfortunate enough to fall in, none of your mates would come near you, because of the smell.

The site of the pit is now a nature reserve, I see very few if any children there, when I walk or cycle through.

Another source of "amusement" was a small factory nearby. They manufactured radios, I think. Whatever it was they made, required a sheet metal based with various size holes punched out. The discarded circles of sheet metal, of various sizes say 1" across, to 6" across, and, with extremely sharp edges, were discarded into bins in the yard. We would climb over the fence, fill our pockets with the discarded circles, then, later, amuse ourselves throwing them at trees etc, where the would invariable embed themselves in the trunk.

The game came to an end after several months, when, an off target throw, resulted in a disk embedded in one of my pals forehead. trip to hospital, several stitches, a good hiding for all concerned, from respective fathers, new amusement had to be found.

We had a "pit pond" which was called The Dub. We certainly never ventured to go into it and in any case I doubt if anything would sink as it was semi solid.

 

[Beebo]

They were building the M6 - Britain's first Motorway - a few fields away from us. That was our playground. No barriers, no security guards. No weekend working so we were all over the plant and equipment. A wonderful time.
Couldn't do it now.

Same for me with M25 in early 80s.
I remember getting stuck up to my thighs in deep sticky mud.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

a few pages ago someone mentioned board games

Formula 1 was epic - dice - hence chance - was only for when you took a risk - mostly just judgement and chance based on risk
Business game - great game - until we worked out the tactics and then it was just formula stuff



Best game

The hill in Barnston Dale
Long steep hill on soil/mud
ending with a lamp post and 2 trees
then a stream and a wide bridge then a steep hill


game was
start by the start tree
go like hell down the hill - brakes not needed
go between either 2 trees - or tree and lamp=post
cross the bridge
NO PEDALLING ALLOWED AFTER THE BRIDGE
winner is the one who gets further up the hill before stopping, falling off or dying






OK - seems like OK

went back many years later when I was adult

YEA GODS that hill was steep
and the gaps between the trees and lamp post was tiny
and the nice wide bridge was about a foot wide

clearly we died!!!

 

[neil_merseyside]

Same for me with M25 in early 80s.
I remember getting stuck up to my thighs in deep sticky mud.

M53 for me, going into the viaduct box sections was really scary, what with the submarine like 'watertight' doors, though as they hadn't been lifted off the ground it wasn't too silly.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Does anyone remember Escalado? This often came out at parties at our house, especially when my parents and their friends came back from the pub. The "merrier" they were the more money changed hands.
I also used to play it with my friends and we'd bet in pennies.

View: https://youtu.be/EdHqJRkZ4m0

 

[Beebo]

Does anyone remember Escalado? This often came out at parties at our house, especially when my parents and their friends came back from the pub. The "merrier" they were the more money changed hands.
I also used to play it with my friends and we'd bet in pennies.

View: https://youtu.be/EdHqJRkZ4m0

We still play it every Boxing Day. It’s great.

 

[VelvetUnderpants]

Tonka toys were meant to be indestructible, but I somehow managed to break mine

 

[VelvetUnderpants]

In the late 70's these were an obsession on our street, we used to skim them against and wall if they bounced off and landed on any of the other cards on the ground you won and took all the cards.

Liverpool was flying back then and my prized possession, apart from my Villa ones which I never used, was John Toshack and a great pick of Steve Highway in full flow, sadly I lost them in a duel with my neighbour who cheated by putting sellotape along the edges of some of his cards, so they skimmed better

 

[roley poley]

slinky's
Stretch Armstrong
slime

 

[captain nemo1701]

View attachment 590467

Not this exact one (think mine had a lot more bits in there), the stuff you got in there though, wow, hours and hours and hours of fun.

Oh yes, I had chemistry sets....budding mad scientist back in the 70's. There was a toyshop in my home town Darlington which was a stationers downstairs but book & toy dept upstairs and they sold spare test tubes etc (no chemicals) for the old Merit range. So my 'augmented' set resembled something Peter Cushing would have been proud of in those old Hammer movies. I also enjoyed growing copper sulphate crystals. Ahhh...innocent days.

 

[roley poley]

taking the pen insert out of a cheap biro and using the case as a pea shooter with chewed up paper as ammo

 

[Blue Hills]

I'm surprised there's been little mention of board games.

We had a decent collection including Formula 1, Totopoly (horse racing), and Mine a Million (mineral mining).

Also Scoop! (newspapers) and the inevitable Monopoly, although that was our least favourite.

Never quite got on with Cluedo, although lots of people did.

Formula 1 was a humble looking thing but actually a very good game - played it many a school summer holiday.
A friend had Scoop - the thing with the cardboard telephone device you dialled to see if your story had made it?
Had the idea that it was from a slightly earlier generation than us.
Totopoly was very good but at some point they changed the rules/"simplified" them - made it worse I think.

 

[Blue Hills]

My great grandma bought me one of these when i was about 5! Was she trying to turn me into something 'a bit different'? 🤔
View attachment 590555 View attachment 590554

Have always been troubled by the psychological effect those things had on young girls - make something cry, then get a reward for stopping the crying, then make it cry again - etc etc.
I trust you emerged into adolescence and adulthood unscarred/threw the thing against a wall.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I don't know what happened to the doll. I only remember being encouraged by my great grandma to feed it with the fake milk in the bottle thingy. Ok,here's another confession. According to my mum(her grandaughter) she also 'made me up' as in put eye liner,lipstick and is it 'blusher'? on me as a toddler!!

 

[Blue Hills]

I don't know what happened to the doll. I only remember being encouraged by my great grandma to feed it with the fake milk in the bottle thingy. Ok,here's another confession. According to my mum(her grandaughter) she also 'made me up' as in put eye liner,lipstick and is it 'blusher'? on me as a toddler!!

mm - this is sounding a bit creepy somehow - as if you were a surrogate of some sort.
Or maybe I'm overthinking it.
All normal for accrington?
(have always thought there's more to that place than meets the eye)