Pocket money toys

I don't recall getting pocket money when I was very young - I think I simply enjoyed The Beano comic (paid for by my grandmother) every week. The earliest "real money to spend on myself" pocket money I remember was in the late 50's - when I was awarded the princely sum of about 2/- (that's 10p in new money!) With this shiny coin gripped tightly in my palm, I would dash into town, straight to Woollies - where I would purchase an Airfix model kit - or - if I could wait longer - I would save it up and buy a Corgi model car or maybe something for my train set. I particularly remember a white Corgi Ambulance, complete with flashing lights, powered by an AA battery (which always seemed to leak after about 2 days!) - for the astronomical sum of 5/1d (26p) What did everyone else spend their hard-earned pocket money on? (and did you actually have to earn it?)

When we were young we had to knock on doors down the street to ask if they wanted any shopping, cleaning paths, clearing snow, which we would get 1d to 3d to 6d depending on the job and who it was. I saved mine to get patent shoes, the rest went into my school bank where we would buy stamps, stick them in a little book - when it was full it would come to £1.00, then we would be given another book when I was 7. I did this until from 5 to 12, when we got older in the 60s we had 10/- (50p) which we had to earn, clean the house at weekends, wash up evenings, run errands to the shops, cut the lawn or get the coal in for our mum, baby sit. I used to spend mine on records so we always had to earn our money unless my mum, dad's friends at the Jag & Daimler club or the AEU Club on the Foleshill Road, or the Westwood Heath Club occasionally, gave us any for pop at weekends.

When I was about 7 or 8 (early 70s) I remember saving up 50p from my pocket money, then went shopping with my mum to find something to spend it on. She helpfully suggested that I ought to buy myself a nice purse to keep my pocket money in (you're way ahead now, aren't you!). Well, I chose a football-shaped purse, which cost..... 50p! I was so upset - now I had nothing to put in my purse!!!

Hi Tony I did receive 4/- pocket money from about age seven. My mum & dad expected me to use it wisely which included savings too. From that early age I bought Prince Charles 2/6d stamps that went into a book. That left me with 1/6d for tuck-shop for the week. Provided I had saved the Prince Charles stamps each Monday, at the end of the month I was given a treat as a reward. That is how I started to be able to go trainspotting on my own or with a friend to Rugby, Leamington or Nuneaton.

Hi PhilipinCoventry - you've answered my question before I asked it. We used to buy the saving stickers at school and I was given the money for the Princess Anne one, which was pink, but I couldn't remember the value of them. I don't think my mum could afford to give me enough for the Prince Charles. What colour was it, and how did we redeem the little books when they were full?

Hi Shoestring. Princes Anne were sixpence I think. They had to go in a separate book. I had them at Mrs Dickson's Stoke Annex school before I went to KHVIII. Prince Charles were blue. They were cashed at the post office. They were part of the then government's post-office savings scheme, aimed at reaching all, even those without bank accounts.

Thanks Philip, I thought they were 6d. When I was a bit older I used to go down town, to the Precinct, and buy a quarter of rum truffles with my pocket money. Also all sorts of ornaments which my father said were rubbish. He said money burned a hole in my pocket! One day I found a wallet - I stood there holding it for a bit but no-one came running back looking for it. It had £2 14s 2d in it (I remember to this day). That was a FORTUNE!!!! I thought about how I could spend it bit by bit so no-one wold notice, and was still working it out as I walked up the steps into the police station to hand it in. AND NO-ONE claimed it. They rang me 3 months later and said I could have it!!! Rum truffles all round.

Records were extremely expensive in Coventry back then. Six shillings and eight pence for a single, thirty-seven and six for an LP. Fortunately, the landlady of the Oak Inn (Pam) had a crush on me and used to give me the discarded records from their juke-box!

I used to purchase national Savings Stamps at school too. The Prince Charles ones were 2/6d, and were blue. The Princess Anne ones were 6d, but I thought they were green. Mind you, I'm a bit colour blind! The first toys I ever recall buying with my own money were Matchbox cars. I seem to recall they were 1/6d each (late 50s) and the best selection was at Devlins in Broadgate. Later I used to save for Corgi cars, which I preferred to Dinky, and for Airfix kits which started at about 2/6d. Barnbys was the place for cars, but the best Airfix range was in Woolworths. I used to get 2 comics a week, Beano & Dandy, delivered with our newspapers, but if I wanted any others they were out of pocket money. I also collected bubble gum cards, a load of which I found recently in an old suitcase in the garage.

Dutchman, clever you Woolworth singles 50p, first one I bought was Paperback Writer, Beatles. The rarest record was pink vinyl Blondie LP As 9 of us were living in a two bed house, lack of room, we only got a toy on our birthday or Christmas, one toy also with games to share. Later I collected national dolls as they were small but a lot I had given me.

As a very small boy I remember Matchbox toys on sale at a tiny newsagents in Albany Road but on the opposite side of the road to the present newsagents, close to the pub. The shop was very cramped but I'm unable to find any evidence of its existence. Yes, Dinky were very dated compared to Corgi. The polythene bagged kits were a Woolworths' suggestion. They had previously been boxed at a much higher price. Incidentally the first ever Airfix model was the Coventry-built Ferguson tractor!

Hi Dutchman I loved the kits, Airfix & Frog. When I started the first railway when my boy was four, I assembled a couple of white metal kit locos. That's where I learned to solder. If I made a mistake I could put the whole assembly into a saucepan of boiling water, for it to all come apart. It was low-melt solder which went liquid at about 94deg. Sorry, gone off subject now. I was involved with a job at Rolls Royce once at Derby & I was complimented by one of their engineers on knowing the parts of an aircraft. An accountant from Courtaulds was not supposed to know that kind of thing. I told him that I served my apprenticeship on Airfix kits as a boy. I love this on here! No joke! Assembling those kits as a boy gave me a head start when I was pricing up a job off a drawing for an engineer, when I was 'grew-up'.

Hi Tony Tony said: "powered by an AA battery (which always seemed to leak after about 2 days!)" If there is one thing in life that has improved out of all recognition since our child days, I believe it to be batteries. The new 'rare-earth-metal' technology in batteries is mind blowing. I am reliably told that it has not finished yet either.

My weekly comic was the Girl's Crystal, and I used to have the annual at Christmas

Hi again My comic was the Eagle, or should I say daa daa da daa dadaaar! Dan Dare? We had a reading room at school which had the popular ones. Beano, Topper & Beezer. What was Girl's Crystal like? I did not know what girls were until I was sixteen!!!! It was my upbringing, I think?