Christmas / New Year Memories

Biggest thrill of all was the Christmas lights in the city centre, the journey on the bus down Warwick Road, a quick look (if on the upper deck) over the railway bridge hoping to get a glimpse of a steam loco, past the wonderful tableaux on Greyfriars Green, up Hertford Street with single strands of coloured lights, under the bridge of Broadgate House to be met with a wonderous scene of Owen Owen window display, two tall decorated trees on the island with more single strands of coloured lights and looking down the Upper Precinct in amazement as the bus stopped in front of the temporary shops.

I know this is not Coventry related but I have got to say this one for xmas. Down in the darkest depths of Wales lives a cousin of mine. For years he has towed the Santa Sleigh around Pembroke, the Santa always being the Mayor. This particular year he was Mayor, so being short of his little helpers he asked me and my youngest son. My son readily agreed as did I. Came the night and the first port of call was to the old folks home. Santa went round giving out the presents while his two little helpers just chatted to the residents, although I have to admit my son was a bit out of his depth there. But it went down well, then it was back onto the sleigh for the main flight through the high street. Have to admit it threw me a bit to see that many people. All the parents with their little ones thronged both sides of the road. My son was by now trying hide in the bottom of the sleigh. Santa was waving, his little helpers were waving, well one was. Worse was to come The sleigh came to a halt and Santa then started to lead the carol service (I had not told my son of this part). By now my son was cringeing and looking for that hole to throw himself into. Altogether the sleigh ride lasted about two hours and my son said he could not believe I was singing along with the rest of the people in such a loud voice (totally out of tune). I loved it, it was nice to see the faces of the children from Santa's view.

There was a very strong tradition of rewarding tradesmen with a Christmas Box. Milkman, breadman, binmen, coalman, paper boy and postman would all be rewarded for a year's service. In 1962, aged 14, I delivered papers morning and evening along Bell Green Road and the surrounding area, a round of about 110 houses. I was reminded by one of the other lads that it was expected to knock on the door and wish the householder the compliments of the season. I was reluctant to do this because it seemed a little like begging but most people were very generous and I was amazed to accumulate about £10 in tips. Considering that my weekly wage was 17/6d this was a fortune and made a welcome supplement to our family income. Christmas was a very busy time for tradesmen. My dad was a Co-op butcher for many years when I was a little kid and I often helped him either in his shop in Britannia Street near City's ground or on his mobile shop touring the new estates. He worked late into the night dressing hundreds of chickens and many turkeys and geese. The birds were brought by wagon to the shop plucked but not dressed so the butcher had to remove head, feet and innards etc, saving the lights to make gravy stock. Hams and joints of roast pork were also popular. No household freezers back then, and precious few refrigerators either so the Christmas meat had to be pre-ordered and dad would work all through the night so that people could pick up their orders at the last minute. It all added to the mounting excitement of approaching Christmas. On the subject of pork pies, the Coventry Co-op had a pork factory on the Stoney Stanton Road, near to the Broad Street junction just opposite where the police station now stands. My dad garaged his mobile butcher's shop there and we often went into the factory. The production of pies and sausages was fascinating to watch. I appreciate that the genuine Melton Mowbray pork pie is a world class delicacy but I swear the Coventry Co-op pork pie was as good. Firm pastry, good quality pork meat, very well seasoned with white pepper, set in a coating of clear jelly. I've never tasted better. If we'd lived in France there would be an Appelation Controlee order on them. Christmas often evokes feelings of nostalgia and, though life is much more comfortable now, I miss the simple wonder of my Coventry Christmases. A couple of Christmases ago, on one of my regular visits to my family, I drove around our old area to try to catch a glimpse of the old days. Sadly all I found was a sense of no longer belonging. On a lighter note, I share with scrutiny a pretty untuneful voice. Some years ago I attended a wedding here in Cheshire. We all rose to sing the first hymn. It was immediately apparent that the vast majority of the congregation were either mumbling inaudibly or not even trying to sing. The vicar waved his arms wildly and let rip. " Stop, stop, this is a joyous occasion and should be joyfully celebrated by singing loudly in honour of the bride and groom. Besides, someone needs to drown out the gentleman (me!) in the second row."

Like many here, Christmas for me is the best time of the year. We were married at Westwood Heath Church just before Christmas (20th December 1969) and when the bridesmaids and I arrived at the church the vicar described us as 'like looking at an old fashioned Christmas card.' Instead of hymns, we had Christmas carols and everyone sang loudly because they knew the words. When our children were small I used to tell them on the 10th Oct (not sure why I choose that day! maybe they were being naughty?) that Santa was awake and would be making the toys for Christmas so they must be good children. Now my daughter Tiffany rings me without fail, every year on 10th Oct to tell me "he's awake mum." Although we live in Australia, we still have a very traditional 'Coventry Christmas', no shrimps on the bbq for us.

Posted this once but lost it, so will try again. Dick Potter, there's a name dug out of my memory bank. My mother was a lady butcher at the Co-op during the 50s and 60s and his name often cropped up. My mother hated the run up to Christmas, work was hard, continuous with late hours, especially on Christmas Eve. The shops stopped open until the last orders had been collected. One of her friends, Peggy? worked at the Co-op factory making the pies and was a wonderful pastry cook. You had to be good at your job in those days, mince pies you could kill for. She lived in Wallace Road, just through the entry from us in Sadler Road and her son was one of the first Concorde stewards. We have an early framed fight plan somewhere which he gave us.

Two photos taken this evening during the "Christmas lights switch-on" in Broadgate. The first taken looking out from the stage:- The second of our iconic Godiva statue, unusual against the night sky:-

Suddenly, remembered Sunday School Christmas parties, last night. In Fivefield Road, Keresley, (nearly in Coventry) was our church's 'hall' (a hut, like our church!) The parties were lovely, lots of blancmange, cake and sandwiches. The thing that I remember is taking our own plates and cutlery, which our mums personalised with coloured thread so we knew which to bring back!

Still on with the pork pies! Our old friend Sid has been reminiscing and he worked on the maintenance of all the co-op shops in the area. He says Bell Green had a street of Co-op properties. He remembers the lovely pies and the sausage which were brilliant. He says the factory was after the Red House and before Flavells and a long, brown building. He says that when they moved the bakery to Torrington Avenue, the pork pies had soggy bottoms He remembers having to go in and take out all the marble work surfaces for health reasons and re-fit the formica in the Co-op shops.

Blimey! I needed to reply to the pork pie thread cos Sid's memories were so good and he relates all his working life to Coventry. The Gaffer is right though, there appears to be a requirement for topical debate and that needs some kind of orchestration. Personally, I do use the forum search bar a lot and refer back all the time on here for historical references and it does require managing or it gets all muddled. I can see that. Should I have started a pork pie topic Ohhhh, 'The Weeks leading to Christmas memories' was so magical though, should it be languishing in the peripherals However, as the Guvner says, have a trial and see how it goes, I am sure it can be altered if it isn't popular.

The Christmas tree Every year it was my job to buy and bring home the Christmas Tree. During my travels riding around in my Bt Van I used to look out for the best price along with a good shape. For a few years I used to buy from a small shop in Earlsdon Ave so every year it was my mission to call in at this shop to pick up my tree on my way home in the Bt van, the tree being strapped to the ladder rack on the roof. As I have said before in the morning after we had signed on and completed our paper work it was off to the Cafe, over the years we got to know other utility workers, namely the Emeb. We got to know them by name and we used to have a great rapport with them, it got to the point that taking the Micky was the norm, we ripped them to bits as they did to us, all good fun. If we saw them out and about we used to make naughty gestures at them as we passed. all done in the best possible taste. Now back to the story, working with me this day was a "youth in training" cannot remember his name. We were finishing a job at Bridge Clock Motors on the Holly head road, It was getting late so I asked my mate if he would clean up and gather the tools while I nipped off to Earlsdon to pick up a Christmas tree, he agreed as I would drop him off at his home on the way home, he was only to glad to oblige. So I set of for Earlsdon minus my ladder which was still at Bridge Clock Having returned to Bridge Clock with the Christmas tree on the roof of my van I was beckoned into the office by my mate, you are wanted on the phone he said, it was my Boss , I stalled him for a minute while I instructed the Youth to load the van and put the ladder on, when you have done that tie the Xmas tree to the ladder, I then took the call, the call took longer than I had expected and now we were running late bearing mind I had to go home to drop the tree off and my mate before I could return to my Depot. We rushed off down the Holly Head road only to get caught in traffic joining the Ring Road, once on the Ring Road we then got stuck in a jam to get off at the Radford road exit! As we approached the turn off we could see our Emeb friends waiting in the near side lane Que. to turn left onto the Radford road. Now I could se a chance to to not only get out of the jam quickly but also to put one over on the Emeb. The right hand lane turning slip road was empty. So it was my idea to go down the right slip road , enter the traffic island, go round the island and then I would have right of way to cut through the line of Traffic trying to get a cross the jammed up island, a good plan I thought! To be fair I had done this same trick before. As we passed the Emeb lads we shouted out some rude comments " no wonder you work for he Emeb not a bright spark among you" something like that , we got the obligatory hand gestures as we would have expected I started to increase my speed to add to the effect, as we We're about half way down a car pulled over in front of us intending to do the same trick, he had not seen us travelling at " Warp factor 3 " I hit the brakes , tyres started to burn and then out of the blue this object appeared in front of us? "what was that ?" I shouted , "looks like someone has lost its load " as we were below the RingRoad now we thought it was a vehicle above us that had lost its load over the guard rail. It soon dawned on us that was not the case, as soon as I stopped it became clear, yes it was the ladder along the Xmas tree attached to it, it all happened so quick, it missed the car that had pulled out and he was long gone. We sat there for a while looking in amazement and wondering what had gone wrong? It soon became clear, " you told me to tie the Xmas tree to the ladder, you said nothing about tying the ladder on " he said. I replied " you silly boy, never mind ,it's ok " or words to that effect. Lol. We got out of the Van to clean up the mess being cheered on by various on lookers as they moved down the Que. I forgot about he Emeb boys , shouts of abuse from them as they passed and I knew I would get an earful next morning in the Cafe I was not looking forward to that. The ladder had done a full cart wheel with no damage to ladder or tree, so we collected it up and tied it back on and continued on our way . No need to embroider the next day Cafe experience. Needless to say I took some stick. I seem to recall them singing a rendition of " Oh Christmas tree Oh Christmas tree" thinking back it was worth the hassle just to hear the Cafe break into song, it was awful . I miss all that now I have retired. Colin.

Oh Colin that has made me laugh so much! I think you should have used Captain Mainwaring's phrase on that lad, 'Stupid boy'!!

Here's a couple for Anne - from 2007. Not very "historic" I'm afraid - but still 5 years ago, where did that time go! ...and finally, one for Dreamtime! I think it's a real pity that the city centre at the moment is full of "white" Christmas lights - what's happened to all these colourful ones?

Broadgate in the 60s. KHVIII school day didn't finish until 4.30 (and even later if you were in detention, as I often was). I was 11 years of age and had to walk to Broadgate to catch the bus home. It was cold. It was dark. My satchel weighed a ton and there would be a huge queue for the bus. I was tired and a long way from home. But those Christmas decorations were a joy to behold. Don't give me the cold back nor the darkness nor the tiredness but let me look at the Owen Owen Christmas display once more.

Love that photo of Broadgate. The slightly grainy B/W picture seems to capture the feeling of Christmas long ago. I wonder if Primark could oblige with something similar?? At least the building is still there.

My memories of Christmas gone by are of collecting a box of day old chicks from Shustoke Station in early September which my parents then grew on until approx 10 days before Xmas when they would be killed, plucked & dressed by my parents & family for sale to friends & work colleagues. It is fair to say that I hated this period before Xmas- too much death & hard work for me!. The few days leading up to Christmas was a whirl of people coming & going picking up their birds & having a tot with my mum & dad to celebrate Christmas. Other memories- lots of them! -Picking frozen sprouts from the garden on Christmas morning with snow on th ground. -Getting a .22 air rifle for Christmas -Going to the village shop with my Mum when she bought the Christmas booze - It seemed so much with beer, wine, bottles of snowball etc & strange drinks like Glayva & Cointreau -Walking to my Uncles on Christmas morning whilst Mum cooked the dinner & him opening a "special" bottle fro him & my Dad to drink -Trying to guess what presents I had. Once my brother bought me a horn for my bike for Christmas which made a heck of a noise when I sneakily squeezed it to try to "feel" what it was. -Waking up & getting up before everyone else on Christmas morning -Snow- there seemed to be lots of it in them days!