Memories - early or general

My earliest memory was going with my mum to the welfare centre in Three Spires Ave, I remember getting bottles of pure Orange juice and a tin of Galaxo dried milk. I also remember wearing goggles and sitting looking at an ultraviolet lamp (vitamin "D" deficiency I think due to lack of sunor good food?), also remember being pushed home down Three Spires Ave in a pushchair. But it's strange why I just remember that bit. When I was older I also remember going up the high its (high its refers to the high mounts) to chop down a holly bush for Christmas (no Christmas trees then). Dad said if you want a tree then go and get one, he furnished me with a saw and off I went. Magical time for me at Christmas, I loved it then and love it now, I remember saving money at Worthingtons so I could buy a present for mum and dad. A razor for dad and a bottle of perfume for mum, she was so thrilled I had saved up for the presents, she kept the bottle until she died, I now have it in a frame on display. Got a feeling she used to see the girls at Worthingtons and ask if I had enough to meet the cost, I bet she had to put money up to meet a shortfall without me knowing. It's a priceless memento. Colin.

Cardboard in shoes, saving silver paper for the blind, National Dried Milk, Orange juice, sun ray lamps, saving up for little presents etc. All your bitter sweet memories resound with me and carry me back to childhood. We used to play on Radford Rec at Lydgate Hill and we often played cowboys. On a Saturday afternoon there would always be a western adventure on TV, just before 6.5 special and we would be Range Rider, Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Davy Crockett. When Davy Crockett was all the rage my gran made me a coonskin hat from her fox fur stole, possibly her proudest possession and I was Davy himself. We enjoyed our childhoods so much but someone was always watching out for us.

Does anyone else remember the yellow weeds which overran the postwar bombsites/demolition sites which were everywhere then? They had a particularly powerful smell in summer (we used to have summers then). Black and yellow striped caterpillars used to feed on them and turn to red butterflies later.

Buddleias and Coltsfoot seemed to be everywhere when I was a kid. The ruins of Kenilworth Castle had lots of it too.

It sounds like you are describing ragwort Dutchman. My main memory is of rosebay willowherb on the bomb sites.

Given the ages of the senior members of this forum and add the years together, I think we have licence to comment on the 'Good Old Days'. Is there anyone able to tell me when those days actually were!!!!! All most probably different but I would be very interested to know your various opinions - please If I can mention one regular, I think I know when RKid's were!!

You have it in one Dreamtime yes you are correct the good old days for me were growing up in Radford, and being a little nuisance as you already know. I thought I had lost favour with you from my last posting. I hope we are still ok? Although I live a good life now with my gorgeous wife and family I still sit and dream of my amazing childhood, with every plus their is a minus, in my case I would rather mess about and play than study, it was not until I was about to leave School that I realised I could not for fill my dream of being in the Royal Air Force as Aircrew, my education standard was way too below the mark. So any young people reading this should take note, live now pay later or pay now live later. Only problem with that statement is if you were like me you would not have understood anyway. Good topic Dreamtime . Colin

Hi Dreamtime, what an excellent topic, I'm sure all the members will have lots to write about. When I look back I only remember good times - growing up in Hillfields just after the war. Being a teenager, whilst Coventry was being rebuilt, and enjoying the freedom that the youngsters don't seem to have now. Getting married, saving the deposit for a house and the thrill of moving into our own home with an indoor toilet and bathroom!! We never thought we would be able to have children but were eventually blessed with two. These have all been good times. But the best time of all for me has been retirement. We are fortunate that we have still each other. Luckily we both have good health - except for the usual aches and pains that come with age. Time's our own and we can do what we like when we like, we have a lovely family and fantastic granddaughters - at this moment in time life couldn't be better. Do I long for the 'Good Old Days'??Not really.

No RKid, quite the reverse, I enjoy your postings immensely, and always look forward to hearing of your 'escapades'. Sorry to learn of your disappointment at not entering the RAF. They say some things happen for the best and I wonder if this happened in your case. My son served 16 years in the RAAF (computers in Security dept.) then suddenly decided to leave and is now a Remedial Massage Therapist and what made him take that road we will never know but he has proved to be very successful at it, having his own clinic. As long as you are happy in what you do. I am surprised you are not an author with all those memories behind you, so keep 'em coming, RKid.

Hello Tricia, I think we must have shared the same good times as I too followed the same path as you regarding saving for a family home, happily married and raising a family. It seemed the normal pattern for our generation. Too much stress is put on the family unit these days, too many options to decide upon and too much wanted too soon. I am so glad you are enjoying your retirement and long may it last for you both.

My happiest moment was when I was offered a decent house after CCCouncil made me homeless with two children for no good reason and learned I had grounds to sue them, after living in a car then putting me into bb bb bb bb bb bb then a house with no roof no inside toilet and no bathroom covered top to bottom with human faeces, which was legally condemed unfit for human habitation, now in two month's time because of CC housing benefit cannot do my daughter's new claim in time and the new laws on children leaving school my daughter with husband and four kids who both have and one still does work will be homeless, as they can't afford the private rent, she has been on home finder for six years, seems if you're born and work here you come bottom of the pile. Good luck to those that will have this to come.

Like RK and, I suspect, many others, I didn't use my secondary school years wisely. Like RK and many others I managed to get back on track when a little maturity kicked in. The "never had it so good" times came to our family a bit later than most but nevertheless times became better and I have countless good memories of the 50s and early 60s. I remember the absolute love of mum, dad, gran and my extended family. I remember the feeling of hope for a better life as the estates were built. We had a brand new house in Tile Hill, so new that the roads were surfaced some time after we moved in. I remember walking over the wooden duckboards to visit my auntie and uncle in Wood End when it was a massive muddy building site but everyone was starting afresh. I remember my uncle, back from the pub one Sunday afternoon, taking about twenty kids from Proffitt Avenue to Corley Rocks on the back of his coal wagon. How many laws would he have broken today? We went trainspotting at Shilton, Rugby and Nuneaton. We gathered conkers at Coombe Abbey. We went to Longford Skating Rink and, for a shilling, listened to all the latest records played at full blast while hanging out with our pals and making a cup of coffee last all night. I remember the Beatles and Merseybeat and how music and clothes and life became so exciting, everything suddenly seemed to be in colour instead of grey. I remember listening to Radio Luxembourg in Pauline Rathbury's back kitchen when her parents were out at the club, walks and a Woodbine with Barbara Hines, meeting Maureen James in Foleshill Park and going to the Ritz cinema with Linda Malpas. Innocent fun with lovely girls when we were all teenagers with it all before us. I hope they all enjoyed a wonderful life. I realised, at 15 and with no qualifications that I needed a proper career so I joined the Royal Navy. I soon knew what homesickness was really like and it took a considerable time to get over my longing for Coventry.

Hi & thank you Walrus. I have loved reading this.

Seems we have something in common Walrus. Enjoying life so much and living for the day. Dreamtime may have hit on something with her statement "some things happen for the best", bet you would not change a thing as I would not also. Seems you have a great family and you are enjoying life. This is a great topic thanks to Dreamtime, thanks Dreamtime for your comments re my memories. Colin.

The Good Old Days? As a child I only remember the sunny days. Depending on the time of year the sunny days were skating on the canal ice by Courtaulds, on the wide section, and the ice breaking up under me. Also on the Swanswell, at night time because there were no park keepers around. Scrumping in late summer and autumn. Playing in the Sherbourne, on bomb sites, exploring Coombe Abbey, the list is endless. The Good Old Days? No worries about a mortgage, gas or electric bills. Food placed in front of me with no thought of where it came from or who cooked it or washed up afterwards. No creaky knees, aching hip joint or headaches of any kind. The Good Old Days? They are still here in the making. Surviving three heart attacks, the last one fatal (only five percent survive the kind I had) lol, been to the other side and back, that really was a Good Old Day. The advances in medical science, better housing, living with your wife 24 hrs a day and still enjoying doing daft things together after 46yrs. All of the Good Old Days are all of my memories of the sunny days because I cannot remember rainy ones. I look forward to more "good old days" but that will not be until tomorrow when today becomes yesterday and a memory to cherish. We, all of us on this forum, are still here, so to me it is a new sunny day, and I wish you all well.