Your first job in Coventry

I can relate to that.My eldest granddaughter is 22 and still expects a filled stocking under the tree. My youngest is 13 and loves money instead, but she lives over the other side and it is more convenient, not quite 'christmassy' but you have to move with the times. (How did we ever detour from 'first jobs ?) No more mention of Christmas now Colin, it is far too early !!!!

Yes indeed! of course Santa exists,he's there all year round,in the smiles of people and in words like hello!and in all the good deeds you see being done by others! when I started work I became one of Santas adult helpers by giving gifts to others out of my hard earned wages,even Santa needs help in the xmas season, especially in this economic climate.MAGIC!

Sally and Radford Kid, Such lovely sentiments about Christmas! My late partner was a children's entertainer and was Santa in Redditch Kingfisher centre for three years running, just before he died. Really lovely memories! He was employed by an agency because of his acting skills and he took his role really seriously. He worked for 40 consecutive days before Christmas Eve and I used to love hearing all his stories-I still have a scrapbook of all the letters the children gave him. He always remained in character when wearing his red suit and was great with shy and underconfident kids. In Redditch it is the custom for children who are being encouraged to give up dummies to leave them with Santa so he ended up with a big bagful each year! I myself love the magic of Christmas and used to be entranced by the Owen Owen grotto and windows-they amazed me as a child. You are right, Sally, Santa does need help-I know that the Salvation Army citadel, in Upper Well Street, collects toys each year to give to kids who might not get much otherwise-the cafe is open from 10-3 weekdays so it is easy to drop things off

You are right too Anne - Owens used to seem magical to be when I was little especially at Christmas. That ground floor with all the perfumes and tinsel everywhere. It seemed a proper London-type Department store.

Owen Owen was great shop to go to running up to Chirstmas when I was young Santa's grotto, and the big decorations and trees above the canopy on the front of the store.

Yes, a lovely place indeed. The only sad memory was that you could have a present from Santa if your parents paid for it. We never expected such things, knowing there was little hope of there being the money available, but I remember looking wistfully at the presents that the 'honoured' kids got as they came from their special queue. It reinforced what we already knew about ourselves! I was so glad that the kids in Redditch all got a free Rudolph lolly and that was all!

I am so glad you are like me, grown up kids . I have been told by Dreamtime it's too early for Christmas , I have watched two Christmas films already to get me in the mood, just love it . Although I am not religious I attend Carol singing service every year, now some may say that is not in the sprit of Christmas and accuse me of being an hypocrite but it takes me back to my childhood I love the old Carols, and I have to say is that so wrong ? I watch every version of Dickens Christmas Carol and all the Christmas films. The worst day in my life was being told by some older mates that he did not exist . It was then I had to prove them wrong, they said the presents were bought by my parents so I set out in search of hidden presents . My Mum and Dad were in the front room while I was in the kitchen, I looked up to see if I could see anything hidden on the kitchen unit ( the kitchen unit was the sort that had a fold down table, once down it exposed an array of condiment , sugar,milk ,jam,butter and all sorts.) I could not see so I decided to climb on the washing tub that was at the side of the kitchen unit, I still could not see so I rested my foot on the fold down table And over it went, I was flung against the gas stove, as the unit feel it came to rest on the gas stove protecting me from the full force. Mum and Dad ran in to see what had gone on it must have given them a fright seeing me under the unit. " how do I get out of this one I thought" and then I started to cry and pretended to be hurt, they pulled me from under the unit and they began to check me out for injury , they asked " what were you doing? " I replied, " I was trying to reach the jam ( I cannot remember what I said but jam will do) and it just came over on me , I got away with it. Then I saw the mess, the milk was with the sugar, jam, dripping , butter all over the floor wow was I lucky to get away with that one and I never found any presents so they were wrong , he does exist . As for Christmas in Coventry, well it will never be the same without Owen Owen and the star on the spire, Owen's used to put on a great Display on the canopy and the windows were magic, only criticism I had was they used to change the window displays on Christmas Eve to reflect the Sales , I hated that , too commercial . On a final note one year on I did find Mums hideout, it was in the washing tub, the tub I stood on . My bubble was burst. Colin.

What the heck, it is nearly Christmas anyway. Rkid, my presents were always locked away in my parent's wardrobe, and the reason I knew that was because it was always locked at Christmas. Don't know where they kept the key ! No one could forget Owen Owen's display out the front and Santa in the basement used to scare my toddler son. On the subject of 'first jobs' mine over the past few years is making "THE CAKE" which I will do the first week in November as it has to be fed once a week with a little brandy to stop it drying out. (well that's my excuse) Second, is to make the trifle a couple of days before Christmas day so the sherry soaks into the sponge before proceeding with the rest of the goodies on top. No wonder we all look forward to Christmas.

Dear Anne, to me you were given the best present of all! your memories helped you to see the real magic of xmas, helping people less fortunate than others, and how beautiful to have had your very own wonderful father xmas and with all those lovely letters you kept from the children theirs and your memories will last forever. Pure Magic!

Hello Anne, Love the story about surrendering the dummies, never heard of that before but a very good idea though. Like me I bet you are thankful your memory is still in tact. What would we be without it especially at this time of the year. As mums we always try and make it a happy time of the year and I only hope our younger members of the family will have long standing memories too. (I can see this thread having it's own topic soon)

The bank job On the corner of Dugdale road just off the Radford road was a Bank , ( I cannot remember which Bank, I am sure someone will know) on this paticular morning We had reported to the Bank, signed in and waited to speak to the Manager, he was busy and seemed to drag his feet( don't know why but I took an instant dislike to him and I had not even met him) you could tell by his manner he was full of himself but I could be proven wrong. From what we could see he just seemed to ignore us. So after waiting for some time I decided to give him an ultimatum , we told one of the staff to tell the manager that we could not wait any longer ( yes he had got my back up) well that did it he came out of his office shouting and generally being a ass. He tried to be little us but we kept our cool. We started to carry out the work which involved removing some conduit box lids, now being a Bank the first thing I asked was " are the lids alarmed? (because it was a bank the conduit box lids were sometimes alarmed with a direct connection to the Police station) " how would I know, that's your job to know " I soon put him right on that one, I pointed out that it was the Manager's job to know, he mumbled off chuntering about the fact that he would have to contact head office, after a while he returned saying " from what he had been told the conduits were not alarmed", It was coming up to Dinner time when I started to remove one of the conduit covers, once I had removed the first cover it was evident that they were alarmed, I shouted my mate and we set off to get some lunch, " back in an hour" I shouted, we made a quick retreat and on the way I explained to my mate what was about to happen . If as I expected the conduit box was linked to the Police station on a direct wire, and if tampered with would set off a fault alarm at the Police station. We had a leisurely lunch and then returned to the Bank , well what we saw reminded me the "Italian Job ", Cop cars every where? We just walked back into the Bank and signed in as per usual only to find two burley Police men waiting to interview us. At this juncture we noticed the Police had arrested two men dressed in overhauls, they were handcuffed and sitting in the manager's office. It would appear that they would not let them go until we had returned from lunch, let's face it they would have had egg on their faces if they had let them go only to find out later that it was them trying to break in the bank. From all accounts they were Painters just about to start painting the fascia boards they should have reported to the staff to let them know before erecting their ladders. When the Police arrived they arrested the men as they were about to climb the ladder, protesting their innocence as they were led back into the Bank. It did make me laugh I have to say. Well as soon as we got into the Bank this jumped up little Hitler started shouting at us as being the culprits "I told them not to remove the covers " he said well that stunned me somewhat after asking him and saying they were ok to remove , the argument carried for a while with us apologising and saying it was all our fault ( we thought we were never going to win, and who would they believe anyway the Bank manager or two Telephone engineers who knew what they were doing? The two men were released to carry on their work and we were told to be careful in future, you should listen to the Manager ( the police officer winked and gave a smirk, he knew what was going on) later the staff told us all about the Manager, he was a right Git. They could not believe the load of lies he told to save face. Another day at the office for us. It did not surprise me to learn that the Manager sent in a report on our attitude, but we had already reported the incident just in case. Colin

Good story. Wasn't it a branch of Lloyds?

You tell em' Colin. We all know what we think of Bank Managers - I wonder why. We had a confrontation with one a few years back. Tony (hubby) wanted to talk about opening a new investment account but had to wait for the young manager who he could see was talking to some young female member of staff. Waiting, waiting, he finally came out but while talking he kept looking elsewhere and did not take in all that Tony was saying. Well, that was enough for Tony, he said "Look, are you interested in my business or not or am I keeping you from yours" ? with that the manager turned his back and walked away. How rude. What a way to treat a member of the public. No wonder SOME bank managers have a poor reputation. Tony did eventually deal with another senior member of staff also telling him his thoughts on the matter. He did receive a quiet apology from him. Thanks for your latest story Colin, it all adds to the spice of life doesn't it?

Thanks for your thoughts Dreamtime, some Bank managers think they are above it, they can be pompous and self centred. I bet lots of people on her have similar experience. You know how your signature changes over the years, well i was in a que of people in a Bank having got to the counter the manger asked me to sign a withdraw form. And because I didn't sign as per my original signature he asked me to sign it again and again and again, in the end he said " come come now, what is the problem ? " Made me look a right idiot, and just to show you how stupid he was, after much ridicul he show me my original signature specimen and asked me to copy it? How stupid was that? He was a right plonker. Colin

Yes, it would be good to have a new thread for this over the next couple of months. As I said on another post, I edited a booklet of old Coventry Christmas memories when I worked at Age Concern in the early 90's. I still enjoy reading it!