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Winter in the fifties

Does anyone else remember your mum making you a winter pixie hat she called it?  That would have been a woollen scarf sewn halfway down and turned outside in and that would've been your hat all through those cold cold winters of the fifties !


Created By on 11/01/2016

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chrisdal
15th Jan 2016 14:20:32
1
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yes, not very flattering are they ? along with elastic through the sleeves attached to gloves and the dreaded embarrassing liberty bodices, oh, the memories of the tin baths in the cold kitchen and the outside loo, my granddaughters think I made all this up, but we have a laugh about it all.
Response from T4bsF made on 7th May 2016 18:57:10
I loved my liberty bodice. I wasn't at all concerned with fashion as a little girl and just loved how warm and cosy it was. In the depth of our Winters, when there wasn't any double glazing or central heating around - every little thing that helped keep you warm was very welcome.
JanW64
25th Nov 2018 14:39:50
0
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OMG, I was born in the fifties, no central heating, having to screw up newspaper to lay a coal fire, paper then wood then coal, light and hold up a newspaper to make it drawer up the chimney. Watching the chimney sweep poke the brush out the top. Running down to the hardware shop for the brick because the chimney caught fire.
Remembering the woollen swimming costumes made by mum, not the most efficient idea. Grandparents on deck chairs fully dressed in coat and hat on the beach.
Waking up to ice on the inside of the windows no quilts. How did we not get hypothermia.
Walking a mile to school on your own aged 5, or was that just me. Outside toilets, no bathroom, tin baths, dolly tubs for washing clothes.
The Woodentops, Andy Pandy and finding him in the cupboard with Looby Lou, disgusting :).
ArchieUK
11th Sep 2016 08:03:43 (Last activity: 5th Aug 2018 19:48:05)
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Still with winter in the fifties, I was always the first one home, we would finish school at 4-15 and I would go home, my first job was to make the fire, the house was freezing and only when there was a fire going that things warmed up. The fire not only warmed the kitchen room but heated the hot water so about two hours later there was enough warm water to have a wash.
Response from supagran2 made on 5th Aug 2018 19:48:05
Yes I used to have to light the fire and lay it ready.I was taught to make firelighters by rolling up newspaper and tying them in knots! In order to ‘draw’ the fire up the chimney we used a page of the newspaper.Many a time the newspaper caught fire and had to be quickly pushed onto the fire or it flew up the chimney!Im surprised there weren’t more houses set on fire in those days!!
supagran2
5th Feb 2016 15:42:33 (Last activity: 5th Aug 2018 19:41:45)
0
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Yes I do remember the pixie hats.They were good because they were not only warm but you couldn't lose your hat!!lol!I remember having to knit a hat in junior school shaped like a T then you join the arms of the T to the sides,sew ribbon to the corners and there you had a bonnet!!
Response from supagran2 made on 5th Aug 2018 19:41:45
Yes we made pom-poms in just the way you describe.I still knit 65 years later!
myself4343
20th Jul 2018 21:44:04
0
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yes I remember my nice warm pixie hat very well and still have a little photo somewhere of me in it. Wasnt it a wonderful idea
Vantodder
20th Oct 2016 10:38:45
1
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Ice on the inside of our bedroom windows
red kay
16th Sep 2016 17:36:01
0
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yes I remember my mum knitting me a striped scarf which she made into a pixie hat
ArchieUK
12th Sep 2016 10:05:19
0
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The house we lived in was on the posh side of the street, we had a toilet in the yard, one to each house but the people on the other side of the street had to use a communiel toilet. In the winter it was so cold having to go for a pee first thing of a morning and if you needed to empty your bowels it was a form of punishment, even today I feel sorry for those who had to walk down the street to go to the toilet.

We had a little lamp that was put in the toilet that kept the frost off it did not heat the toilet but it did keep the pipes from freezing up.
Lytham lucky
7th May 2016 19:14:56
2
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Yes I remember liberty bodice nice and warm I used to chew the rubber buttons in class I also had a hat that I used to put my donkeys tail through
T4bsF
7th May 2016 18:59:04
0
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Yes - I had a few. My Mum was quite a prolific knitter - but not so hot on the sewing together bit..... so I very often wore cardigans with button holes not matching where the buttons were.
Riversiderouge
15th Jan 2016 14:58:05 (Last activity: 7th Feb 2016 17:17:24)
0
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These were not the only unflattering home knitted garments of the 50's!! What about the boys bathing costumes?
Response from rubbish51 made on 7th Feb 2016 17:17:24
Flattering not. I remember a woollen pair of swimming trunks.Fine while you were in the pool, but round your knee caps upon exiting. Great amusement for the onlookers.
lonemoan
11th Jan 2016 15:55:20
0
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Yes I remember the girls in their woollen pixie hats, us boys had many types of headgear, leather helmets, balaclavas,scarves pushed inwards to make woollen hats,school caps,gloves sodden wet and freezing cold from throwing snowballs and sledging.Alas we don't get the old fashioned winters now in Norfolk like the ones I remember from my boyhood,but then the whole world and people have changed haven't they.

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