In August this year the article Childhood memories of a local prompted over 35 comments from interested readers. In addition, Vic Vicarey (whose memories they were) established many new, and in some cases forgotten, contacts who emerged from the woodwork, from overseas and in the UK. Such was the popularity of the article, that Vic has been asked by many to write a sequel so, in his own words, Vic has captured more childhood festive memories from his Christmases when life then was very different. Here they are…
Coming from a large family you can imagine the fun and laughter we had in the Christmas period in our house, it was what you might call magical which is why I remember them so well.
All my childhood Christmases started a few days before Christmas Eve (not like today, a couple of months before). Also a few days before Christmas, my brother Ernie and I would go carol singing. We would knock on doors after singing a carol or two; sometimes they never answered the door so we got wised up to that and knocked on the door before singing the carol!
We can’t have been that bad as on several occasions we were asked to go in their houses to sing – it was a good way of earning some extra money for Christmas. At home, we would play blind man’s bluff where you would put a covering over your eyes and you’d be spun round. You then had to try and find everyone, not easy when feeling a bit dizzy. Another favourite game was called hide the thimble, hiding an object while others tried to find it and it was a great and innocent way of filling our time.
Another family tradition involved my dad who would order a barrel of beer from the Bedford Arms pub two or three days before Christmas and set it up on a small table. We had to wait a couple of days to let it settle but the wait was worth it in the end.
The Christmas tree always had tinsel and baubles and a fairy on top. We had real candles that clipped on the tree (I can’t remember if they ever got lit) and paper chains, remember them? Mum brought our paper chains but we all took part in making them, our role was to glue them together. We had those lovely opening paper bells, balloons, holly and mistletoe, all were pinned to the ceilings with tinsel. Such was our enthusiasm you couldn’t see the ceiling after all the decorations went up!
Every week throughout the year my wife and several of her friends would save money for Christmas, it’s how it was then. Our savings were held at the Baptist Church for safe keeping until the big event.
Apart from the traditional barrel of beer we had other drinks which you don’t see so much these days like Babycham, Martini and Cinzano and who could forget Cherry B.
Gin & orange was a firm favourite, Dubonnet snowball made with Advocaat, port & lemon, ginger beer, lagers in a tin or bottles of Harp and Skol lagers were all very popular then.
On Christmas Day, mum would place six pence pieces in her home made Christmas puddings, to avoid any sibling conflict she made sure that when she dished up the pudding portions we all got a sixpence each.
My favourite Christmas present was a pop up clown’s nose, if you hit the nose the clown’s hat would fly upwards. We had a spring- loaded plastic gun and with rubber missiles which often stuck to anything they hit, as long as you had licked the rubber end first.
Other presents included our favourite board games – Snakes & Ladders, Monopoly and Ludo –Â leaded tin soldiers, toy cars, paint boxes & painting book, a compendium of all sorts of games and of course my sisters would have dolls, doll’s houses and skipping ropes.
One present I received every year from my aunt Eileen was 10 or 12 thrupenny pieces, all wrapped up in Christmas paper like a Christmas cracker, and an orange.
Favourite festive songs from Bing Crosby (White Christmas), Dean Martin (Let it snow let it snow) and Nat King Cole (The Christmas song) echoed around our house and thankfully they are still being played today.
On Christmas Day in 1970 we had snow, the next day being Boxing Day we walked to the Bedford Arms, had a few drinks then walked over the cricket field towards mum’s house in several inches of snow. We took everything from the table and placed it with two little goal posts at each end of the table and commenced our blow football challenge using a straw to blow a little ping pong ball. You can imagine that after a while of over enthusiastic blowing, the table was soaked in dribble – good fun though.
The dart board we hung on the back of the door, seemed a good idea at the time. Shame about all the holes we made in the door, more than the dartboard!
Also, Boxing Day was a day to remember fondly, spent with our neighbours Jack and Nancy James who would always come into our house for a Christmas drink. Dinner on Boxing Day was mashed potatoes, turkey, beef and a mixture of pickles. Mum would stay at home Boxing Day morning looking after our younger members of the family whilst us older ones would go for drink in the Bedford and met up with other families. Rolling up on the doorstep later that day and mum would do dinner for grown-ups. Our Christmas period lasted until just after New Year’s Day.
Every year in January, John Jempson haulage company would give all their lorry drivers and their children a Christmas party with Father Christmas turning up, who gave everybody a present. I remember one year having a pop gun with string attached to a cork that fired out when the trigger was pulled.
When I was a kid, and it still happens today, we are all told and continue to tell our children one of the biggest lies ever referring of course to Father Christmas doing what he did on Christmas Eve but we all do it in good faith and to make Christmas special. Even today, with my family, we continue to keep our family traditions going and I hope that in sharing my childhood memories with you brings a smile and helps to bring back some happy memories for you too.
My wife Pauline and I wish all the readers of Rye News a very happy Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
Cheers Vic Vicarey.
Image Credits: Vic Vicarey .