Toys, books and games of yesteryear

(October 26th 2013)
Report by Coralie Smith

When our speaker had to postpone, it gave the small group of members who turned up on Saturday 26th October 2013 a chance to talk about Toys, Books and Games from their childhood.

Each person talked about something they had brought along to show and then followed a trip down memory lane as we all remembered the many things we had done as children. This suited a smaller group as we could all hear and have a say. There was a slight age gap in the group but not to the extent that we couldn't relate to the items brought along.

We decided to start with the oldest member and get a sort of timeline of items. A teddy bear was Anne's oldest toy and at over 80 years old the oldest item in the room. She has had to mend him many times, his fur has worn off and he has new pantaloons and a new knitted jersey to keep him covered. His glass eyes disappeared when he was very young.

Jennie had decided to show 4 generations of toys from her household - lead farmyard toys from biscuit bags of the 1930s, Funho metal trucks from the 1950s, plastic trucks from the 1980s and Lego from present day.

Sally brought in a very un-PC golliwog which we all had had one of at some time. Not un-PC for us!! Books and jigsaws were her other interests and the perennial skipping rope.

Margaret had no toys but showed two items from her very extensive royal collection. A small round tin with Edward VIII in coronation robes and crown - of course he abdicated and never became king so I wonder if this makes the tin more or less valuable. Her mother kept her crochet cottons in it. Princess Margaret's wedding book was the other item.

Judy told us about the wonderful day she had with her family when she distributed her old toys etc to them. They spent the day hearing all her stories. Such a great idea - I hope they wrote them down.

Ian as a youngster had tops and marbles but his best memories came from his teen years when he got into building his first crystal radio set. This hobby became a life-long interest, which he wished his grandchildren would get interested in but haven't yet.

Judith was a great reader and had a book by Eleanor Fargen that her grandmother had read to her when she came to visit them in Christchurch from Motueka. Rudyard Kipling was her other favourite.

Tim had a great story about his book "Heroes of the Dark Continent" which he had collected as a scout in Christchurch to put in the local parish church fair. Quite sure it would sell for a huge price, he asked his father for 2/6 and added his own shilling. Much to his surprise it only cost 1 penny. He has been to some of the places in Africa that are mentioned.

Maureen had one her favourite books by L M Montgomery in the 'Emily' series. Set in Canada, along with the 'Anne' series they brought back memories to all there. Her other treasure was her aunt's Shirley Temple book brought out when Shirley appeared in the movie "The Little Colonel" with Lionel Barrymore. Maureen also remembered the knucklebones we got from the Sunday roast and we wondered how we cleaned them before playing with them. We couldn't remember.

Coralie also had a book - Rupert Bear in a very dilapidated state showing many hands had turned the pages over the last 60-odd years. A duck on wooden wheels with flapping rubber feet made by her Uncle Colin Hawken was a family piece.

Her favourite though was the walkie talkie doll she got when about 9 years old. In her original dress it had once had lots of clothes sewn by Coralie and her cousins and later her nieces but all have now disappeared. A visit to the dolls hospital some years ago for new hair and a touch up of the face has kept the doll looking like new.

Then followed a discussion on how as children we could turn a manuka stick and a bit of string into a horse. How marbles all had names and there was a season for playing them. Why couldn't children nowadays play with next to nothing, we wondered? Why did they find a computer or a Playstation so much more interesting? I suppose it is because it is the latest toy which we all wanted but didn't necessarily get.

Walkie talkie doll 1950s

Daffy duck on wheels c1950

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