Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

For anyone who might not know, a 'Baby-Boomer' was a person who was born between 1945-1955...(in the 10 year's after many of the forces were 'de-mobbed' and there was a 'Boom' in babie's being born).
I was born in 1949, (so I qualify, lol!), and my earliest memory is of being locked in the barn, (I was born on a farm in South Wales), at around 3-y-o by my 6-y-o brother...(I was wearing my Dad's cap...he was a CPO in the Navy during the war)...and being terrified, 'cos it was full of rat's!...

...so, what are your memories of the '50's...(or even the '60's?).

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

I was born in '53. I remember helping my mother care for my baby sister, including folding her cloth diapers and pinning them with huge safety pins.

I wasn't allowed to use the wringer washer but I did hang clothes on the line outdoors. One of my other chores was waxing the hardwood floor - I loved the smell of the wax!

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

I was also born in 1949 so I qualify as well and can remember as far back to the age of being 3 years old.

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

Memory retention can be amazing, Mollie, can't it?...so exactly what can you remember?.

...(btw, we were in Wigan this afternoon...we were up the Infirmary on Wigan Lane, ).

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

I was born in 1954 so just qualify although my mother had previously had a stillborn and was told she wouldn't be able to have any more so it wasn't a case of my dad returning from the war and going for it ! They just got on with their lives and I came along when my Mum was 39 which was considered very late to have a baby in those days.

I remember there was a huge difference between our house and my grandparents house. We had most things available at the time including a washing machine and a spin dryer that you had to hold onto and put a bowl underneath otherwise it moved round the kitchen on its own and the water went everywhere ! whereas my grandparents didn't even have a fridge ! My Gran washed by hand and put the washing through a mangle. My Grandad grew runner beans and salted them down in huge jars so they kept for a long time.

I remember the 60s the best particularly the growth of The Beatles. I also remember that when you left school or further education there was no question of not getting a job you just went for what you wanted and got the necessary qualifications accordingly. Very different these days.

I wouldn't want to be young growing up in the present time. The 60s was a good time for most people. I would like a younger body though lol !

Val

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

I was born in 1946 so also qualify as a baby boomer. I was born at home on Electric Avenue in Brixton - frst born of two girls and my mum told me I had to go into a drawer for a bed when I was born because they had nothing else to put me in. London was a bomb site for ages. Many itmes of food were rationed for a long time after the war and I remember the ration books and the coupons/points, as well as having to wait in line with my mum for a coal allowance on Cold Harbour Lane each week. She took the pram to carry the coal back home in and it was an afternoon's job waiting in a long line for the coal ration. At one time we were only allowed two eggs a week for the family, so they were stretched out by mashing them into potato. We were lucky to have an old victorian house which had survived the bombing and we lived together with my dad's 4 sisters and their husbands, together with my grandmother and grandfather. There was always something to eat so we didn't go hungry because we shared what we had between the families. We ate lots of different foods which were not rationed and I remember everyone getting excited and the rush to the butchers when someone came in and shouted up the stairs "they've got offal". I remember the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 and we all went to see the procession and got soaked, but my sister swears to this day that the queen waved especially at her, but I ws not so sure. We also had bunting strung out of the top windows across Electric Avenue and a party, although not a street party because it was too busy. The market was on Electric Avenue and it was a most fascinating place for a child - all sorts of people and such a varitety of things being sold. I used to collect up stuff which had fallen and take it back to a store I had at the back of the house under the fire escape - until my mum found it and threw it all away when I was at school. Some of my clearest memories are of those years in London.

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

I too am a baby-boomer, born in 1948. I only have small snippets of memory of East London (where I was born) as we moved to Brighton when I was only an infant. I do remember standing at the top of the stairs and swinging on the gate that prevented my from actually going down the stairs. I also remember the gate giving way (together with a chunk of wall plaster) and I went head first down the stairs (without touching one) and landing in a heap by the front door at the bottom of the stairs. The neighbours in the flat below (the3ir name was Ruffell) bought me a tin drum for that first xmas. Dragon confiscated it very soon afterwards!!!

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

You must have a good memory I have few memories before I was 5 (born 1947). I do remember the one minutes silence on the wireless after the death of George VI and the place where we used to go to get rationed orange juice(I think it was) for my younger brother (only remember that because of this roundabout thing they had that you pulled yourself around on)

Oh yes I also remember the coronation celebrations when we had a roast Ox on a spit in Pitville Park in Cheltenham and the parade where an army tank chewed up the road.

Apart from a few isolated incidents like that my early life is a blank.

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

So is mine
I was born in 1950. I can remember my brother being a baby (in 1952) being in a big Silver Cross pram which was parked under the stairs & me trying to climb up to see him. Other than that the earliest I can remember is being in the removal van going up to Wales. It was Feb 1955 & the van was trying unsuccessfully to go up this steep hill in snow. It couldn't manage it . The van skidded back down & hit a tree. The mark it made is still there now.
We had to get out & were dancing about trying to keep warm on this road in the middle of nowhere. I think one of the farmers from down the road came & took us to their house & phoned the owners of the house we were moving to - another farm. They had to come down with a tractor to pull the van up the hill.

Re: Baby-Boomer's...(and beyond!).

I do indeed have a good long-term memory, Bruce...(it's what happened an hour ago that foxes me every time lately, lol!).

I remember after my Dad was killed in a Quarry explosion, (he didn't want to work sheep, me Mum said), she moved us from South Wales up to Lancashire where most of her family had settled after leaving Limerick, and about the time I started school she would go down to the local clinic every Saturday Morning to collect her jar of 'Malt'...(dark 'gloopy' stuff, which was supposed to fend off all childhood illnesses!). We were given a table-spoon of it every morning before we went to school, and I loved it...(used to sneak the odd spoonfull when no-one was watching, lol!).

...but people around our way had different Idea's 'cos, whenever any of the kid's got Measle's, Mump's, or Chicken-Pox, we were sent to spend some time with them, so that we'd get it over with!.

I caught Mump's and Measles...but I never caught 'Chicken-Pox'...but I wish I had now, 'cos I got the 'Adult' version, Shingles, four year's ago, which covered half of me upper-body with huge blister's, which were so painful I couldn't wear a shirt for three week's!...(Doc told me I must have been incubating it since I was a kid!).