Great Kiddies Parties

I love a good party and I think it's because I had some wonderful party experiences as a child. Birthdays, obviously were an exciting time in our house. Oddly I don't remember any specific party, of say mine or my brothers birthday they do tend to merge into one mushy birthday party memory, except this one for some reason. This was my sixth birthday and I wonder if I remember it clearly because of the fuss that was made getting me in the Heywood Advertiser, complete with picture, I still have the cutting and the original photograph taken by the newspaper photographer. Also this dress I'm wearing, my mum made me, and I adored it. I always wanted a long party dress (because that was the fashion in the 70's) and I finally got one. Even after birthday and Christmas was over, I would play dress up and wear it around the house! I probably wore it for all other friends birthdays as well, until it got too small. My brother didn't look too happy at having to dress up in those hideous checked flares, or maybe he just hated standing next to his annoying little sister... Who knows?

For one year only I remember we had a Christmas party at school. I have no idea why they didn't do it again, but all the kids had to design and colour in their paper place mats with a Christmas theme then all the classes met in the hall had beef or chicken paste sandwiches (a kids party staple) Mr Kiplings fondant fancies and crisps and all the other yummy finger food that isn't good for you! Then we went back to our classrooms, moved all the tables back and played party games for the afternoon. It was FABULOUS! I also used to love end of term, bring a toy to school day. I used to love seeing what other toys my class mates had, and invariably I would get toy envy and play with theirs instead of my own. But I digress. I guess St Margarets didn't do another party like that, because it was so hard to organise or they just couldn't cope with so many overexcited kids flying high on lots of e-additives to be bothered doing again.

My next door neighbour, Angela was a year above me at school, but that didn't matter. I considered Angela my best friend at home. She went to the local catholic Primary School and at Christmas there the teachers and nuns put on a proper school disco for the juniors. I don't know why I was allowed to go because it was really just for St Pauls church and the school kids who went there, but I loved it. They had a proper DJ and flashing lights, a disco ball and everything. And curiously for me, it was overseen and chaperoned by the churches/school's nuns. Apparently the nuns taught at the school too. Iwas fascinated by this because it was a different world and decided I wanted to know more about catholism and why my church and school was so different to Angela's. I even know what music they played... The Hucklebuck and One Step Further, our 1982 Eurovision entry! I'm sat next to Angela in this photo. I think it's the only one I have of her.

Obviously, I was invited to other kids parties from Nursery and then Primary school, but these are the memorable ones because; Christine played pin the tale on the donkey at her parties and I wasn't allowed to because my mum said it was too dangerous! Kate's because I was a bit bemused by it all at first. I had no idea who she was or why I was there... I know, bonkers eh? But she turned into one of my best friends at school. Rachel's because her first house (picture below) we had a party in, I discovered she had her very own wooden wendy house in the back garden with a proper kitchen and table and chairs and which I thought was fantastic. The other house she ater moved to was enormous! And I mean HUGE. It was a big old Victorian Lodge or of that ilk and I loved going there to play and get lost in all the huge rooms; Audra's because we played Twister and I'd never played it before, I thought it was great fun and made a change to musical bumps, musical chairs, musical statues and my personal favourite pass the parcel (To music); Nichola's, because she was my cousin and I always went to her birthdays; Simon's because his mum decided she needed peace and quiet, so we had to lie on the floor and play dead... I won because I fell asleep!;




Amanda's beacause she got a trumpet for her fifth birthday. She couldn't play a single note properly but still insisted on trying to blow along out of tune to Summer Lovin' the Grease Musical because she got the Soundtrack LP as a gift too; Sarah's, I don't know why, maybe because I never really hung around with her at school and was surprised when a got an invite. (Not like today's parties where every single child from the kids class has to be invited in case someone is offended, god forbid.); and finally Glen's because I made friends with a girl called Catherine, who weirdly, I met again at 12 years old when I moved to a new High School and she remembered me! We would only have been 4 or 5 years old at Glen's party! Spooky coincidence.

My Cousin Diane was getting married in I think 1981 and you know now how much I loved dressing up in long dresses and wanted so much to be A Rose Queen attendant at church, simply because I would have the chance to wear a pretty long dress. Well, my dream came true, when Diane announced her wedding and asked me to be a Bridesmaid (Above) I was so over the moon and excited I couldn't sleep the night I was told or the night before the wedding. I remember my feet being really sore in these stupid pointed shoes I had to wear, but I wasn't going to let a few blisters stop me. I had little pink lace gloves (which i still have and my mum knitted me this gorgeous pink cardigan, (which you can probably just make out.) Anyway the wedding breakfast, I got to sit on top table and received a silver necklace with Alison on it, (which I also still have) and then I danced the night away with my Uncle Trevor, who I thought was very silly and great fun. His daughter on the other hand was on the cusp of becoming a teenager and so sulked and moaned through the whole day and evening because she had to wear a "Stupid dress".

My Mum, Granddad and Uncle all worked at one of the town's factories SEI (or Salford Electrical Industries) and every year the kids of all the workers were treated to a big Christmas party at Heywood Civic Hall. The usual paste sandwiches, crisps and cake were available and then party games on a huge scale. I remeber doing the okey cokey and felt quite frightened because the circle was huge and the older kids got a bit rough. It was the equivilant to a kiddy Mosh Pit! Anyhoo, every child got a Christmas present and a photo with Father Christmas (Not Santa!!!) When I was a kid it was Father Christmas. And we got some really good presents. I got a full dolly's china tea set one year, (ehich I still have, well the pieces I haven't broken!) and a pottery and art set another year. Once you reached a certain age you were invited to a trip out to the Pantomine instead. Can't remember what I saw, but I remember being on the coach with all of mum's friends and their kids.

Brownie Halloween Party was the best Halloween Party ever and I've been to few over the years. My mum made this dress and my dad made this super huge witches hat and he bought a proper broom from the garden centre, which got used plenty in the garden afterwards. I won first prize for the costume and won a box of Maltesers. We played bobbing for apples and had a pretend campfire in the middle of the hall. Haha!

Boxing Day every year my mum and her two sisters would take it in turns to hold a family party. Although I loved mum and dad's parties, there was something extra specially thrilling about going to someone else's house to explore and discover new things. I loved goinf to Auntie Doreens, because I liked to see their house all Christmassed up and play with my cousins new toys (see what she got of Father Christmas) And I loved going to Auntie Barbara's house because it seemed enormous compared to our and she had a highly polished wooden floor in the hallway that us kids used to try and skid and slide on in our socks. She also had a piano, so chopsticks was played very often on her Boxing Day parties. She also had a musical horses carousel ornament, which I was fascinated with and used to ask my Uncle Steve to get down off the self so I could play with it. Very Cool.

In 1981 Diana and Charles got married and like most people we watched the ceremony on TV and then had a Wedding Street Party afterwards. As you can see from the pictures there were a lot of kids on our street. There was and almost none street party that morning. Just one family on the street didn't wish to participate in the celebrations and so out of spite went out for the day and parked their car in the middle of the street! All the kids watched in excitement as about 8 dads (including mine) "bumped" the Mr and Mrs Misery's car to the end of the street! Hilarious! You Can just see the red cortina at the top of the street!

Weirdly, I have racked my brains and realised I never knew or met the majority of the children in these photos until that day. There was pretty much three friends I regularly played out with in the photo below and four or five families that I knew throughout my chidhood, but that was it really. We did live around the corner in the little cul-de-sac so maybe we were a bit cut off from the main residents in the street. We had the usually party food, played games had egg and spoon race, three legged and sack races, a mini disco then the grown ups took over! I remember lying in bed hearing all the shrieking and cackling of inebriated parents out partying! And yes, the kids were left at home alone!

Finally, my first street party was in 1977, The Queens Silver Jubilee and as my mum was part of the registered child minders circle on the estate we were invited to the party on Welland Avenue (the posh end of the estate) by Fran, the kindest lady you could ever meet, who ran the registered child minders group and organised the street party. Everytime I hear the song Simple Simon Says, it takes me straight back there as we played this game and it must have been the first time I ever payed because I thought it was great fun at the time. My mum had bought me a special red, white and blue dress for the occassion, which I loved and wore at every occassion after. I even insisted on wearing it for my first school photo! So that's the extent of my childhood party memories, I'm sure there were more, but I can't remember. Still, lots of lovely memories to go off, and whilst writing this, I get and excited feeling inside that makes me want to go to a party right now! LOL xxx

Days out and School Trips

My dad had many work colleagues scattered about the Manchester area and he would solialise with some of them as well as work with them. One such person was my dad's friend, Arthur who had a business in our home town of Heywood and my dad would take me his offices some evenings to discuss business because mum worked in the evenings and so I went to a lot of builders places and pubs over my childhood, as my dad was a workaholic and used to go and check out building and refurb jobs at Bass Charrington pubs in the evenings. Anyway, Arthur was a kind man, I thought, and he invited my dad to come and visit them at his caravan one weekend. I was over the moon with this because I love caravans, I always have and I'm beginning to suspect I was a gypsy in a previous life. I've only recently found out that his caravan was in a field somewhere in Windermere.



There were other caravans here, but it was nothing like the Greenacres site we used to stay on during our summer holiday. From what I remember, the caravan looked from the outside like the one we stayed in at Greenacres, but it was much smaller and more like a touring van inside. You walked into the kitchen, to the right was a small toilet/shower room and to the left was the living/dining and bedroom all rolled into one, which I thought was odd. His son and daughter had their own really old green touring caravan which we went to play in after we had had this gorgeous picnic. Just wish I knew where the field was. I can't ask anyone anymore.

School trips always seemed to have an animal theme to them (in Heywood anyway) We went to Chester Zoo, Knowsley Safari Park, which my mum came to and I became very popular in class, because friends would ask me to ask favours. Why I do not know, if mum said no to me, she was hardly going to say yes to the other kids on the coach, but no matter, I was popular for a day! I remember a bunch of girls screaming every time a baboon landed on the coach. I loved Zoos and I still love going to them today. As and adult I've also been to Colchester Zoo, Paignton and back to revisit Chester with my Neices. I remember going on a trip with Brownies to Blackpool Zoo and got all upset because I only got 50p spending money and everyone else got about £2!!

 Brown owl very kindly gave me a pound so I could waste her money on the new Cornetto ice creams and a tatty old straw fan. Yes, I cried because all my Brownie friends bought a straw fan because it was hot, and I couldn't afford one. I also remember then sitting on a noddy train as it took us around the zoo. The one other school trip from my early Primary School days was Martin Mere Wildfowl Sanctuary. I just remember lots of birds, but it was the whole excitement of getting out of the classroom for a whole day and eating a packed lunch like a picnic at dinner time. (Our school dinner allow packed lunches back then!)

Oddly though these are the only school trips at St Margaret's I remember. I know the first year in infants my mum refused to let me go. I never found out why, but I'm guessing it had something to do with she didn't trust anyone to look after a clumsy five year old all day and for me not to get into some kind of mischief. I just remember the next day in school, everyone was talking about the trip to wherever it was and having to paint pictures of what they saw and I had to just paint something else (I can't remember what), but I did feel angry that I'd missed out on something special! And it's also probably the reason why my mum insisted on coming to Knowsley Safari Park as a "Helper" because she could keep an eye on me.

The Victorian Museum in York is a glorious Museum and have been back there as an adult, it hasn't changed a bit, with it's mock Victorian streets, which you can go inside and see what they looked like and how they once lived. I guess it was the precursor too the Beamish Museum and other 'Living' museums as they call them today. I've always been fascinated with "The olden days" having loved reading Beatrix Potter and watching The Nanny with Wendy Craig as a child and Upstairs Downstairs and I still adore period dramas today. And I still enjoy going to Bygone Museums to this day, I thoroughly recommend The Bygone Museum in Torquay, which is an amazing collection and The Beamish Open Air Museum near Durham. Excellent days out.

Jorvik Viking Center was amazing day out for us as a family and I still remember the smells as we went back through the viking village in these little cars. I also remember seeing a hologram for the first time, which was of a helmet. Again I have revisited since as an adult and it is just how I remember it the first time, however, I didn't have to queue outside for hours on end like the first time, as it had only just opened back then and was big news for being so new and innovative as an interactive museum.
Tatton Park is a beautiful example of aristocracy in it's prime and I think was the first stately home I ever visited. We had a ride in a horse and carriage and I tried so hard to remember all the rooms and the layout of the building. I think I may have even fantasied or played rich Lady of the stately home of few times too.

 I still have my souvenir drawing book, which I drew lots of pictures of the house, carriage and horse and rooms in the home. I'm afraid I didn't have a camera of my own back then, but I have been back since and taken lots of lovely photos inside and out.
Heaton Park, Queens Park, and Springfield Park, day trips out these parks usually in school holidays were always exciting and long awaited for me. I have fond memories of feedings the ducks on the lakes, playing on the swings and slides and my favourite, Springfield Park had a miniature train, which I loved to ride on and a paddling pool/lido, which again was great enjoyment for me.

 As always I have revisited all these places as an adult and still enjoy the open air and walks, although I haven't been on any miniature steam trains recently.
Chatsworth, Oh my word, I loved this place when I first went and returning, I still find it awesome. The wealth the Duke of Devonshire must possess is astounding. There's marble and glittering chandeliers everywhere, gold ornaments and fine china at every glance. There is so much opulence here, you could go back again and again and still find something new to be bedazzled by.

I still have the original guide my dad bought when I was a child and I used to stare at the photos over over again, wondering why I hadn't had the good fortune to have been born into such a family. Obviously, I don't share that view anymore, the responsibility of the nobility is too much for me to be bothered with and I also realise that women of a yesteryear were nothing more than second class citizens, no matter how much you dressed them up in silks and fur! But great example of an English Stately home and an amazing history to boot.
Sandringham, another great stately home, still used by the Queen every Christmas. Because it was a residence of The Queen's, there weren't many rooms open to the public, which was a bit dissapointing, but I still loved the opulence and decidence of a royal residence.

 Southport was one of those places by the North West coast of England that I will never tire of. As a kid we went there countless times, just for a cheap day out. Dad would just suddenly announce, "fancy as day at the seaside?" And we'd scream "Yeah, Southport!" get our buckets and spades, throw our Labrador Bonnie into the back of the car with us and off we'd go. We'd park the car right by the beach because the tide never came in at Southport, we'd give Bonnie a good run, make some sandcastles then sit in the car with ham sandwiches and a flask of sweet milky coffee before heading off to the towns shopping area. I loved all the tacky gift shops, (as I still do today in whatever UK seaside resort I end up in) and I always bought a little matchbox doll or a novelty rubber for my erasure collection.

The town still very much looks like the old Victorian seaside town it has always been with the wrought iron fencing and gates around the enormous park, with its little steam train, and paddling pool and fishing pond/boating lake. I loved walking through the park to have a go on the trampolines (wish someone had thought of trampolines in the back garden when I was a kid, I'd never have got off the thing. I could have jumped and bounced around all day long.) Finally they had Southport Pleasure Land a very poor and dilapidated version of Blackpools Pleasure Beach, but I didn't care. A fair ground is a fairground when all said and done and loved going on the rides. And that was Southport. Great fun.

Besides going to see Blackpool illuminations every year and having a day out on the Pleasure Beach, one year we were treated to a special day out to Blackpool Circus. This was back in the day when you saw animals in the Circus, such as elephants, horses, lions, bears, the trapeze artists and of course the clowns. I remember this day so clearly, because at the finale, the whole circus ring became a huge fountain and the whole circle filled with water to lights and music. It was spectacular and I think Blackpool Circus still have the fountain as their end of show finale to this day. Must go back there sometime and see!
One other day out I remember is Uncle Dave taking us and his mates kids to a very posh hotel in Manchester called Herriots. I can't find any record of it now, but it had an amazing gym and spa underneath with a beautifully ornate Roman Bath style swimming pool. It was the first time I had ever been to a spa or health club and was probably about 10 or 11 at the time, but we all went up stairs in the bar to watch this precocious girl showcase her talents singing and dancing to Brother Louis Louis that was in the charts at the time. I was guessing she was he hotel owners daughter or something! These days kids aren't allowed in saunas, steam rooms or jacuzzi's for health and safety reasons,  we went in all of them and I loved it so much, it it still one of my favourite past times today.