div ye mind?

[Poultney lad]

div ye mind going down till the harbour way a plastic bag in yer pocket till get a fry, {fish} or finding a lemonade bottle and going till e shop and getting money for it :lol:

[justine]

remember the lemonade bottles but not the fish to fry....used to get 10p per bottle. recycling in the early days.....

[ciderally]

div ye mind going down till the harbour way a plastic bag in yer pocket till get a fry, {fish} or finding a lemonade bottle and going till e shop and getting money for it :lol:

this must be someone i know:eek:

[ciderally]

you will remember the spoonfull of olive oil you got from the janitor of wick academy then:lol:

[Poultney lad]

wouild that be mackie the jantor :)

[ciderally]

oh yea mackie..i forgot his name...he used to tell you to bring in a bottle and he would fill it up for you...and it was codliver oil not olive ...tee hee

[Poultney lad]

Mr henderson was the headteacher

[riggerboy]

remember the lemonade bottles but not the fish to fry....used to get 10p per bottle. recycling in the early days.....

10p my god i mind getting 2p and thinking i wiz erchie, as for the fry o fish them days are long gone,

used to go to hughies and from roond e back ye could get empty bottles then run doon to stellas cash them in and get lucky tatties, mmmmmmmmmmmm

fine until hughie and stella found out and gave chase,

[Poultney lad]

were was stellas at? jack bremners and emmas

[justine]

10p my god i mind getting 2p and thinking i wiz erchie, as for the fry o fish them days are long gone,

used to go to hughies and from roond e back ye could get empty bottles then run doon to stellas cash them in and get lucky tatties, mmmmmmmmmmmm

fine until hughie and stella found out and gave chase,

removed the original statement as i posted under my oh name..

I lived out of the country as a child and only returned after the price was 10p. My oh has just been explaining what a lucky tattie was as i had never heard of it, but they sound good, can see why you would take the chances you did........

[pat]

At the top of the park - where the childrens home is now roughly, come on remember the tall old buildings at the top with the shop in the middle - top of Northcote Street.

[dirdyweeker]

Mr henderson was the headteacher

Purdig Miller was the P4 teacher in '61.
Stella's was at the top of Northcote Street.

[Poultney lad]

remember it now pat, were they no a shop at the bottom two did tobbys brother not buy it it was on south road

[pat]

Sandy's was at the bottom of Northcote Street attached to the house facing up Northcote, forgotten the name of the house at the moment (old age!) but it is obvious it was a little addition to the house - think it is a little self contained flat now attached to the house.

[Poultney lad]

thats the one:)

[riggerboy]

were was stellas at? jack bremners and emmas

across from the bignold park, i could be wrong with her name long long time ago

[Tighsonas4]

was winterdyne not the house and shop at the bottom of norcote st sandys?? in my time it was jam jars that was collected if you got enough you could buy a football this is DIV E MIND eh

[dirdyweeker]

Yes it was Winterdenes, run by the Sutherlands

[balto]

i remember getting 10p for the bottles it was a fortune in them days try giving that to kids now and they will laugh at you.

[Faithers Appprentice]

We used to get 8p for a bottle of Barrs Irn Bru. It was just enough to buy those packets of sherbet in the yellow and red paper tube that had a stick of liquorice in it

[horseman]

[quote=horseman;362055]Absolute ungentlymanly character.

[TBH]

across from the bignold park, i could be wrong with her name long long time agoIna's was the shop at the top of the bignold park.

[Ricco]

div ye mind going down till the harbour way a plastic bag in yer pocket till get a fry, {fish} or finding a lemonade bottle and going till e shop and getting money for it :lol:

Definitely, Poultney lad. Used to go down to Scrabster early on a Sat. morning but it got ruined by a few greedy adults who used to drive down and get their kids to go along the boats with a box and collect as much as they could, possibly for selling on. This soon put an end to it.

As for the bottles... they were a constant source of sweets for me! :D

[horse]

i can remember Henderson the head teacher and Mackie the janitor and the shops near Northcote street. i used to take empty lemonade bottles to carters shop at the bottom of Seaforth avenue they would knock money of if the top or lable was missing. i can also remember being down at the fish mart when i was realy young and my uncle was there landing fish, when he noticed me he said take a fry home to your mam so i went to get some fish until the skipper seen me and raced me out of the mart. brings back memories.

[pat]

As you say remember going down harbour, if uncle ever saw me it was take a fry home to your mother - used to dread it as the weight and distance was hard.
I can remember when old Norrie had the original Boy Andrew when she was new, he used to add another fish or two so I always had difficulty carrying it home. Mum used to use as much as she could, pass the remainder to the older folks houses down the street.
Used to get into Breadalbane pictures on a Saturday for a big jam jar or two little ones.
Remember Mrs Budge had a shop in Breadalbane around 37 - next to the entry, that was where I first saw sweets displayed, spend hours just looking and imagining what they tasted like - not long after sugar rationing stopped!!!
Going on the train - sticking your head out of the window and getting covered in flechters and soot but ooohhh the speed and the noise of the old steam engines especially if they blew the whistle.
Was it our imagination or were the summers warmer and longer - we were never in, always somewhere to go and something to do, sun shining, games to play - never time to get 'bored'

[domino]

We used to go round collecting jam jars and sold them to th Co-op. Halfpenny for a lb jar and a penny for the 2lb jar. After Christmas and New year we also gathered glass beer bottles and sold them also. Another ploy was to pinch a fish box from behind the mart and make a hurly from which we used to sell bundles of firewood round the doors.
I can still smell the inside of Ina Bain's wee shop opposite the top off Shore Road which was a fantastic sledging venue for many a winter. these WERE the days!!!!

[Venture]

Yes pat I agree the summers were warmer and longer. I can remember wearing shorts and t shirt most of the summer and would be out playing till it was dark. Even then playing leaveo round a lampost.

Playing at "hoosies" in sheds and garages and using boxes for furniture. Dressing up and wearing your mams high heels and going for a stroll with the doll's pram. So different to now.

Does anyone remember Jessie Clyne's baking. She used to use the front room of her house in Smith Terrace to sell home baking on a Saturday. Her custard slices were to die for.

[weeboyagee]

I mind Shooees van comin roon Kennedy, he shouted "E Vahhhhnnnnnn", "E Vahhhhnnnnnnn"...... I used til get 6p til buy a bag o Smokey Bacon crisps, e scorries skirled in e background an e wires still clank inside e lamposts on a windy day til iss day!

Ma Grannie's hoose - no 52!

WBG :cool:

[Aaldtimer]

I think there's some serious confusion going on here between p's and d's!

[brokencross]

I remember my dad coming home with a "fry", (late 1950's) and it wasn't just a wee fry, it was usually a large cod or a few haddies. Everyone used to know when the boats were due in for the market so would "hang around" looking for a fry. Don't suppose it would happen now with the supposed shortage of fish, the cost and quotas etc plus the distinct lack of boats in Wick.

[pat]

Auldtimer - new pennies came in February 1971 so most of these youngsters!! do not understand that 2 1/2d old pence makes up a new pence 1p.
12d changed to 5p. 240d to £1 instead of now 100.

WBG - do you mean 6d as in the old sixpennies (shiny little one similar to 5p) or do you mean 6p as in 1shilling 2 1/2 pennies.

Suddenly in 1971 prices rose drastically when money was changed to decimillisation - most of the old folk got the young folk to do the shopping until they found their feet with the changes.

[Aaldtimer]

Aye Pat, I mind it fine in '71. Actually, although decimalisation officially started then, the 5p coin was introduced years earlier into the currency. The coin was the same size as the old shilling. At the time, my then wife was convinced she would only get fivepence (5d) worth of gas out of the meter using one of them! :roll:

[riggerboy]

Ina's was the shop at the top of the bignold park.

aye thats where conner ended up hevin a chip shop lol, stellas wiz where the childrens home is now roughly

[Pennylane]

Hi Pat..somehow i think i must know you lol...Mrs Budge i remember so well she was Rhona Hendersons Granny...such a lovely family they were ..I used to get a ration coupon for sweeties on a Sat.before going to picts in Breadalbane to watch Flash Gordon or The Lone ranger and always in the front seats...when mattinnee was finished we went (with a sore neck from looking up at screen )to Academy Braes to reinact whatever we had watched that sat morning pmsl...and yes Pat the weather seemed a lot better in them days...the tar always seemed hot and sometimes we even played skips and peevers in bare feet...only to get a roaring when we went in at night for having tar on our feet...then it was butter rubbed on it to remove ....but better getting it on your feet or legs than getting on your new sandals that was bought from Dunnetts in Breadalbane street to last you all summer...and giving the rings from your wellies a chance to heal after having them on most of the winter lol...used to love going to Trinkie or North Baths every day...and i could go to north baths even though i stayed in Pountly side as my Granny stayed in Willowbank and spend a lot of time staying with her. Them were the days hahaha.

[pat]

Pennylane - must know you. Yes Mrs Budge was Rhona and Dennis's granny.

The academy braes paths were a great place for the play battles and fights, and re-enactments of everything seen at the pictures on Saturday. The other place was the stairs behind the Breadalbane cinema - down to near where the bomb site is, don't think they have been used for many years, that was the steps you took when we were being brave or awkward! I can remember the stairs being very very steep, going in an alley at the dark houses (where it seemed as if lots of families lived) behind the cinema to get to the stairs.

I can remember my mother taking me to Hamish the dentist - down at the corner of Union St and Bank Row, I was about 5 but the screams coming from the person getting treatment scared me, I just took to my heels and ran up the braes, know I was not yet at school. Mum could not catch me as she had the rest of family with her, no way was I going to sit waiting to be tortured!!!
Don't know which was worst Nonter or Hamish - all I used to see was a big grin and teeth coming to get me - frightening.
I had a terrible fear of dentists for a very long time - no problems now, rather go to the dentist than the doc!

[silverfox57]

hamish the dentist frightened me ,as her had trouble getting my one of my back teeth out.had to put his knee on my chest,to get it out,after that we went to nonter who scared me to death with his wild look,got to know nonter manys years later and fond him to be a real gentleman,funny as children we had i unjust fear of doctors,dentists, minsters,ect,only fear now if other half,

[Anne x]

I am scared of dentists since a encounter in my youth siblings and I marched to the bus like ducks to the slaughter to go to Dornoch to the dentist Family outing I right !!!I horror story more like that remained through my life
I used to also be scared of the School Dentist when the big blue van rolled up and been called out from the class Oh!!! I can mind the worry just incase they never got my mothers slip declining treatment

I also mind ingin (onion )johnies on a bike and a man with a turban and suitcase going around the houses selling wares

[silverfox57]

In the 1960s
a man went around doors with a suitcase selling clothes,he became a very good friend of the family,this man went on to have 2 very good shops in wick, and was very respected man in wick for many years,untill he past away sadly,

[karia]

Here in Central Scotland we hev retail parks galore.

5 weeks past a fish merchant pulled up in the street selling fantastic fresh produce.

Great to see the return of the independent trader.:D

[Margaret M.]

I also mind ingin (onion )johnies on a bike

I remember him -- does anyone remember Jimmy the Sweep riding his bike with all the brushes and stuff in front? And all the vans that used to go door to door, Sutherland Bros, Eck Rendall, Mortimer the butcher, Hughie Malcolm with the Sunday papers, and Mowat selling clothes.

[Venture]

I remember him -- does anyone remember Jimmy the Sweep riding his bike with all the brushes and stuff in front? And all the vans that used to go door to door, Sutherland Bros, Eck Rendall, Mortimer the butcher, Hughie Malcolm with the Sunday papers, and Mowat selling clothes.

I remember them all Margaret and the rag man when you used to get a chalk ornament or a balloon for old clothes. And how could we forget Alex Mathieson with his horse and cart and Martains delivering the milk with a horse and cart too.

[horse]

i can remember all the vans that used to come around there was a van with groceries and the man used to anounce his arrival by shouting BAKER i think. there was ally brothers van and bashers van who sold clothes they became good friends to our family. Gibbys van used to come round every sunday with the news papers and sweeties and we used to be aloud to buy some sweets as a treat,with this being a treat it was always a dificult decision as to what i should get but if you pondered to long gibby would lose patience and pick for you LOL. i can also remember the mannie with the ingins and the bike and im sure i can remember the sweep. More memories

[EDDIE]

Does anyone remember must be back in the seventys when they tried selling milk in plastic bags were u got a free plastic jug to put the bag in and no matter how hard u tried u always made a mess pouring it.

[pat]

Can remember when they first came to Caithness - I answered door, got a shiock, hid behind door and then screamed 'MAM!!! theres a mannie at e door wi a bandage roond his heid and kerrying a suitcase, HURRY UP MAM!
Poor man if this was his standard reception at Caithness doors!
Not many strangers in Caithness in those days.
Onion Johnnie - onions were great and they loved to chat, they were all nice.
Before Westerseat got the first electric cars they used to deliver by horse and cart too.
Jock Martins horse and cart taking round the milk too.
Alex Mathieson was on the go for a long time after everybody else had stopped using horses, he really cared for his horse and people too, lovely man, often used to get a lift on his cart although it was often quicker walking but it was fun sitting on the cart.
Rag and bone man - a plaster ornament, balloon or a goldfish, ornament was used for chalking on the pavement for hopscotch, drawing or keeping scores, nobody worried as it washed off in the next shower of rain.
How did our mothers put up with the balls banging against the walls whenever we were off school, all day every day sometimes - tennis, beavers, football - can understand why she used to send us for messages!!!
Plastic bags of milk absolutely horrendous - whatever you did it leaked and poured everywhere. Cannot think where I was a couple of years ago, saw milk in a plastic bag and immediately thought back to those horrible bags we had in the 60/70s.
Wasn't the baker who went around - Calders from Henrietta Street.
Forgot about Lambert and his greasers but can never remember them except going to the school, other than the shop in Grant Street, cannot remember them having a van going round the villages and streets.

[pat]

Jimmy was a lovely man, spent more time blethering and he certainly knew all that was going on in the town - brother and Jimmy lived on South Road in a little cottage, very good folk.
I always used to be surprised at how white his collar used to be on his shirt and how clean his little round glasses were, whenever I passed they were drinking tea and tending their garden.
Remember Nicolsons in the High Street, going in for sugar and getting it weighed out, same with butter - cut, patted into shape and wrapped, tea came out of the great big tea chests into little brown bags to be weighed and folded down. No selotape in those days or plastic bags.
How many of you were send to buy a loaf, by the time you got home the inside was just about eaten away!! No wrapping in those days!
Everybody carried a shopping bag or basket or if it was a fairly big order the message boy would deliver it by bicycle with the big carrier on the front - usually after school as it was usually school boys who managed to get a job delivering on the bikes.

[dl757]

The baker van was Budge the bakers from Thurso. He would call out BAKER when he came round. Calders bakers also had a van and sold the best ever meringues and jelly pies.

[TBH]

I remember them all Margaret and the rag man when you used to get a chalk ornament or a balloon for old clothes. And how could we forget Alex Mathieson with his horse and cart and Martains delivering the milk with a horse and cart too.They used to call him Sandy Mat.