Comments on: She’s a girl of York city http://yorkstories.co.uk/shes-a-girl-of-york-city/ A resident's record of York and its changes Wed, 05 Mar 2025 17:45:53 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.38 By: YorkStories http://yorkstories.co.uk/shes-a-girl-of-york-city/#comment-354 Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:51:59 +0000 #comment-354 Yorkshire puddings with golden syrup – remember those from my 1970s childhood too!

Having to close comments on this page as spammers keep leaving comments. If Audrey’s memories have prompted your own memories of Scarcroft School, please email me via the contact link.

]]> By: stephen http://yorkstories.co.uk/shes-a-girl-of-york-city/#comment-353 Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:32:34 +0000 #comment-353 Bagnall 1928,you must be “Audrey”with your Arthur Mees inspired,encyclopaedic fund of York Stories. A very evocative and true,walk down memory lane ,in a city busy with work,not tourists.Well done.

]]> By: bagnall1928@yahoo.com http://yorkstories.co.uk/shes-a-girl-of-york-city/#comment-352 Sun, 26 Aug 2012 01:07:06 +0000 #comment-352 Coal fires, flaming in the grate, with the oven alongside, the drawer pulled out and the heat was pulled sideways underneath the oven. Many a sunday lunch was cooked this way.
A copper kettle on the hearth was swung on a trivet over the fire to boil and lifed off to brew the tea which we had morning, noon and teatime.
Home baking was a money saver and many a tray of buns or scones adorned our tea table. Bread and jam as a starter.
We never had cheese but occasionally a sausage roll from Wrights pork butcher up the road. Polony in its red skin was another sandwich filler.
Dinner was at lunchtime. Belly Pork or Breast of Lamb roasted with potatoes done round the meat. a fresh vegetable from Hannons or Rowsons nearby in Blossom St. where we lived.
A pan of chips made with dripping from the jar that it was stored in, every joint yielded some dripping in those days.
meat was not as fatless as it is nowadays.
Rice pudding or Groundrice pudding, Sponge pudding with custard were popular finishers to our dinner, (which was at lunchtime then)
Teatime was 5p and Bread and Jam, or toast done in front of the fire. dad occasionally got a little cheese but we didnt.
The treat of the week was a bacon sandwich on sunday morning taken in bed!!!
We seem to want so much nowadays, I thought we were rich and that the children who disappeared for free school meals at some hidden place were poor. (I never knew where they went)
The advent of school dinners was the war, it helped to save the rations so mum let us stay and we loved it.
Our favourite desert was the large yorkshire puddings, they poured golden syrup onto them!!!
I wonder if the horse and carriage still stand in the street in the Kirk Museum” we used to poke at the horses legs and sides. the street was opened when I was a child and it was a favourite place in the museum for children. the fire station, the apothecaries, the sweet shop, etc. we wandered at will and it was all free.
We would go across the front of the museum to the corner where Dick Turpin was supposed to have been hung and imagine him there!!!
Another favourite place on sunday was to walk to York Cemetery and wander round the graves, pulling weeds out. taking out dead flowers. reading the old grave stones and looking for family ones.
I dont think children can roam as freely nowadays. I was only stopped once on hobmoor by “a strange man” as my mother called anyone who might speak to us when we were alone. we were instructed to keep walking and not stop or take any offers from them.
other than that we were free to walk anywhere and did.
The thing I felt most was being so cold in winter. we had a coal fire but once you moved away it was freezing. We undressed in front of the coal fire and then had our cocoa and shot down the corridor to bed. Mum would bring a metal baking sheet from the fire oven, wrapped in a towel and slip it under the covers near our feet to get us warmed up.
Keeping warm was always the worst thing about winter. feet and hands were icy.
We sat in front of the fire as near as we could get till bedtime. reading usually.
we played ludo, draughts, or cards to pass time on. Dad read the York Press and his Daily mail. Mum had a library book. the radio was on with music or perhaps a play and always the news.
Yes money was tight, but we didnt realise that, life is what you are used to that is your norm. We were happy kids, full of life and energy and imagination too.
We played board games, or read library books, or old books from my grannys home. plus Arthur Mees encyclopedia.we had to keep them clean and be careful with them, they were a fund of knowledge and helpful with homework!!!

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