If you were born late 60s/early 70s please could you help me...

[ChickenNugget86]

I know this is really random but I'm at a point in my life where I'd love to find out about life growing up for my mum in the late 60s early 70s.

She was born in 1967 and unfortunately she passed away suddenly aged 42 when I was still living at home age 18. My family totally broke down from it and never talk about her, which really upsets me.

When I got married I asked about her wedding got nothing back. Had my first child they wouldn't speak about my mums labour to help paint a picture etc....

I understand people grieve in different ways but it's been over 10 years now and no one will talk about her which makes me sad. I often wonder what it would have been like being a child during these times - foods, hobbies, school life, toys etc...

Her parents are still alive and refuse to acknowledge she died. I know it must be horrible to lose a child but id love some answers about her life. My dad's family don't speak to me and I no longer have a relationship with my dad. (they were married when she died)

Her friends and work colleagues have told me bits but it's mainly things I already know.

I feel silly for asking but was hoping some people could share their experiences, might help me to get a picture??

I was born at home in ‘66 Dad was downstairs watching the World Cup on the black and white tv. When my younger brother was born 8 years later he was at the birth.
I remember the power cuts in the early 70’s, we were always scrabbling around to find torches and candles!
As a teen we collected 2p’s so we could ring friends/boyfriends from the phone box. The panic when the pips went and you were out of money!

Born in 69. Hot summers, chopper bikes, gonks, gooney birds, bread strike, power cuts, freedom to roam all day as long as you're back before the street lights. Packed lunch, dog shit on the pavements, latchkey kids, top of the pops on a Thursday night, Grange Hill.

My mum worked from home so I was lucky to have her there, dad worked all day, they didn't go to the pub, parenting strict but fair, certainly not neglectful. Neighbour was a single mum and went to work all day out of necessity, holiday clubs weren't a thing then so the kids age 8 and 5 were left at home, they were free to roam during the day. This wasn't unusual either, kids seemed more capable and streetwise than they are now.

What else, hmm, 10 p pocket money, halfpenny sweets, sherbet pips, flashers, the Yorkshire ripper (I was ten when I found about about him and it was terrifying) scrooge, Carrie, Margaret Thatcher, strikes, hopscotch, are you there God it's me margaret by Judy blume, the silver jubilee, church, dancing round the maypole. Terry Jackson seasons in the sun.

There was some weird game where one of you would lie on a bench and the other kids would tell this story about how you had died in an accident and then try lift you with two fingers to prove you were lighter, not sure why you would be, my dad went nuts when he found out, he thought we'd be calling in bad ghosts and spirits. For an atheist family he clearly still had the fear of the unknown.

What else.. Jon Travolta, Olivia newton John, the fairies at the bottom of the garden, mary mungo and midge, Stig of the dump, nine and a half weeks, marathon chess games, buying one cigarette and a box of matches from the newsagents, skinheads, blue eyeliner and blue mascara, ra ra skirts and pixie boots.

I am only a few years older. Two things come to mind- firstly your mum will have been one of the first learning metric and possibly not imperial measures, and secondly tv with only two channels and no remote controls. Someone wrote that you were either a BBC or an ITV household and I think they had this spot on.

The phone boxes!!! Were disgusting. I remember it being 10ps and yes the pips would go. You all cram in to a disgusting smelly phonebox out of the cold and they usually smelled of fags and had wee on the floor.

I was born in 67 and my mum died a few years later. She was never spoken about. I get exactly what you mean.
I had lots of hand knitted clothes as a baby and toddler.

Played with wooden toys.

Spent loads of time with grandparents.

We went blackberry picking in the woods.

At my infant school, you didn't automatically go up a year in September, only if you passed academic tests.

I don't know how widespread that system was.
My step mum was considered unusual as she had a driving license. She wouldn't dare go outdoors without tights on, even in the height of summer.
The Queen's silver jubilee in 77 was a Very Big Thing, street parties, celebrations, kids were given a special coin or souvenir mug at school.

1976 was a heatwave. It seemed to go on forever. We spent most of the time playing in the river.
There were a few 'diets' that I remember - potatoes were the enemy and everyone did The F Plan (high fibre).
I recall eating lots of convenience food as it was 'modern'. We didn't have a freezer until about 1980. Microwaves a bit later.
I'll have a think to see if I can come up with some more - as I say it was all a bit strange in my early years as no one spoke about my mum's death or anything about those times.

Our tv had 4 buttons, bbc 1 and 2, ITV and then camd channel 4. All black and white until colour came in, cant remember when. No health and safety, no seatbelts in the car and you could cram in as many kids as you liked. It was pretty common to see toddlers on mums knees. I remember sitting on my mums knee in the front passenger seat loads of times even up to age 7 or 8.

Knitted cardigans were a thing, every kid wore them till sweatshirts fruit of the loom came in much later. Leggings came in as a teenager, I dont mean trousers, like knitted socks with no feet, you wore them round your ankles just above your shoes.

I was born in 1967 and watching the last series of Call the Midwife reminded me of growing up. Until I went to secondary school, clothes were mostly hand me downs, knitted or sewed by my mum or nanna.

We did PE in 'pants and vest' and it was called 'music and movement'. No school uniform until secondary. At break time we played 'cat's cradle' with elastic from a haberdashery shop or jacks, or five stones. Skipping and clapping games were pretty popular too. Running around games like 'kiss chase' were the norm. We had milk in third pint bottles delivered by the milk man and just left in a crate in the classroom. In the summer the milk was warm. Someone would be the milk monitor. this was a privilege and it meant popping a straw through the foil top in each bottle of milk. The brand of straw was called 'sweetheart'.

At home we mostly did jigsaws, Lego, board (bored) games. I was into craft and painting and Airfix plastic kits. We made things that were shown on Blue Peter.
I played with dolls a lot too. Baby dolls when I was younger and then Cindy (like barbie) and tiny fashion dolls called Pippa or Suki.

TOTP was definitely a TV highlight. There was no catch up or video so if you wanted to listen to music and couldn't afford to buy records (vinyl) then you would make everyone be quiet and put a tape recorder next to the TV or radio. The quality was terrible but it was enough!

Loving this thread OP thank you and sorry for your loss.

Nobody seems to have mentioned the 3 minute warning!

Growing up in the 60/70s we were under the constant strain of there being a nuclear war. We were giving advice how to survive a nuclear fallout and we'd have long chats about what we'd do in our last 3 minutes.

Apart for the endless strikes, 3 day weeks, power cuts, uncollected bin waste. It was a wonderful childhood!

The 60/70's was a great time to be growing up. The freedom we had. Going home for lunch from school at 7 years old to an empty house. My god you'd be reported to social services for that now.

I think Generation X had the best childhoods in recent times.

@nosswith

I am only a few years older. Two things come to mind- firstly your mum will have been one of the first learning metric and possibly not imperial measures, and secondly tv with only two channels and no remote controls. Someone wrote that you were either a BBC or an ITV household and I think they had this spot on.

For years I was told that we 'couldn't get ITV'. I now realise we were a BBC household!

If you needed glasses it was horrible pink or blue rimmed ones, and when you got older, they were massive glasses, really thick. Look at Eddie the Eagle if you want a good idea on youtube. In our twenties, the style worn were Jean's, tight as you could, and trainers and sweatshirts. I remember John Lennon dying, but he was a bit before my time. Loved the specials and ABBA. Then the Falklands war and Maggie Thatcher came.

Nobody seems to have mentioned the 3 minute warning!

"Growing up in the 60/70s we were under the constant strain of there being a nuclear war. We were giving advice how to survive a nuclear fallout and we'd have long chats about what we'd do in our last 3 minutes."

I dont remember that at all, I must have been oblivious to it.

My childhood was a little later and up north but I remember:

The drought of '76 where you could walk across river beds and lakes (I was very young and the dragonflies looked giant)
We had breakfast and went home when it was going dark
Chopper bikes were the thing to have
Skateboarding was a thrill
Rollerskates were the type that you strapped to your pumps
Trainers were becoming fashionable
Chelsea Girl and Top Shop was the beating heart of teen fashion
Starsky and Hutch, Top of the Pops, Hart to Hart and Grange Hill were talking points at school
Everyone bought Smash Hits to learn the lyrics
The new number 1 was announced on a Sunday night, I think, with the whole of the top 40 being played. New entrants were exciting, especially if they zoomed up the charts from nowhere.
Nuclear war was a real threat and constant fear. Some of our teachers had gone to Greenham Common.
Radio One was cool
Everybody wanted to go on Jim'll Fix It
In the late 70s, after Saturday Night Fever, disco dance classes were held up and down the country
Nobody recycled
Smoking was allowed on buses and in offices
The police were scary (not the band)
Foreign travel was exotic. Long distance travel was gossip-worthy.
Camping, caravanning or Butlins / Pontins was the norm
Day trips were regular, in lieu of a holiday
Punks were scary and avoided like serial killers
Children sitting outside pubs was regular, while the parents were inside, drinking
Seatbelts were optional, as was driving sober
Blackouts were common
Politics became heavy, with Thatcher (and the police) versus the unions
Class war became real
Mobile phones were for yuppies and they were huge
The first people to get video recorders were envied
The Young Ones broke through the usual dour TV entertainment and the Youth movement had their hour a week of entertainment, now that Top of the Pops was a bit naff
CND was still a popular movement
There was more than 1 vegetarian in the school by the mid-80s
Only 4% went to university
Being a typist / secretary / hairdresser was a common goal for female school leavers
Blockbusters was an exciting show, made even more exciting by the rumours that Bob Holness performed the saxophone solo in Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street.

Kids, this was life before the internet. Now I'm off to Google Bob Holness saxophone solo

I was born in 1973. I am still best friends with a girl I grew up with. We both say how great it was to have grown up in the 70’s/80’s and often reminisce. Life was much simpler and we did not have the same pressures our teenage daughters now have, which seems to look anything other than perfect. We just had tv and magazines when looking at our film and pop idols, they were just normal looking people, very little plastic surgery and certainly no botoxed, massive lipped, photo shopped faces. I’m so glad that I didn’t grow up with the internet, Youtube, Tik Tok etc. Just out each day on our bikes or roller skates. No one I new had brand new cars or houses, in fact many things were second hand but we didn’t care. No one were up to their eyeballs in debt like they are today. I appreciate that each person’s childhood is different but for myself and many of my friends growing up in that era, we had a blast, life was great.

Most sweets were a penny, so you could go the corner shop and ask for 5 blackjack, 3 pigs, 5 space fizzy things etc and fill you bag for about 20p. Wagon wheels were huge and penguin biscuits were a thing. Sarah Lee sponge cakes were to die for. Club bars, orange ones and purple raisin ones.....lovely.

O levels were in till about 1980s, then gcse's came in. It was all revision, no course work. Do you needed to cram revision. Your life depended on a 2 hour exam.

Another BBC household here.

I remember my party dress from c1976 - floor-length, with a swirly floral pattern in orange, yellow and brown*. Little puffed sleeves and a satin bow tied at the back. Just the one, which I wore to every schoolfriend’s birthday tea.

My parents would occasionally get the neighbours’ daughter in to babysit while they went to a “cocktail party” which sounded impossibly glamorous. We would watch Mum getting ready wearing some sort of long kaftan, lashings of kohl eyeliner and a cloud of perfume.

*Actually a lot of my memories of the 1970s are orange, yellow and brown. Swirly wall paper, upholstered furniture, parched gardens, our Space Hopper, my grandmother’s many goldfish (which sadly perished in the 1976 drought).

Where did your mum grow up and live as a child, teen, adult OP?

I was born in 68 in the SE. As a child our school, which was built as part of a new build estate in the early 60's, had huge playgrounds and playing fields. Our mums walked us until we were about 8, then we walked ourselves. We were friends with the GP's kids, the supermarket managers kids, the lorry drivers and farmers kids because everyone just went to the school nearest their house.

We went to secondary moderns and perhaps got selected to go to grammar schools by our teachers at 13.

We did O levels!

We went to discos in scout huts, Brownies and Guides. We watched Fame, Dallas and Top of the Pops. We sang a lot! Music was infectious and fashion was very fun noir tang so we all had after school jobs to pay for records, make up and clothes.

We rode our bikes until they fell apart. We only stayed in in the winter and in summer used coconut oil to tan.

It was increasingly common to go to university with a full grant or get a job in London in a bank. It was so easy, and very different to other parts of the country.

None of my friends had babies before they were 30. We travelled, partied and bought first flats that made stupid money which funded bigger mortgages. Again, so different to other parts and to now.

It was a fun time to be a kid and a young adult.

There are some great social history documentaries by BBC you might enjoy OP.

Back in time for dinner
Back in time to the corner shop
Electric dreams (2009 documentary)
The hidden killers of the postwar home (perhaps a bit early)

For dramas, life on Mars was fun, and the later series of call the midwife would cover the period you're asking about.

Also the 7 up series - followed kids born in 1957, so a little bit older but shows you life of that time period.

Oh yeah, you can get the classic grange Hill and classic corrie and so on on DVD now.

I was born in 64.
Brownies/Guides....nearly everyone went at our school. The same with Church/Sunday school.
Baths were weekly (usually a Sunday night), I never had a shower until the late 70s).
We played outside, A LOT. The worst punishment was not being allowed out to play.
Sorry about your mum, it’s very hard I know 💐💐

I really feel for you and find it terrible that nobody will talk to you about your mum. My husband died 2 years ago and it crushes me to think of ds never being able to know about him.

I was born in 69. Imagine me at 8 or so going to primary school. I got up about 7, no heating allowed upstairs so we usually got dressed to cone downstairs. Washed at the basin with separate taps and lino floor. Sat at the table to have Shreddies with sugar. My mum and dad shared out the newspaper for breakfast (the Times at that point pre Murdoch) - the only meal we could read at. I was always reading, usually a Puffin paperback or hardback from the library where we went every Saturday. Joan Aiken and Catherine Storr i loved. On Saturdays we also got cash for the week from the bank as no cashpoints and my parents weren't paid by cash any more. You could sometimes cash a cheque at friendly pubs etc but that was quite a daring thing to do and my parents hardly ever went to pubs anyway.

We shared lifts to school with another family - my parents had moved me to another school after they put me up a year and then decided it was a mistake and were going to make me repeat the same again. At school there was a sort of dress code but it was quite a progressive school so not really enforced. I had Clarks shoes and white polonecks under a dark pinafore. We didn't learn any grammar to speak of and lots of 'sets' in maths which I never understood until I was 11 (binary numbers). We did a lot of comprehension which was dull but also lots of creative writing and drama which I loved. A bit later a friend started writing as and the school let us produce them with minimal help. At breaks we collected stones, had a litter club and played Forty Forty and games of Sevensies that went on for days. There was a big field and a football pitch.

School food got worse and worse during the 70s and 80s, at this point I didn't like it much it was often luncheon meat salad and boiled potatoes followed by bakewell tart, on the lowest possible budget. Edible though.

After getting home I was allowed to watch some telly and really loved Blue Peter except when they did gardening, and Tomorrow's World. I wasn't allowed to watch ITV.

My mum was a terrific cook, we often had newish things like lasagne but often pretty classic food with a French influence as she had trained as a cook in the 50s, things like piquant sauce or eggs mornay, or British dishes like shepherd's pie (which she made properly mincing the remains of the Sunday roast). Our vegetables, eggs and potatoes came from the garden. All at the table with no reading. We talked a lot and sometimes had to go and get reference books to look things up, Brewer's Phrase and Fable or the Times Atlas. We usually had a fruit pudding like Eve's pudding or apple charlotte from the garden fruit stored in the larder - bottled or wrapped, or from about 1975 onwards in our exciting chest freezer. We did lose whole freezers worth in power cuts at least twice though.

Bedtime about 8pm and I could read for half an hour (usually at least an hour as my parents gave up being strict with me).

My mum had a mincer too!

Just a note about Sundays - church every week and singing in the choir from age 8. The newsagents would be open for papers and sweets but then that was it, no other shopping. Sundays were really dull but picked up at teatime with rugby or cricket on TV which we'd watch with crumpets snd milk, and a period drama on BBC.