when i lived on attercliffe in the early 70s there was a craze 4 getting prams ripping the wheels off making a wooden frame with a bolted piece on the front they usually had 2 large pram wheels on the back and small ones on the front which were turned with a rope on either side there was usually a bit of old carpet nailed 2 it 2 form a seat everybody seemed 2 have one and they weregreat fun having said that they were quite dangerous at the same time as this there was a craze 4 clackers remember them 2 balls on ropes which u flicked up and down at great speed which was ok until they hit your rist and brought tears 2 your eyes funny all these dodgy and sometimes dangerous things but everybody wanted them or was it just us on cliff

Yes, I built a couple od these in my day. They were great fun. I remember searching all over the place for some wheels.

I was working in Germany in the 70's and while in Berlin I heard this strange clicking sound..I discovered it was a young girl with these clacker things..£££££££ I thought ??? I could take some of these back to England and manufacture them and make a fourtune. I asked where I could buy some, and bought 10 sets.
Two weeks later I got off the boat at Dover clackers in suitcase, and everywhere I went kids already had clackers, the craze had spread all over Europe in just two weeks.

I wonder how many hospital visits Clackers caused? 'course it rhymes with kn*****s doesn't it? You wouldn't want to be holding your clackers too low would you?

Trolleys? My uncle built me a couple of them. People had to improvise in those days when money was tighter. With kids under 10 years now having their own mobile, computer, TV etc this sort of thing is a thing of the past.
It could be the invention of the baby buggy with it's tiny wheels is what killed off the trolley, the favourite mode of transport for Dennis the Menace and the Bash St. Kids, before the onset of affluence?
Posh trolleys had a wooden brake, operating as a lever, which was brought directly to bear on one of the rear wheels....if the trolley was going really fast they would start smoking.

Certainly had my fair share of bruised wrists by clackers but can't remember the trollys so this may have been a Cliff thing.

Originally posted by Cycleracer
Certainly had my fair share of bruised wrists by clackers but can't remember the trollys so this may have been a Cliff thing.

No not just a Cliffe thing Cycle they were all the rage Sheffield wide. Certainly in Woodhouse they were a big hit.

nope not just a sheffield thing either , i come from rotherham and we had them there too, i used to stay at my cousins house at langold and they were over there aswell, but my younger cousin put his trolly on a bonfire wen he got a chopper for his birthday, i was gutted cos i couldnt ride the chopper :(
Litha

I remember clackers.

We used to call them Wrist-breakers, for obvious reasons.

Me and my cousins used to have "competitions" over who of us could keep up the full-on clack-ing longest.. not just the slow, low clack-ing. i mean thereally fast "hits-at-the-top-and-the-bottom" stuff! I clouted myself in the eye, and on the wrist more times than you could shake a stick at! (he he! as did my cousins!)

They got banned after a while, IIRC... they were just too dangerous!

The safety ones, that came out about 10 -odd years ago just did not have the same appeal, did they?

PT

Ooooooo clackers! They brought em back in the 80s and early 90s and boy did I rule!!!! still do in fact :thumbsup: have a mini pair of luminous pink (naturally :P ) clackers and I use them when stressed. Not only can I do the flapping wings clacker maneouver but I can do the roundabout one as well!

clearly I have too much time on my hands :razz:

I remember clackers well. Yes I hurt my wrists quite a few times. Always remember in Page Hall close to where I lived there were a pair hanging over the telephone cables so high up we kids were amazed how anybody actually got them up there. They stayed there for years...wonder if they are still there. Main road running up past Firth Park Hotel..can't remember what it was called now?

No not just a Cliffe thing Cycle they were all the rage Sheffield wide. Certainly in Woodhouse they were a big hit.

yeah i remember steaming down the badger on my "trolley" lol, once i nearly got my headcut off cos some idiot had tied some wire across the path, made a bit of a mark :P

also my dad had...and prolly still has some clackers, i remember playing with them as a kid

all the dangerous things we used to play with / do as kids, surprising we're still here...in one piece :P

me and a mate built a trolley and painted it with death race 2000 on . being lads we put nails and stuff sticking out of the front and sticking out of the wheels like the car in grease not good when we came off and it got inpaled in my mates leg :mad: he still got the scar today :hihi: i wonder if we built these things today and let the kids play on them we would be charged with child cruelty ?:hihi:

I had a couple of trollies, the best was one with silver cross wheels on, and a wide axle on the front. We used to race them down the street we lived on.

I am surprised and pleased trolleys survived into the 70s, they were popular on the Manor Estate in the early 50s and probably long before that. I remember one particular 'crash' when about five of us came a cropper on a steep jennel caused by Frankie Hudson the steerer losing control and hitting the chain link fencing! My particular one was built by my older brother and had a brake lever, trouble was it wore the tyres out and I had to run on the rims. Only way for any self respecting lad to ride a trolley was belly flop, macho and racy!

I lived on Gleadless Valley and with all it's hills and long sweeping curved paths it was an absolute haven for trolleys. Didn't half 'jar' your ankle or knee if you hit a curb though, being steered by foot as they were, or softies may have attached a piece of mum's washing line for steering.
Happy Days

Chris

My aunty bought me some clackers back from her holiday to Spain and for once I was the most popular girl on the street - for about 2 weeks. I think that there was a brief revival in the early 1990's.

I remember the trolleys that the boys had down Attercliffe. We called them carts. There was one lad who tried to get his dog to pull his cart. The dog went wild and the cart ran off the kerb breaking the front axle in the process.

I lived on Gleadless Valley and with all it's hills and long sweeping curved paths it was an absolute haven for trolleys. Didn't half 'jar' your ankle or knee if you hit a curb though, being steered by foot as they were, or softies may have attached a piece of mum's washing line for steering.
Happy Days

Chris

Yes but you needed a rope to pull it back uphill, but you are right about softies using it for steering

I remember clackers well. Yes I hurt my wrists quite a few times. Always remember in Page Hall close to where I lived there were a pair hanging over the telephone cables so high up we kids were amazed how anybody actually got them up there. They stayed there for years...wonder if they are still there. Main road running up past Firth Park Hotel..can't remember what it was called now?

page hall road or rushby street