When a balaclava was an essential part of a young mans wardrobe.

[grinder 10]

Did anyone else ever have a pair of clogs ?

I had a couple of pairs with the wooden soles and thin iron sort of horse shoes on the soles and heels.

I think my Mother must have got them cheap down the market because I can't remember any one else wearing them, but they were great for sliding till the irons came off.....

What about the old Jerking suit, sort of battle blouse top with short trousers to match ?

 

You know reading this back I must have looked a right dip stick back then, talk about Billy no mates.....

[PeterR 10]

Back in the 50s balaclavas were worn by all schoolkids at my old learning establishment Hillfoot County,my abiding memory of those times were the cold winters that seemed to drag on and that we spent a lot of time outdoors!.Playtimes for instance we were not allowed inside unless a force nine gale was in progress,also we had to leg it everywhere not like kids today chauffeured to and from school poor little dears!.It was a necessity in my case due to dear old dad who every few weeks shaved my head to the bone with his army shears leaving me looking like a refugee orphan abandoned by humanity,so until my hair grew back my balaclava was never off my skull!.As well as balaclavas what about knitted swimming trunks,if you,ve never worn them you missed a unique experience when you ascended from the swimming pool,the gusset soaked up vast quantities of water dragging it down to your kneecaps leaving you with a big red face and everyone else falling about laughing!.Those were the days if you tell kids now they wouldn,t believe you!.

 

I thought my balaclava was macho, to use more recent terminology. Loved it.

Just looked at a photo of me and my two younger brothers in the paddle pool at Butlins in 1952. They are wearing matching mock leopard skin trunks of unknown material and,yes, I have on plain knitted wool. I remember well the reluctance to stand up, and the deluge draining embarrasingly down my legs. My mother would have made them all. Bless her, everything else she made was marvelous, on reflection. Wish she was here to laugh at it all

Edited January 13, 2015 by PeterR

[darra 10]

Did anyone else ever have a pair of clogs ?

I had a couple of pairs with the wooden soles and thin iron sort of horse shoes on the soles and heels.

I think my Mother must have got them cheap down the market because I can't remember any one else wearing them, but they were great for sliding till the irons came off.....

What about the old Jerking suit, sort of battle blouse top with short trousers to match ?

 

You know reading this back I must have looked a right dip stick back then, talk about Billy no mates.....

 

There was an old bloke used to have the smallest shop ever on Ladys Bridge that used to make clogs maybe she got them from there

[Texas 10]

I remember that clog shop, it was right at the end of Nursery St. One of my schoolmates always got his clogs bought from there. He was the eldest of four kids, they all wore clogs, it was a poor family, his father being on the idle side but he sure could knock kids out. The clogs were brilliant bits of kit for sliding in winter. I remember one time though, him coming to school in bare feet. There was a few kids at Pye Bank like that, had to get footwear and clothing from, was it Fairthorne or something? Good old days they were.

[Carmen. 14]

Lady's bridge. Nursery St.

Would Blonk St be on the other corner?

Have pleasant memories of around there but not as far back as a clog shop.

It's lovely to learn what used to be.

[Kidorry 189]

Lady's bridge. Nursery St.

Would Blonk St be on the other corner?

Have pleasant memories of around there but not as far back as a clog shop.

It's lovely to learn what used to be.

 

I got my first pair of clogs from there and my brother got a leather belt from him and it is still in use some 60 years after.A little further on was the Constantines barber shop.

[hillsbro 28]

Lady's bridge. Nursery St. Would Blonk St be on the other corner?...

Yes - just across the Wicker. The Marsland family ran the clog shop and it was an old-established business, being shown in directories as long ago as 1905. They also had branches on Attercliffe Road and Attercliffe Common. The shop at No 1 Nursery Street survived into the 1960s to my knowledge, and in fact is still shown in the 1974 Kelly's Directory..

[grinder 10]

I loved those clogs even though they could hear you coming three streets away, they were surprisingly comfortable and warm but I haven't got the foggiest where they were bought.

They may well have been cheap back then but I bet it would cost you a fortune for a pair today.

A most valued gifts this Christmas was a pair of bracers, haven't wore any in years though at that time everyone did, in fact I don't think you could get a pair of trousers with belt loops till the 50s...

Edited January 14, 2015 by grinder

[old tup 30]

On the subject of clogs our old boy wore nothing else at his job at Neepsend Power Station,I remember he removed the horseshoe shaped irons off the bottoms and replaced them with a home made sole made from conveyer belting!.With ordinary clogs you could hear them coming a mile away,with our old mans he was silent as a ghost,all his workmates nicknamed him "Sugarfoot",that's not what I called him but that's another subject!.

[Kidorry 189]

My dad once repaired his shoes with conveyor belting but he forgot that there was wire inside to strengthen it and when it wore the wire stuck out of the side and ripped his trousers.You can guess what my mother called him.

[stpetre 12]

Yes - just across the Wicker. The Marsland family ran the clog shop and it was an old-established business, being shown in directories as long ago as 1905. They also had branches on Attercliffe Road and Attercliffe Common. The shop at No 1 Nursery Street survived into the 1960s to my knowledge, and in fact is still shown in the 1974 Kelly's Directory..

 

I'm trying to picture the location of the clog shop. Where on Nursery St. was it? All at the Wicker end, I see the Lady's Bridge side which had a couple or so stores one of which was a yellow tiled barber shop, a branch of Scott's maybe and the other side that had a jewelers, a pub and the coroner's court.

[Texas 10]

So, you've walked the length of Nursery St, the Don on your right, approaching the end, no more river in sight, some businesses still on the right, the clog shop was right at the end. An opening was next, round the corner, then you were almost on Lady's Bridge. Blonk St was opposite.

Anybody remember Union shirts? Thick flannel things with stripes and sometimes no collar. All the steelworkers had 'em. Bloody awful.