Old cures of ailments

[stpetre 12]

Ditto at our house.

 

Old cures of 'ailments' indeed, but what did kid's mothers give them when trying to 'skive' from school. In my case a 'Setlitz powder' and a 'scutch' any takers ?

[soft ayperth 11]

My mum always had chicken at xmas unless we had extra family coming ,then she would buy a capon , they were slightly bigger than chicken .with her special home made stuffing which i still make today and the family love it.(:thats the way to do it )

 

I actually prefer capons as I find turkey meat a bit dry, unless you buy free range ones which are available where I live. Sorry, I'm off topic. Another old cure for ailments was a spoonful of cod liver oil before I went to school (head off colds), but I didn't mind it when my grandma put a spot of whiskey in my tea and said, "There, that'll make you feel better luv."

[DUFFEMS 56]

Did anyone have the daily dose of Cod Liver Oil and Malt? It used to make me heave at the thought never mind the smell, it stunk like a dead fish that had been on't ale.

I never liked the smell of the breweries in town early morning when we used to have to go to work with my mother (she used to clean on Saturday and Sunday mornings at her brother's pub, Rotherham House/Old Number 12).

The malt smell from the breweries always reminded me of the dreaded Cod Liver Oil and Malt. This was back in the 50's.

[hillsbro 32]

Oh, cod liver oil - it was awful. They used to give it us at the child welfare clinic in Hillsborough Park, for the vitamin A and D content etc. They mixed it with orange cordial which made it a bit better but we still used to dread it.

 

I actually didn't mind the smell of the Bridge Street brewery (it was actually the hops being boiled that you could smell) - though maybe it was the thought of what it represented that I liked. If I ever smell hops now it reminds me of sitting on the wall at Bernard Road trainspotting.

[Mister M 1,625]

Mathers Black Beer has plenty of Vitamin C in apparently! Around this time of year, I always think of it, as it was the only drink me & my sister were allowed by our parents at Christmas, as a treat. It was mixed with lemonade....called a 'Sheffield Stout' I believe!

Not that it was a cure for any ailments, unless you have scurvy and need a nice way of dosing up on vitamin C

 

EDIT: I'm gutted http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/apr/05/black-beer-future-budget-tax-relief

Edited December 3, 2015 by Mister M

[old tup 30]

Turkey was unheard of in our house. The only time we had chicken in the 50s was at Christmas. I kid you not.

We used to dream about chicken we were that poor at Christmas we had Peruvian Woodcock,a piece of black pudding with a feather stuck in it!.

[TORONTONY 10]

We used to dream about chicken we were that poor at Christmas we had Peruvian Woodcock,a piece of black pudding with a feather stuck in it!.

 

Luxury... we had 2oz of shaved prem between 16 of us and had to make sure there was some left for bubble and squeak on boxing day.

[sweetdexter 10]

Luxury... we had 2oz of shaved prem between 16 of us and had to make sure there was some left for bubble and squeak on boxing day.

 

Prem,prem,what's that? We had a pebble to suck on and told not to swallow it because it had to last all week

[TORONTONY 10]

Prem,prem,what's that? We had a pebble to suck on and told not to swallow it because it had to last all week

 

And you tell the young people of today, and they don't believe you.

[DUFFEMS 56]

According to my other half, at their house Friday night was bath (zinc) night in front o't cooal fire, parents had first dibs then followed by the rest of the family in age order.

This was ceremoniously followed by a dose of syrup of figs whether they needed it or not, nice!

Glad this routine had finished when we met otherwise there'd have been no wedding.

[hillsbro 32]

I don't know what was in Widow Welch's Pills or how effective they were, but Mrs hillsbro wants to try them. After all, there's nothing worse than a touch of scorbutle (scurvy) or - worse still - "St Anthony's Fire".

 

Merry Christmas, Forummers, and stay clear of "Leprous disorders".

[jaffa1 10]

Why don't doctors say " stick your tongue out and say arrh" anymore?

They also always used to look at the finger nails saying you can tell a lot by the finger nails and another thing they never seem to do is listen to the chest with a stethoscope.