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End of Sweet Rationing


dunsbyowl1867

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Wasn't too bothered about sweets in 1953 but I do remember the disappointment when rationing was reimposed in 1949.

I think the biggest relief was the de-rationing of eggs and butter. The margarine in those days was like custard coloured axle grease.

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Wasn't too bothered about sweets in 1953 but I do remember the disappointment when rationing was reimposed in 1949.

I think the biggest relief was the de-rationing of eggs and butter. The margarine in those days was like custard coloured axle grease.

Personally I do not remeber rationing, being born in 1956. However my late father who was a teenager in the war told a story:

"As a group of lads they obtained a banana at some point, he had seen a banana before but the others had not, so he shared it out amongst them. He gave each of the other lads a strip of yellow skin/peel and volunteered to eat the waste from the inside himself"

Whether that was true or just a myth I do not know, but I can imagine a group of teenagers sat around with this strange fruit and eating it in secret.

At best it would have put off the other lads from eating bananas for the rest of their lives.

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Personally I do not remeber rationing, being born in 1956. However my late father who was a teenager in the war told a story:

"As a group of lads they obtained a banana at some point, he had seen a banana before but the others had not, so he shared it out amongst them. He gave each of the other lads a strip of yellow skin/peel and volunteered to eat the waste from the inside himself"

Whether that was true or just a myth I do not know, but I can imagine a group of teenagers sat around with this strange fruit and eating it in secret.

At best it would have put off the other lads from eating bananas for the rest of their lives.

Due to the speed with which banana deteriorate and turn black in transport by sea from tropical parts they were a rarity until well into the twentieth century when high speed transport and industrial chilling units were available so i can well believe there would be many who had never seen a banana in the 1940's.

In a documentary I once saw about Charlie Chaplin it shows a classic silent chase scene in which to stop his pursuers Charlie eats a banana and throws the skin on the floor so that the big fat bloke chasing him slips on it and falls over. The film was probably made around 1917 1922. The narrator of the documentary comments that the scene got laughs from the audience and was seen as funny, but for British audiences at the time few would have known what Charlie was eating, what he had thrown on the floor and why this made the other man slip and fall as so few of them would ever have seen a banana.

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I was still small when the sweet rationing was on, but my dad used to manage to get me some chocolate or an Easter egg at Easter time. Think he got it on the black market or something ;-)

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As a young kid in the late fourties/ early fifties I used to be fascinated by the disused vending machines outside corner shops. These were almost all for chocolate bars and stood rusting devoid of any contents. The first new machines to replace them were chewing gum machines dispensing packs of about four/five sugar-coated gum blocks for one old penny. The first chocolate vending machine that I saw actually in use stood at the corner of Flat Street and Sycamore Street. In those days Cadbury's chocolate bars were available in bars costing a penny, two-pence and three-pence. I think the end of sweet rationing in 1953 caused kids to go mad to obtain what had been in short supply and was responsible for a generation of rotting teeth. In those days there were very few children who drank sugery drinks, if you were thirsty you found a tap.

HD

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As a young kid in the late fourties/ early fifties I used to be fascinated by the disused vending machines outside corner shops. These were almost all for chocolate bars and stood rusting devoid of any contents. The first new machines to replace them were chewing gum machines dispensing packs of about four/five sugar-coated gum blocks for one old penny. The first chocolate vending machine that I saw actually in use stood at the corner of Flat Street and Sycamore Street. In those days Cadbury's chocolate bars were available in bars costing a penny, two-pence and three-pence. I think the end of sweet rationing in 1953 caused kids to go mad to obtain what had been in short supply and was responsible for a generation of rotting teeth. In those days there were very few children who drank sugery drinks, if you were thirsty you found a tap.

HD

That would be Beech Nut chewing gum, I used to love it, when I was a kid I actually thought it was made out of beech nuts :rolleyes: There was a machine outside Mavis´s shop on the corner of Talbot Street opposite Park Hill flats, also a lovely sweet shop opposite. Alas I see on Google Earth they are no longer there.

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That would be Beech Nut chewing gum, I used to love it, when I was a kid I actually thought it was made out of beech nuts :rolleyes: There was a machine outside Mavis´s shop on the corner of Talbot Street opposite Park Hill flats, also a lovely sweet shop opposite. Alas I see on Google Earth they are no longer there.

Yes it was Beech Nut chewing gum, - missing from the topic on sweets of the past.

It came in small rectangular pastels, hard and white on the outside (a crunchy, quite thick, sugar coating) with chewing gum in the middle which you had to chew and then spit out or stick under a desk or leave it on your bedpost overnight or something.

The American style chewing gum, such as Bazooka Joe or Topps (sold in Britain as A&BC) was a different colour (usually pink) rather than off white and came in larger flat slabs of pure (uncoated) chewing gum that you could blow bubbles with, - you couldn't do that with Beech Nut.

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I was 4 when it ended and just starting at Hackenthorpe Village Infants. There was a hut outside the school (Rippons News) where all the kids queued up to spend their 1/2d. after school.

I had 3d a week to spend on sweets. I remember it well.

2 Black Jacks or Fruit Salads (Four a penny chews) per day (1/4d each.)

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Digressing slightly but in the 1950's I used to call on my way to Malin Bridge Juniors at a bakery at the corner of Kendal and Portsea Roads. Clutched in my hand would be an old penny and in exchange I would receive a small but perfectly to scale brown Hovis loaf. I would tear a hole in the base and eat the soft insides first, saving the lovely crusty bits for last.

I'm afraid in those times that was what served as a breakfast. It probably did me more good than a ha'penny chew.

HD

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Personally I do not remeber rationing, being born in 1956. However my late father who was a teenager in the war told a story:

"As a group of lads they obtained a banana at some point, he had seen a banana before but the others had not, so he shared it out amongst them. He gave each of the other lads a strip of yellow skin/peel and volunteered to eat the waste from the inside himself"

Whether that was true or just a myth I do not know, but I can imagine a group of teenagers sat around with this strange fruit and eating it in secret.

At best it would have put off the other lads from eating bananas for the rest of their lives.

I've a few cousins a bit older than me, who were born in the late 30's. My dad was stationed in Gibraltar for part of the war, and when he came home he brought them a small sack of oranges in his kitbag. Mention fruit or oranges to any of them now and they still talk about that bag of oranges!

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Yes it was Beech Nut chewing gum, - missing from the topic on sweets of the past.

It came in small rectangular pastels, hard and white on the outside (a crunchy, quite thick, sugar coating) with chewing gum in the middle which you had to chew and then spit out or stick under a desk or leave it on your bedpost overnight or something.

The American style chewing gum, such as Bazooka Joe or Topps (sold in Britain as A&BC) was a different colour (usually pink) rather than off white and came in larger flat slabs of pure (uncoated) chewing gum that you could blow bubbles with, - you couldn't do that with Beech Nut.

I remember that pink American stuff, I used to buy it to collect the American Civil War cards, very gory pictures they were too but fascinating to a kid, helped my history anyway :) The gum itself was far too sickly sweet but I persevered to get the collection. Wish I still had the cards now, I bet they go for serious money these days.

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I remember that pink American stuff, I used to buy it to collect the American Civil War cards, very gory pictures they were too but fascinating to a kid, helped my history anyway :) The gum itself was far too sickly sweet but I persevered to get the collection. Wish I still had the cards now, I bet they go for serious money these days.

The American Civil War cards (properly called the "Civil War News" set) was one of several sets of cards marketed by Topps in America and by A&BC here in Britain. They were marketed in America in 1961 to mark the centenary of the start of the war, and in Britain in 1965 to mark the centenary of the end of it.

Being American they were bigger than the traditional British cigarette card, which had to fit in a cigarette packet.

Other noatable sets were the Mars Attacks, the Battle set (based on WW2) and sets based on current TV series, most notably 2 full sets based on the original 1966 Adam West / Burt Ward Batman series.

As you say some of the cards were rather gory, card #21 often being cited as the reason that in Britain a ban was placed on about 5 of the cards making it impossible to complete the set unless you had aquired the banned card early on.

You can however view the full set of all 88 cards here

American Civil War cards

As well as the cards and the slab of pink chewing gum (which had a quite distinctive odour as well as taste) each pack came with replics of American Confederacy money and dollar notes.

There was a full set of this money as well to collect, but as most people only wanted the cards the money is now much rarer and harder to find than the card collections.

The value today, as with all collections, seems to depend on quality and completeness.

Sets and individual cards from this series frequently come up on eBay and other specialist trading sites.

A full set of all 88 in mint, unmarked condition, including card #88, the checklist to the set, can sell for around £400.

Although the cards raised awareness of the American Civil War and related to some of its major events and battles a lot of the so called "news" was made up to match the reporting style and as such as a history resource their usefulness is very limited.

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The American Civil War cards (properly called the "Civil War News" set) was one of several sets of cards marketed by Topps in America and by A&BC here in Britain. They were marketed in America in 1961 to mark the centenary of the start of the war, and in Britain in 1965 to mark the centenary of the end of it.

Being American they were bigger than the traditional British cigarette card, which had to fit in a cigarette packet.

Other noatable sets were the Mars Attacks, the Battle set (based on WW2) and sets based on current TV series, most notably 2 full sets based on the original 1966 Adam West / Burt Ward Batman series.

As you say some of the cards were rather gory, card #21 often being cited as the reason that in Britain a ban was placed on about 5 of the cards making it impossible to complete the set unless you had aquired the banned card early on.

You can however view the full set of all 88 cards here

American Civil War cards

As well as the cards and the slab of pink chewing gum (which had a quite distinctive odour as well as taste) each pack came with replics of American Confederacy money and dollar notes.

There was a full set of this money as well to collect, but as most people only wanted the cards the money is now much rarer and harder to find than the card collections.

The value today, as with all collections, seems to depend on quality and completeness.

Sets and individual cards from this series frequently come up on eBay and other specialist trading sites.

A full set of all 88 in mint, unmarked condition, including card #88, the checklist to the set, can sell for around £400.

Although the cards raised awareness of the American Civil War and related to some of its major events and battles a lot of the so called "news" was made up to match the reporting style and as such as a history resource their usefulness is very limited.

Many thanks for posting that link DaveH, those cards certainly brought back memories, still as bloody and gory as I remembered them. Train of Doom was always my favourite for some reason, put a whole new slant on Chatenoogah Choo Choo :huh:

I had forgotten all about the money, I suppose it wasn't as interesting. Yes I did have the full set including the check list, (used to do "swapsies" with other kids). I presume the cards disappeared at some point when my parents had a clear out, as is the usual way, there again these things wouldn't be valuable now if everyone had kept them .

Although, as you rightly say, a lot of the "news" was fictional, it did prompt me to read further on the subject. I was surprised to read that they were introduced here in 1965 though, I seem to remember collecting them a couple of years earlier than that, based purely on where we lived at the time and the shop I bought them from.

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Although, as you rightly say, a lot of the "news" was fictional, it did prompt me to read further on the subject. I was surprised to read that they were introduced here in 1965 though, I seem to remember collecting them a couple of years earlier than that, based purely on where we lived at the time and the shop I bought them from.

The British version by A&BC chewing gum were released in 1965.

It is possible that if your local shops had the right connections they were selling the original American Topps version (from 1961).

The sort of shops in question would also invariably have aselection of American sweets and chewing gum, like Bazooka Joe and would also sell the American comics by DC and Marvel

At the time British comics like the Dandy and Beano cost 3d to 6d while the American DC / Marvel cost 1/6, but the American comics had 48 pages instead of 16 and were in full colour throughout, and not part colour, part 2-tone and part black & white. Also they generally only had one extended story, invariably about some American super hero, running throughout.

The A&BC and Topps "Civil War News" sets were identical in design, artwork name and numbering except that the Topps cards were slightly larger as they were done on American printing card sizes rather than ours.

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