Child slavery.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by katex

No prizes for guessing where that was taken either. x

Easy. The one with the cheeky coquettish smile that looks as if a cooling gust of wind as just passed between her long legs.



Marg P's post has made me realise that it was a stupid title for this thread, especially as there are children working as slave labour in the world today, and I was lucky enough to be encouraged to join the BB, Scouts, St. John's Ambulance....as well as the guitar tuition, tennis lessons, etc.

I'm still hoping to be the next English Wimbledon champion since dear Ginny Wade....but in the men's competition.

[katex]

Originally Posted by garinda

Easy. The one with the cheeky coquettish smile that looks as if a cooling gust of wind as just passed between her long legs.

I'm still hoping to be the next English Wimbledon champion since dear Ginny Wade....but in the men's competition.

Showing my potential even at that young age, was I then ?

Wimbledon : Sorry, can't make ballboy, but will ballgirl help.

[jambutty]

Like most kids of my age group I was the family slave and my older brother never seemed to do anything. Pocket money was top of my wish list but I rarely got any.

I wanted to join the scouts and did at Sacred Heart Church. I never had a full uniform though but my older brother did have. I had a neckerchief and my very own woggle and eventually a hat and shirt but they were cast offs from some kid who left the scouts. The weekly meetings were fun with learning and games. British Bulldog was my favourite ‘cos we could scrag the scoutmaster and get away with it. But the senior scouts would treat us kids as slaves.

During the summer school holidays we would live under canvas for a weekend and guess who the slaves were? Once a month the scoutmaster would organise a hike to somewhere, which meant a bus ride to Whalley a long, long hike over Pendle or somewhere with stopovers en-route to make a fire and make a brew. No prizes for guessing who the slaves were.

It was on one such hike that I discovered that a saucepan on an open fire is not like a saucepan on the gas cooker. In other words the handle got hot, very hot. I grabbed it to pour out the boiling coffee and let go faster than I grabbed it and burned my hand quite severely. Being a scout I wrapped my hand in a dry and clean handkerchief (that was the teaching for burns - we had got past the coat a burn with butter or flour thinking) and discovered that if cold air flowed over my hand the burning sensation eased. I then reasoned that a wet handkerchief would do the same thing so I plunged my hand in a nearby stream. It worked too until it got warm. I played on that injury for weeks at school because being my right hand I was not able to write.

The best part of these hikes was getting back to Whalley and whilst waiting for the bus to Accy we would descend on a little café that made the best coffee that I have even tasted.

Miffed at not being able to have a complete scout uniform I chucked them in favour of the Air Training Corps because they gave each person a full uniform. I also had another reason for quitting. The scouts wouldn’t let me join the cast for the annual ‘Gang Show’. The ATC was much like the scouts with marching and rifle drill thrown in. The highlight was a weeks camp at RAF Anglesey where we all got a flight in a Tiger Moth AND we were allowed to actually fly it. In reality we were allowed to hold the ‘stick’ and move it (gently, ever so gently) from one side to another and forwards and backwards to make the plane turn left and right and rise and dive. I guess the pilot had a firm grip on his stick just in case.

Strange that I should opt to join the Royal Navy!

The point of all this is that in the late forties and fifties there WERE youth clubs run by churches and some schools and scouts, sea cadets, ATC, Boys Brigade and Army Cadets where kids could occupy their leisure hours without getting into trouble.

Sadly today there isn’t a great deal for the kids to occupy their leisure hours except how they do.

[shillelagh]

I joined the brownies when i was 7 and left when i was 8. But ended up as an assistant Scout Leader and Akela at Church Kirk even though living in Rossendale. My mate was scout leader and i was her assistant and I was Akela and she was my assistant! Our scout hut then was next door to the Stag! We took the scouts over to Bowley for training camping weekend and it chucked it down all weekend. They took pity on us and gave us a hut to sleep in! I found out and the kids found out i sing in my sleep! Mind you they all snored! Took them on a walking holiday in the Lake District. We showed them how to pack a rucksack and told them not to bring tins because they would have to carry them and they were heavy etc. When we were halfway up a hill in the lake district on our way to the campsite one of the kids said he couldnt go no further and his rucksack fell apart! What rolled out - tins of soup, baked beans, peas etc. When we asked him why he'd brought them when we said not to bring cans and why didnt he put them at the top of his rucksack, he said his mum had packed the rucksack and she didnt want the tins to crush his bags of crisps! The fun of being a scout leader!!

Then when I finished there was Tawny Owl for a few years a lot closer to home but had to give it up when i got retired.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by West Ender

he died 30 years ago which, I suppose, was before your time.

Not .

[entwisi]

I was in 1st Accy BB from ~1976 till I went to Uni ~87. I got teh Queens Badge in 84. I played in the Brass band including in front of the queen(no not you rindy!) at Holyrood and also at the centenary do at Ibrox. I also played a solo at the regional do at Blackpol Tower.

My sisters were both in teh Girls Brigade (slightly earlier) than me as they are older.

[West Ender]

Just to show it can't all be bad my dad was in the Boys Brigade around the Accrington area, just after WW1, and he learned to play the drums in their band. That led to him playing drums in dance bands and he played, semi-professional, up to the mid 1940s so at least he made a profit out of the BB.

[Ber999T]

When I was 7 (1963) joined the Boy Cubs at St James Church Accrington, stayed in til 12. Had a few weekends camping with them and thinking that we had gone a long way on foot (to Gt Harwood) but had a great weeks camp in Lakes one year.

Later on in life I became a Civy Instructor in the Sea Cadets and later on became a PO and about that time joined St John Ambulance and now hold rank of Div Supt.

[Crabby]

Me and a fue mates joined the Army cadets had 2 years of fun still have found memores

[Terry]

Well I was in the St.Johns cubs, scouts. Boys brigade. short stint with the brass band or military( I forget)upstairs practice room at the Castle Inn then Accy pipe band Didn't get past the chanter stage. Forced? not on your life. I wanted and liked all of it. Slavery? don't know about any of that at home. Even if I did have to wash the dishes occasionally

[Terry]

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[mel3ft]

if ive got this right that makes you brown owl i think what group do you take i was a brownie and then a girl guide and my auntie still runs it today

Originally Posted by West Ender

I was a Girl Guide in the days when the uniform shirt had 2 large breast-pockets where you kept note-books, first-aid kits etc. so we all looked like Jayne Mansfield (for those who remember her). I wasn't made to go, I just enjoyed it.

I never made my children join anything. My son was in the Cubs just long enough for me to buy him the full uniform, then he decided he didn't want to go any more (and he's still alive!). My elder daughter was a Brownie then a Guide until she was 15. She then joined the Girls Venture Corps, which was the female side of the ATC, but it didn't last as she didn't fancy any of the lads.

My younger daughter was a Brownie, didn't go on to Guides, became a Brownies Young Leader when she was 16 and is now, 14 years later, Brown Owl of the same pack. My grandson was a Cub, then a Scout until he was 16. My granddaughter is a Rainbow (baby Brownie) and can't wait until January when she will be in her mum's Brownie pack.

Oh yes, and my husband was a Scout in the days when they wore those big hats and wore shorts. Baden-Powell would have been proud of us lot, wouldn't he?

[JohnW]

Originally Posted by West Ender

Just to show it can't all be bad my dad was in the Boys Brigade around the Accrington area, just after WW1, and he learned to play the drums in their band. That led to him playing drums in dance bands and he played, semi-professional, up to the mid 1940s so at least he made a profit out of the BB.

I too was in the BB, but in the 4th. Southport Company. I played the side drum and later progressed to a 'proper' kit and started playing with a pop group around 1960. Being able to play the drums was the best thing I ever did in my life. Like Entwistle, I appeared in the Blackpool Tower Circus Ring on two or three occassions at the regional display which was an annual event if I remember correctly. Summer camp was the highlight of the year and I attended camps at Lindfield in Sussex, St. Bees Head in Cumbria, and Port Erin on the Isle of Man.

[accymel]

I was in the Brownies - that old brown dress & yellow cravat thing with the clover badge to hold it together oh & the hat , went to Bowley Scout camp & i was a sixer for most of my brownie time Then moved onto to Girl Guides for a year or 2 then teenage life got the better of me hehehehe