Column: Gathering up tales of sixties and seventies life

Carol Forster's new book The Sixties in one day

It is another compilation of Lancaster Guardian columns on a nostalgia theme but also includes other short pieces on the same theme.

Set entirely in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it is primarily aimed at people who were born at that time who can relate to the experiences I had in the UK.

I refer to brand names because this will undoubtedly jog some memories too and, I hope, bring a smile of recognition to some faces. I like the idea of people revisiting shared collective experiences and particularly like it when memories resurface after decades of burial beneath the layers of time.

Here is a short extract from the book:“I can still remember the coalman arriving to deliver fascinating black lumps or clean soot from the fireplace. The soot was strange stuff which knobbled the tiled parts.

“He was very tall and always had a blackened face. I also remember a fish van calling at the door to reveal layers of iced fruits of the sea. Mother would buy some for tea, then we’d sometimes go to the bakery to get bread and cakes. At the bakery, there would be huge cream horns or chocolate eclairs, near satisfying yeasty loaves fresh from the oven.

“Also, it was the era of the tin. They would be everywhere in grocery stores containing soups, baked beans and other such articles of usefulness such as Spam or corned beef, for non dinner days. Bottles of tomato ketchup or HP sauce would sit stubbornly by tins of yellow powdered mustard or boxes of Oxo cubes.

“Cornflour and Bovril sat near large boxes of cereals that were already popular like Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat. Packets of flour and jars of condiments would complete the picture. When you arrived at the cash till it would kerching open with fascinating precision.

“It had satisfying levers which popped up and little boxy bits for the coins and notes. Everything was priced in the D. It didn’t mean much to me then seeing the 2/6 or the 1/6 clearly marked on goods, but clearly it had a purpose and I watched on with great interest.”

It’s in the Amazon bookstore and can be bought in paperback or Kindle form.