When I was a child growing up during the 1970’s, they were fun times and they were simpler times, easier times, they were pretty good times. I have a lot of good memories from my childhood which I will share here as they are wonderful memories I have and will always stay with me. Here’s some of my memories from my childhood.

Every Sunday Mum, Dad and I would see my Grandparents. One week we’d go see my Mum’s Dad, my Grampa I called him, Granma passed away when I was 4, so I didn’t really get to know her growing up but every second Sunday, we’d go see Grampa and have Sunday Tea (Dinner) with him, a beautiful 3 course meal which usually included soup, a roast meal and dessert. My Grampa definitely knew his way around a kitchen and whatever he cooked or prepared, that was always delicious! The other Sunday, we’d go see Grandpa and Grandma, my Dad’s parents and have afternoon tea with them. Grandpa being a baker, he’d always bake a cake and there would always be Arnott’s Shapes biscuits on the table as well and what we didn’t eat, I got to take home with me. That box was emptied out by the time we got home as I’d be in the back seat eating that box of Arnott’s Shapes.

Cars during the 1970’s didn’t have seat belts, or if a car did have seat belts, it was usually the driver and the front seat passenger who had seat belts, the backseat had no seat belts in the car. It seems safety wasn’t a major concern for backseat passengers during the 70’s. I remember a friend of my Dad’s who had a Holden Sandman panel van, there was nothing more fun than siting in the back of that panel van as a kid, no seat belt on and with the top half of the rear door up, the wind in your while driving around town.

Growing up, I was a real tomboy; playing with dolls was not my thing. I had a couple of dolls and a couple imitation Barbie’s but I just never played with them. Now if you gave me a Matchbox or Hot Wheels car, I would play with them happily for hours on end with drag races down the hallway, smash up (demolition) derby’s, police chases, you name it, I loved my collection of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, I could entertain myself for hours.

In my street, there were 3 of us kids who were the same age and we’d play “Charlie’s Angels” using the 3 houses and re-inacting the episode we watched of Charlie’s Angels the night before. One friend would play Kris, another friend would play Sabrina and I was Kelly. To this day, sometimes we call each other by our “Charlie’s Angels” names. I had a dog also, a white poodle and he got to be “Charlie”.

The universal code during the 70’s was when the streetlights came on, you got yourself home quick smart. I’d always be across the road at a friend’s house and we’d be playing outside, as soon as those streetlights came on, even if we were in the middle of something, we quickly said our goodbyes to each other and I’d run across the street to home.

During the summer months, I’d generally start a game of street cricket with the neighbours. All I had to do was go out onto middle of the street, which was a quiet street generally with my cricket bat, ball and the rubbish bin and start hitting the ball with the bin as stumps. The neighbours who saw me through their windows, they would slowly come out and the game was started. When a car was coming down the street, someone would call out “car” and we’d move to the side of the road, with either the batsman or the wicket keeper grabbing one bin and the bowler would grab the other bin, which one of the neighbours would grab theirs to use to mark the other end of our “cricket pitch”. There’d be at least 8 houses of immediate neighbours playing street cricket most times it was played.

Christmas was always Christmas lunch with my Grampa (Mum’s Dad), Mum’s brother, aunty, cousin, Dad, Mum and me. Sometimes one of my great uncle’s (Grampa’s brother) and great aunty joined us. We’d have lunch and we’d exchange presents and spread the Christmas cheer. My Aunty, every Christmas without fail would sing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”, her favourite song. We’d spend several hours celebrating Christmas and then during the afternoon, we’d part company and then Dad, Mum and I would go to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house for Christmas Tea (Dinner). At Grandma and Grandpa’s there’d be more family gathered there with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I remember every Christmas Grandpa would give all of us kids a small glass bottle of Coke to drink. You needed a bottle top opener to open those bottles, no screw tops back then. After dinner, my cousins and I would go to a neighbourhood playground and play on the equipment and anyone we came across on our walk to the playground, we would wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. In Australia, it’s Summer and daylight savings time, so we can enjoy being outside on Christmas Day.

One of the things I loved doing at night time while Mum and Dad were watching TV in the lounge room was to make a “blankie fort” using a couple of blankets draped over the back of both of their chairs as they sat next to each other in lounge room. I would grab a couple of kitchen chairs and put them behind Mum and Dad’s chairs and make a pretty cool blanket tent behind them. There I could colour in my colouring books, play with my Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, build something with Lego and enjoy hanging out in my blankie fort.

Friday night dinner was always night fish and chip night from the local fish and chip night. During the 1970’s we didn’t have all the fast food options we have today and there was no having a ton of take away food either as the dinner was always home cooked meal. There were no dishes to wash up either as Mum, Dad and I would eat fish and chips straight from the pack of wrapped up fish and chips. Sometimes I’d get a Chiko Roll to go with my fish and chips. My mum wasn’t the best cook, so I really loved fish and chip Friday nights the best.

As a Christmas present for my 5th birthday, I remember getting a red bicycle with white tyres, I had never seen a bike with white tyres before, so I felt really special getting this particular bike. The make was Dolly. I spent hours riding around the neighbourhood on that bike going to see my friends, riding to the local shops to pick up some items for Mum, or just riding the bike around the neighbourhood. When I grew out of the bike and it became too small for me, it was given away. I hope that the child who got the bike after me had just as much fun as I did riding it around the place.

That’s just a few of my memories I hold dear about my childhood and now I’m feeling nostalgic, so if you want to find me, I’ll be inside my blankie fort colouring in, or playing with my Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, or my Lego.

 What memories do you have growing up as a child?

Until next time

Kaye