I think the name of the lady who made the toffee apples & ice lollies was mrs Philips. she lived in the house nearest the mill gates.

I don´t remember her selling apples and lollies but know she ran bus trips to Bangor and Newcastle. Half of Hilden went on them
donald

Donald and Eamon, you two remind me of the song "I say "potaaaato" and you say "potato", I say "tomaaaaatoo" and you say "tomato". Sibling rivalry raises its head again. Just as well you two aren't living together. We all love you both.

Donald,
I, like you do not remember the Phillip's family selling sweets.
The house I referred to was the last house in the back row. I am sure there was son at school at the same time as me but I cannot for the life of me remember the name.
Pamela please put me out of my misery and name that name!!!

Lowroader
Coming from the top of Bridge St. a family named Patterson / Stewart lived in the last house, There was a boy called David around your age. Then came the small street you mentioned. The first house after it was occupied by a lady whose name evades me. Twin girls also lived there, Pauline and Marie Harrison. We mentioned here before that Mrs Toman who lived in Mill Street, facing the dining room and ran a wee shop there. That was before my time but there were sons who also attended Hilden school and later served in the Army. Photos from them are on the site together with their father Pat, also a Military man with a school football team.
donald

Low Roader & all,


My Ma make the best toffee apples I ever tasted, lovely dark toffee with a thick rim at the top. Unfortunately it was a Halloween treat.

She made them on the gas ring in a pot with syrup boiling & dipped the Kemp apples in it & put lollipop stick in the middle. Sometimes she sprinkled them with 100's & 1000's. They cooled on a plate. Delicious..

Pat

Lowroader, As Donald says the Stewarts lived in that house, but I don't remember them selling toffee apples. The ones I remember making the toffee apples were as Donald says Wee Dan and Big Lozzie (Fitzsimmons). Yum Yum It's a wonder we weren't all poisoned. Ha Ha.Pam

Donald, Pauline and Maria Harrison were not twins probably just a year between them. They lived there with their mother Kathleen Harrison. I think they are living in South Africa, they moved there years ago when one of the Germans from Grundig opened a factory there. If you are looking in here Pauline or Maria get in touch. Pamela

Eamon, Mrs Phillips made ice lollies, she was the first one in Hilden to get a fridge. She must have made the lollies in the wee ice box at the top of the fridge. I don't remember her ever making toffee apples though.Pamela

Pamela, I remember Pauline and Marie Harrison very well. Pauline was the thin, swarthy one; Marie had a fuller figure, although not fat. She was more fresh-faced. I didn't know it was SA they moved to. I hope they are both well. Does anyone remember Mrs McClenaghan (McClenaghan's shop) making iced lollies from her house. I always thought it magical that she could produce orange and bright green lollies. I always got a green one because you couldn't get that colour anywhere else. AND they were a delicious flavour, quite strong. By the way, I'm away further up the Low Road now.

I got my colours mixed up with the lollipops. They were RED and green, not orange, although she may have made orange ones too. I think they were made using cordial. Lovely, anyhow, and I think they cost one penny each. She also sold broken biscuits.

Hi all,

We called into Billy Robinson's shop (later Vaughans) for his wife's iced lollipops on a stick, 1 penny each, lovely, made with cordial, all colours, each one nice, I liked the white ones.

Did Tommy Just once sell ice-cream, have a memory of getting sliders & pokes from a fridge there.? Tommy sat behind the counter & sometimes his elder daughter served us. He also dealt in electrics, radio etc.


Pat

Pat,
Tommy Just certainly did sell ice cream, the best in town, in my opinion,but I may be slightly biased!!
He made it in a yard next to the lane down to the convent school.
His eldest daughter was probably the shop assistant in your time, followed later on by Betty, his youngest daughter.

Ted
Regarding pubs in Luton, I lived exactly opposite The Old English Gentleman; and I drank, and one year was runner-up in a dominoes tournament at The Midland nearby.
I worked alternate months days and nights throughout the sixties. Above my door and plate glass window the name REIDS in red painted letters was clear to see.

Hi Dabbler The Old English Gentleman doesn't ring a bell but the Midland I knew well , Vauxhall were building the new 36 Million £ extension Wimpys lost the contract and Mc Alpines took it on and moved in on the airport road with there huts for the navies ,the girls moved in from London and the Scotch took over the Midland which at that time the yanks from an airbase near by had been using and the yanks weren't happy and there was the odd garryowen! Dabbler it was Bedlam and the town at that period was like the Klondike, I was working for a firm called MCC CONSTRUCTION AT THE AIRPORT there was no runways there then just flat grass and I was in digs just beside the airport in what must have been an old army camp as we were in Nissan Huts and the canteen was manned by veterans from the war some Russian and Poles this is 1954-5 and the money was great and I remember dancing to Jonnie Dankworth at the local dancehall and Cleo Lane was singing with him, I think the hall was named after one of the Vauxhall models but it escapes me at the moment , God but they were the best of times ,Dabbler you just opened a Pandoras box! Regards Ted

Ted. Hmmmmmmmm, it's all coming out now!!!!!! I won't tell if you won't.

Ted; when I played dominoes and darts at THE MIDLAND, the landlord was Jack Ball. I believe he was an ex-footballer.
Ten years previous to that, I danced - or shuffled - to Dankworth and Laine at the Hermitage Ballroom in Hitchin.

Ted
I come back to your reference to Pandora's Box. I clearly recall this story, and the evils unleashed. I am puzzled how anything I have ever done, let alone written, could unleash evils on the world. But perhaps, unlike Ann, I am missing the point. Most irritating, since I consider my sense of humour as sharp as most people.

Dabbler Sorry There was more to my reminesing than Pandoras box I agree it probably was out of context even though this was your main point of interest that you found worth commenting on .

Kind Regards Ted

Ted; I knew nothing about which companies built what around Luton airport, nor could I detect anything in your input that suggested evils in any form.I did not enjoy my time in Luton, apart from the money I earned at Vauxhall. I still search on this forum for references to my distant past. Maybe I'm a bit nuts in my old age. I have no wish to offend anyone. I certainly would not wish to open a Pandora's Box in anybody's world. Take care. Joe

Dabbler/ Ted
The Confession box was better known to most of us as the Pandora box.
Remember the old joke about the man who, after many years abstinence from Confession returned to his place of Worship and went into the Confessional. He was amazed to find a box of Cigars, a bottle of Whiskey and a few Girlie magazines. He lit a Cigar, poured a Whiskey and browsed through a Magazine. The neighbouring door opened and the Priest entered. The man said " Bless me Father for I have sinned, but the Confession has greatly changed since I was last here". The Priest answered, " You ejit, get out immediately, you.re sitting on my side"!

Lowroader,
congratulations your posting has achieved a record with this ppsting
donald

Lowroader,
congratulations your posting has achieved a record with this ppsting
donald

Donald,
Me not understand, but thanks anyway.
LR

Lowroader
I misspelt posting, what I want to say was that this post, started by you has broken records by the amount of replies. Up until now 98
donald

Donald,
Thank you for explaining that.
I think the number of replies proves the point that there is a desire to talk about our upbringing and the areas we lived in.
It is also amusing to read about the antics of Ted and Dabbler in an entirely different subject.
Keep it going lads.
I would also point out that the KK has not posted a decent recipe in months.
I am sure Dominic is enjoying his pre-cooked meals from Tesco!!!

Afternoon Low Roader Thanks for the compliments they convince me some find it as a bit of craic and don't take it to serious and I am sure you will agree a bit of life seems to have been injected into the forum recently thanks to your self and a few of us lurkers ? Sometimes I wonder is it a seasonal thing and inspiration is lacking during some part of the year ! however keep it coming,
Kind Regards Ted

Remembrances of Hilden over 60 years ago came recently to mind.

1, To celebrate the Coronation of Elisabeth11, the workers had a "join" and were allowed to bring their offspring into the "Dark Satanic Mill". I will never forget the smell of flax, the air polluted with "pouse" and the thundering of the giant production Frames.

2, One Sunday , returning from Church with my aunt Nellie to find the front street in a state of alarm. The Printing Dept. which was situated at the top gate beside the orchard was in flames and police, fire brigade and dozens of voluntary fire-fighters from the surrounding houses were fighting the fire.

3, Being evicted from our house in Bridge Street after my father leaving the mill´s employment and going to work in the Blackstaff mill in Belfast. Until we got a flat in Lawnbrook Drive we had to return to sleep at the Locks with my great uncle Ned. That was a horrifying experience having to walk up the tow-path in darkness thinking about such terrifying experiences as "the guttie slipper man", ghosts and banshees.
Those were the days my friend

donald

Donald, "dark satanic mills" was proven by your family's experience in being evicted when your father left the mill's employment. Christian charity - where was it? I, too, remember a family being evicted from their house in Huguenot Drive, probably for being unable to pay the rent. It was a rainy day and I recall seeing all the furniture sitting on the pavement. Horrifying to think of that now.

Low Roader et al (except Dabbler). Since my two sons left us in peace almost 4 years ago, my cooking has been drastically reduced. I still make sausage rolls every week (about 3 doz at a time), the occasional apple tart and of course my own jam. Apart from a couple of pasta dishes and the normal dinners, that's about all the cooking I do. This morning I'll be making more sausage rolls but they'll not even reach the cooling rack before Dominic has snatched two in his hands, risking a burn, but his appetite outweighs any risk. When I think back years ago to when I was working full-time and had the 4 children at home, I remember every single Friday night, after dinner, I used to stay in the kitchen and bake a large madeira cake and a large sultana cake. These were always a definite but sometimes I cooked a savoury pie as well. I wish I had that energy now, or the inclination.

Ann
then, as you know the employees were dependant upon their employer for existence, housing and education. Before my time but I remember hearing that shops were also owned by the companies and if the employee needed food for his family he applied to the wages office and was issued with tokens to shop there and this was deducted from his wage on pay day.I mentioned it here before, in the early 50s when the employees only had one week´s holiday ( the twelfth week ) they had to appear on that Friday and were paid out.Being sacked or leaving employment meant you had to vacate the company owned property.
Granted,some employers such as Barbour were generous sponsoring things such as, schooling, recreation and health care but some ruled in other things with a somewhat heavy hand.
I remember the houses in Huguenot Drive where you lived being built in the late 40s, the 41s lane then went directly down to Grand St. It must have been around 1948 bas my mother was still alive and my brother was in a pram and I walked beside.
donald