How times have changed...
- Thread starter langcliffe
- Start date
We weren't always blowing things up. We used to get on the train in Nelson for the 15 min ride to Skipton. Can't do that now as they stupidly chopped an 11 mile stretch out of one of the main rail routes across the Pennines. The big attraction was the diving boards in Skipton baths, now removed because somebody somewhere did a belly flop and got a sore chest. Then it was off to Waterfall's bookshop to spend half an hour reading the Craven Pothole Club's Records (the Bumper Annuals of New Cave Explorations). Waterfall's is now a cluttered and unpleasant WH Smiths. A cup of tea at the railway station and a read of their great selection of smutty pulp fiction rounded the day off nicely.
Mike Hopley
New member
JasonC said:
I feel excluded by your post. :chair:
I want to make an enormous bang, but I also want it to be pink and sparkly.
tony from suffolk
Well-known member
A key difference - when a female says ?Here, sniff this!? You know it's going to smell nice.kay said:
kay
Well-known member
Mike Hopley said:
Please don't get me started. It's bad enough when tool manufacturers think the way to expand into a female market is to paint the handles pink. No, we'd just like tools that balance well in the normally smaller female hand. We don't care what colour it is (unless it's for outdoor use in which case we'd like it to show up well against grass/dead leaves).
aricooperdavis
Moderator
I never had a proper chemistry set, but I do remember electroplating a penny with zinc then putting it in a burner flame and turning it gold. I saw the same demonstration at a school open day recently and it's still a firm favourite - the transformation as the metal alloys to brass is like some alchemical magic, super satisfying, and you can take away the "gold" coin you've made 
royfellows
Well-known member
You have just restored my faith in modern education!
Graigwen
Active member
When I posted a link earlier in this thread to an advert for Lotts Chemistry sets, I was not surprised that it included the wording "For older boys". I was surprised that the cartoon like illustration contained what was clearly a girl.
I must admit that in the 50s and 60s I did not know any girl who played with a chemistry set, although that is probably distorted by the small number of girls I shared leisure activitiees with. Until the mid 60s there was a great deal of pressure on children to conform with stereotypes and any girl who strayed into male areas of interest was likely to be labelled a tomboy.
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I must admit that in the 50s and 60s I did not know any girl who played with a chemistry set, although that is probably distorted by the small number of girls I shared leisure activitiees with. Until the mid 60s there was a great deal of pressure on children to conform with stereotypes and any girl who strayed into male areas of interest was likely to be labelled a tomboy.
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I have often thought about the 60s (my generation) survival rate. Of course some did not survive intact, one local lad lost his arm to Sodium Chlorate and Sugar and some did not survive at all. Towards the end of school years there were motorbikes and then cars. Caving for me started in my teens with school friends. There were so many things to go wrong. Girls came as a possibly soft but not entirely safe option.
kay
Well-known member
Graigwen said:
Growing up in the 50s/60s I had a toy garage, a train set, a chemistry set and a kit with various lenses and construction bits to make things like microscopes and slide projectors. Though the chemistry set box had an illustration of a small boy doing an experiment watched by his admiring sister
My best friend was similarly equipped, I don't know how much that was my influence, though.
Does anyone remember Bayco? Construction kit for buildings which had panels of "brickwork" kept in place by thin steel rods, like cocktail sticks but up to twice the length and more lethal. Would not be allowed in toys nowadays, nor would the tin cars and lorries with their sharp edges, nor a chemistry set without eye protection and with a neat little meths burner.
