Model village celebrates 80 years

Aug 06, 2009 27 Replies

This is Local London



Wednesday 5th August 2009



Lawrence Dunhill



" Bekonscot the oldest model village in the world, celebrated its



80th anniversary on Wednesday with a special gala day of activities .................................

It was the summer of 1929 when wealthy London accountant, Roland Callingham, egged on by his enthusiastic friends, first invited the public into the back garden of his Beaconsfield home on a Sunday afternoon.



He had built the largest outdoor train set in England and created a Lilliputian world around his swimming pool. His hope was to raise some money to donate to charity. "



formatting link


formatting link

..."the milkman still delivers gold top direct from the churn."

I'd like to see that.

formatting link

I'd like to see it too, when the local farmer delivered milk via horse & cart in the early 1950s the only option was "milk".

On this side of the pond, Donaldson's Dairy in Louisville Ky was using horse and wagon through most of the 50s. The milkman complained loudly when they eventually switched to trucks - the horse knew the route so well he didn't have to drive it :-). When several houses in a row came up, the horse would stop at the first house and let the milkman off and then go to the last house and wait for him. Progress isn't always progress :-).

The message from Larry Blanchard contains these words:

Sounds a bit like me with the shopping trolley in ASDA (Walmart for the Left-Pondians). The wife gets things off the shelf and puts them in the trolley, my job is to make sure the trolley is in place at the right time...

And does she give you a lump of sugar if you perform well?

The message from MartinS contains these words:

Frayed knot. Only a carrot...

The trick with that is to make sure she put's anything you dont like in another 'mugs' sorry shoppers trolly.

Chris

I too would like to see a horse & cart full of curns trundling along the M40.

" direct from the churn " what about H & S

Chris

We 'adn't never 'eard of H&S back in them days.

Regardless, I think "Gold Top" milk from Jersey or Guernsey cows by definition always came in bottles with a gold-coloured foil top.

formatting link
The Pocketbond Classix 1:76 NCB milk float comes with a couple of crates of Gold Top.

The message

from Dragon Heart contains these words:

I'm always pleased to meet another expert, whether it's in the field of imitating the habits of the milkman's horse or building model railways...!

I showed great eagerness to go shopping, then smiled at several attractive (and confused) ladies - denying it afterwards, loudly worked out the relative prices of several differently packed sizes of items, rushed to help with packing so that certain delicate items got crushed and appeared cheerful throughout. That was over 10 years ago.

Cheers, Simon

The message from "simon" contains these words:

Washing-up a day or two after getting back from honeymoon, I managed to break a couple of plates from the wedding-present dinner service (I think that's what it was called - the decibel level had caused my hearing to shut down.*) and I never had to do regular washing-up again. We have a dishwasher now, but that's "technology" so I load it and "operate" it.

[* At that moment I learned about selective hearing - and saying "Yes, dear" at approximately appropriate intervals.]

Tinnitus has always been a great help/excuse for difficulties with certain frequencies. However a poor sense of smell meant was last to realise an urgent task in a far away room was called for when a nappy required changing. Still havent worked out what additional effort is required to make a bed other than get out of it.

Cheers, Simon

"never 'eard of H&S back in them days" you must have all died of something !

What about putting the soap and other smellies in with the fresh fruit and veg ?

I have found with a dishwasher they try to use EVERY pot, pan, plate and fork in the house.

Chris

There's a few of us left that survived. And I do remember the milkman ladling out milk from the churn in the late 1940s.

School milk came in bottles with a cardboard top that you had to push your (unwashed) finger through to remove. Later, the girls used them to make pom-poms - I never knew what they used the pom-poms for.

The message from "simon" contains these words:

Hammer, saw, some wood, another visit to B&Q...

The message

from Dragon Heart contains these words:

When you're imitating the milkman's horse, the milkman decides what goes where in the trolley... IOW not my problem.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required