Way Back Week.

                  Having Sunday tea at my aunties in the 70s with my brother and cousins

This past week, lots of folk have been changing their profile pictures on Facebook and sharing images of themselves as a child, this is known as #WayBackWeek.

I guess we're all rather nostalgic when it comes to looking back at old photos, we're filled with sentimental memories of childhood days and it can almost evoke feelings of homesickness.

Due to all this nostalgia, I joined a group this week called Catford and Lewisham-Way Back When..... I grew up in Catford and it has been interesting looking online at photos, past and present. Things have changed dramatically from my childhood, flats have replaced many of my childhood haunts such as Bellingham outdoor swimming baths. I posted a photo on the site of myself, my mother and a friend at Bellingham baths and have had an amazing response from many people reminiscing about those halcyon days. For a few pence, we children could go to the baths (packed off with a sandwich and a bottle of squash) for the whole day. People have commented that times were so uncomplicated then and that we were safe and loved without a price tag.

                                      Myself, my friend Geraldine and my glamorous mother

I was born in the 1960s, a time of change and known as the decade of liberation for many women. The 40s and 50s had been an era of 'make do and mend' and women spent 11 hours a day, 7 days a week doing housework, with daughters helping, becoming housewives in training.

By the 60s, many homes had TVs and one in three households owned a car, fridges were replacing larders and women could do their weekly wash in a twin tub washing machine, hence they weren't quite as shackled to housework.

Many would contend that the 70s was a golden era, the perfect balance of convenience and family values before households were splintered by technology and women spending long hours in the workplace. Where now, we sit in the same room with family members but don't interact because we're welded to our smartphones, tablets or games consoles, the 70s was still very much an era of doing things together as a family, eating at the dining table, playing board games or watching the one household TV all together.

Statistics show that in 2015, the average Internet user spent over 20 hours a week online, added to which 70 per cent of Britons list shopping as one of their main leisure activities. By 1994 Sunday trading was legalised and people started shopping on a Sunday as opposed to going to church (in 1951 more than 50 per cent of children went to Sunday school.) Traditions such as the family roast and visiting family for tea started to wane and the most important things ie time spent with family and friends started to be replaced with consumerism and technology.

Personally (although we all tend to look back at our childhood through rose tinted glasses) I remember the 70s as being a great decade. My mother got a job which she loved, thus she didn't feel as suppressed, however, it was only during school hours so she was always at home for us. We had modern conveniences such as a TV, telephone and record player, we had central heating and comfortable furniture and we were getting more eclectic food wise, mum no longer had to buy her olive oil in the chemist and we would have a Chinese takeaway sometimes on a Saturday night as a treat. Everywhere still felt safe, my friends and I would dissappear all day to the lido or park, minus mobile phones! We played in the street as there was little traffic and at weekends we would go on picnics with extended family.

 A typical picnic in the country complete with camping chairs and table (I'm the one in the trendy halter neck!)

As a way back recipe, I'd like to share bread and butter pudding, this was classed as a treat in many households, although it was literally a way of using up stale bread. It's so simple to make and for sheer deliciousness it's hard to beat (and ironically, has become popular in 'posh' restaurants.)

Bread and butter pudding

Recipe
12 thin slices of bread, buttered and cut into triangles
400g dried mixed fruit
2 large free range eggs
Large spoon marmalade, warm through in a microwave to create a glaze
350ml milk spoonful demerara sugar

Butter an ovenproof dish, arrange a layer of bread triangles on the bottom
Sprinkle with fruit and continue to layer bread and fruit
Beat eggs and milk and pour into dish

Heat oven 180c/gas 4
Pour marmalade glaze on top of the pudding

Place in the oven and bake for approximately 40 minutes until risen and golden

Serve immediately

'In the 70s, my children played in the street, read politically incorrect stories, ate homemade food and occasional junk and, yes, were sometimes smacked.'
- Laurie Graham.

Love Donna xxxxxxx