VE DAY and 40’s FOOD
(An Occasional Report)
Some four score years ago, with some marginal assistance from the USA, our ancestors achieved victory in Europe. Returning to the present day, our esteemed Chair Person, one Bryan Elphick, spotted the chance to make VE Day the theme for this year’s May Club Event. This was important as virtually every other theme, Hats, Red White and Blue, Olympics etc had been used on previous occasions. Nice one, Sir!
I think it is fair to say that, going by appearances, not one of our lady members was alive back in those days. I wish I could say the same for the gents who have clearly lived much harder lives and are, to be frank, showing it. Nonetheless I suspect that I could count genuine old timers on one hand, and have the thumb left over.
Anyway, the event had the dual benefit of a boost to local charity shops in getting rid of some ancient apparel and to me, for the material for this report and comment on the clothing worn by my elders (very, very few left now) and betters (just how many members do we have anyway?)
Memory Lane Time
In the 40’s a takeaway was part of a mathematical problem.
A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
All crisps were plain in a bag accompanied by between 0 and 5 lots of salt in blue wraps.
A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
Coffee was camp and came in bottles.
Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days and was regarded as being white gold.
Fish didn’t have fingers.
We had never heard of yogurt.
Seaweed was not a recognised food.
Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.
Indian restaurants were only found in India.
Muesli was readily available, it was called cattle food.
Prunes were medicinal.
Pineapples came in chunks from a tin. We had only ever seen a picture of the real thing.
Water came out of the tap. If anyone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it, they would have become a laughing stock.
The one thing we never had on our table back in the 40’s was elbows.
Back to the event.
Reaching the green it was a little disappointing to find that because of the weather, most members were so bundled up that it was impossible to see what the trawls of the charity shops had produced. Our Chairman has not yet learnt that to guarantee good weather he needs to burn chicken feathers the night beforehand. As a result he decided to decamp to Spain leaving other members of the family to take the flack. In the event Linda and Richard did a pretty good job of organisation. The place was awash with Union Jacks and there was an interesting display of memorabilia. Nice to see pictures of members as youngsters. So much promise, what went wrong? (No tears, Just joking!)
The game began with a spider, which, I am told was won by Rita Marlow, resplendent in red and white and an optimistic pair of sun glasses. No sign today of her usual multi coloured outfits described by my mother as an explosion in a paint factory.
There were quite a number of Union Jacks on the green, Sue Phillips had sewn one to her trousers, while Tryan Wallace had worn a huge flag cleverly recycled by Anne. Well done, Girl! Mildred Guthrie had gone the UJ hat route. The last one I saw was at Blackpool and it is a shame that Mildred had removed the “Kiss me Quick” wording. Brenda Honess sported a bright red hat bringing back memories of my National Service days when the military police wore, and were called, red caps.
I am told that Gilly Cox has a part time washing up job at The Brewery. It might have been better to remove the apron before playing, Gilly.
I noted that one of the teams was called Hellcats after an American fighter. I am sure it was not intentional that Sheila Wadsworth and Carol Wotton were added to this team. Sheila, incidentally has been reported to the RSPB for throwing a wood at a wagtail quite innocently foraging on the green. She missed and the bird was later seen back on the green well out of Sheila’s range.
It was good to see several new (to me anyway) bowlers playing and I look forward to meeting you all in the fullness of time.
I was also pleased to see several spectators, 2 x Cynthia, Ling and Minty, 2 x Pam, Heap and Staples plus Dorothy Dosanjh and Margaret Levens. Also, Alan Huxtable on the bar plus Des Hanreck as part of a team working on the catering side of things.
It is a pity that I could not stay to see the full proceedings, relatives can be a curse at times…
Anyway it all seemed to go well and I am sure that the Elphick clan were thanked for their efforts.
John Rook
PS I really would have liked to see the drone in action……..