Health and safety when you were a child.

[bfcjg]

Not really relevant for 20 and 30 year olds who have been risk assessed and method statemented to death . My dads favourite was running wires under the carpet for lamps and sockets as it was safer then tripping up, blowing smoke rings and me and my siblings trying to breath them in before they disappeared, butter on burns,and told to swim in the canal or Clowbridge reservoir when it got hot as no money for the baths.
How is our generation still alive?
What are your memories ?
Loved these old videos. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6GLhtX2_npw

[CharlieinNewMexico]

British Bulldogs? Run from one end of a place to another suffering rugby tackles and head smashes until finally one person has to run past everyone else. Is that how I remember it?

[bfcjg]

British Bulldogs? Run from one end of a place to another suffering rugby tackles and head smashes until finally one person has to run past everyone else. Is that how I remember it?

Your right, I think it is. What a game and a great way to kick somebody you didn't like and get away with it.

[Hipper]

Not really relevant for 20 and 30 year olds who have been risk assessed and method statemented to death . My dads favourite was running wires under the carpet for lamps and sockets as it was safer then tripping up, blowing smoke rings and me and my siblings trying to breath them in before they disappeared, butter on burns,and told to swim in the canal or Clowbridge reservoir when it got hot as no money for the baths.
How is our generation still alive?
What are your memories ?
Loved these old videos. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6GLhtX2_npw

Plenty aren't alive that might have been I suspect. Or are maimed etc..

Ten year old allowed to drive a tractor on a farm.

Sweets that looked like pebbles. Sweet cigarettes. Ten year old able to buy cigarettes......... and smoke them!

Cycling anywhere, no helmets, no fear.

[Burnley1989]

Your right, I think it is. What a game and a great way to kick somebody you didn't like and get away with it.

We played it at Ted’s in year 7 & 8, it was brutal, legs and arms were were broken, the lads that had developed into men earlier than the rest loved it, teachers hated it

[Herts Clarets]

What could possibly go wrong?

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[Chobulous]

What could possibly go wrong?

tall slide.jpg

At least there is sand to fall into. The slide on clifton rec playground down Stoneyholme stood on concrete

[tim_noone]

Walking the Black Pipe over the Swift River....Tattoed with Indian Ink with your mums darning needle..." not by your mum" tree Swings from great heights over the canal and down Barden Lanes bluebell Wood. Climbing the now Gone Gasometer on Oswald street...

[CharlieinNewMexico]

We had a Bluebell Wood. All the way south of the prairie by the Leeds and Liverpool. Seem to remember a big pipe too.

Same place?

[ClaretTony]

Health & safety in the home is somewhat different now. My mum and dad were doing some work upstairs and took 15 month old Tony upstairs with them. I wandered onto the landing, my dad saw me and panicked which led to me falling down top to bottom. Scar still visible on my head.

Today - there would have been a guard at the top of the stairs.

Born on FA Cup 3rd round day and went hurtling down the stairs on the day of the Matthews Cup Final. I suppose I was meant to be a football fan.

[tim_noone]

We had a Bluebell Wood. All the way south of the prairie by the Leeds and Liverpool. Seem to remember a big pipe too.

Same place?

Aye....Different Pipe though.

[claretonthecoast1882]

Health & safety in the home is somewhat different now. My mum and dad were doing some work upstairs and took 15 month old Tony upstairs with them. I wandered onto the landing, my dad saw me and panicked which led to me falling down top to bottom. Scar still visible on my head.

Today - there would have been a guard at the top of the stairs.

Born on FA Cup 3rd round day and went hurtling down the stairs on the day of the Matthews Cup Final. I suppose I was meant to be a football fan.

Luckily the was no VAR in those days, had there been it would have shown there was no contact and you clearly dived resulting in you being cautioned.

[BenWickes]

I vividly remember playing on the building site for the Accrington Bypass (A56) at the Hapton end of the Coppice in Accrington as they were building it. Must have been 1984/85 ish. No Hi-Viz, no helmets.
Playing as trucks and excavators were driving around us. Nobody batted an eyelid.

[tim_noone]

Health & safety in the home is somewhat different now. My mum and dad were doing some work upstairs and took 15 month old Tony upstairs with them. I wandered onto the landing, my dad saw me and panicked which led to me falling down top to bottom. Scar still visible on my head.

Today - there would have been a guard at the top of the stairs.

Born on FA Cup 3rd round day and went hurtling down the stairs on the day of the Matthews Cup Final. I suppose I was meant to be a football fan.

Possibly a modern day footballer ...you went down With not a hint of contact

[ClaretTony]

Luckily the was no VAR in those days, had there been it would have shown there was no contact and you clearly dived resulting in you being cautioned.

Ha ha - I always used to accuse him of pushing me down but he paid the price, he spent cup final afternoon at Victoria Hospital in Burnley.

[matucana]

Being left to our own devices in the school chemistry lab casually experimenting with acids, mercury, not to mention filling small containers with gas and then bringing naked flames into play.

[martin_p]

At least there is sand to fall into. The slide on clifton rec playground down Stoneyholme stood on concrete

I once fell off one of those huge slides onto the concrete surround, fortunately down the steps rather than over the side. I was apparently out cold. Hasn’t done me any harm…………wibble………….

[Volvoclaret]

Rolling down railway embankment in an old metal dustbin whilst mates threw boulders at you.

[bfcjg]

School trips were the teachers buggered of to the pub or shops and told you to be back at York Minster for example for 3 o clock or you'd be left there.

[boatshed bill]

Playing on WW2 bomb sites, throwing half bricks at each other hiding in the wreckage. Brilliant

[Herts Clarets]

Luckily the was no VAR in those days, had there been it would have shown there was no contact and you clearly dived resulting in you being cautioned.

Ah but there was intent from Father Scholes, therefore he was entitled to go down anticipating contact. Stone wall penalty for me.

[alf_resco]

The "Death plank" down at the swings. About 5 spaces for seats with grab-on handles where you sat petrified while the 2 big kids at either end swung it higher and higher until either (a) you got thrown off by the g-forces, (b) threw up or (c) a combo of both.
One day a kid turned around unguardedly and the cast iron plank copped him full in the mouth, cleanly knocking his 4 front teeth out.

[TheOriginalLongsider]

Not a game but the amount of dogs wandering the streets - often attacked !

Also Clifton Farm which later became the Malt Shovel pub used to set the dogs on us when we threw sticks at trees to knock the conkers down !

[HahaYeah]

Sliding on car bonnets from top to bottom of Delf Hill.

[rob63]

Climbing on a pile of benches at the back of the school hall (it was used as a church on Sunday) on my 1st week at school, of course I missed my footing resulting in a badly gashed knee, (still a scar today) & losing my 2 front teeth

[Herts Clarets]

Early 80s and we went to a bonfire and fireworks display at Cottontree Church in Colne, after home made meat and potato pie at my mate's grandparents house opposite. There was a fence that separated you from a large drop down into the river that runs behind it and a section had broken. What was deemed an adequate repair was to put a piece of lino over the gap. What could go wrong after all. Well i could go down the narrow gap at the rear of the church and lean on what i thought was a fence, only to find it was a piece of lino. Only my mate's quick reactions in grabbing hold of me prevented me falling backwards down into the river below. That wouldn't have ended well at all.

[bfcjg]

Climbing over walls with broken glass set into the top of it to fetch your ball, then being p1ssed off when you get it and the glass has burst it.

[Rileybobs]

Rope swings made out of washing line. Like Russian Roulette it was a question of when rather than if it would snap.

[Yeovil1951]

School Medical Nurse would come to school and the boys would line up in vest and pants ,Girls would line up in vests and blue knickers , Nurse would get out the magic lollipop stick , look in mouth with it lift up tongue and poke around , then pull pants towards her lift up willy then lift up the two veg with the lollipop told to cough . Then on to the foot Nurse to check for verruca , Meanwhile first Nurse would move on to next boy and carry out the same operation with same lollipop stick as this was done Alphabetical by the time it got to my turn that stick had been round about a dozen Scrotum's before entering my mouth

[Rileybobs]

by the time it got to my turn that stick had been round about a dozen Scrotum's before entering my mouth

Sounds like one of Sid's parties.

[JohnMac]

Skirmishing through Tipping Hill Wood using fencing staples and elastic bands to fire at each other. Nobody died but plenty were hit.

[COBBLE]

Visiting Hameldon Hill to the former shooting range to collect spent bullets in the early 60s.

Aged about 8 travelling to Crewe sheds 5A and B with my good friend Phil and wandering around amongst the moving locomotives.

On a Teds school trip to Bavaria, at the top of the Zugspitze leaning over the unguarded side to look down on climbers hundreds of feet below.

Throwing bangers.

[Bullabill]

................ then pull pants towards her lift up willy then lift up the two veg with the lollipop told to cough .

Two Veg? at primary school?

[ElectroClaret]

Throwing bangers.

Bonfire night was quite tasty.
If you didn't let a banger go off deliberately in your hand, you were considered a bit of a wuss.

I was quite content to be so considered, and let some of the others trot off to casualty.

[Cirrus_Minor]

I learned to ride a bike at the age of eight on my next door neighbours 23 inch bike. My feet couldn’t even reach the floor if I sat on the crossbar, had to use a really high curb to launch off and fall onto the ground when I stopped with only a front brake.
I also used to walk to school best part of two miles away at the age of six.

Different times altogether.

[Rammy1968]

Playing in the old mills in Gt Harwood in the underground tunnels on church street catching newts. Playing splits with your Bowie knife, getting shot at by the Claytoners in the fields between Harwood and Clayton. Going around after bonfire night making callys with all the fireworks that didn’t go off, building underground dens on the Railway bottoms and making bogies out of old pram wheels great days if you survived them ;0

[rob63]

Going to the school clinic in Rawtenstall, just up past the cricket ground, for a dental check-up. The dentist was a Spanish chap called Torre, all nicotine-stained fingers, never washed his hands, couldn't understand a word he said so you nodded your head, felt the rubber gas mask coming towards you & woke up with 20 others in the recovery room, streaming blood despite the weird tampon things in your mouth.

[fatboy47]

Going to the school clinic in Rawtenstall, just up past the cricket ground, for a dental check-up. The dentist was a Spanish chap called Torre, all nicotine-stained fingers, never washed his hands, couldn't understand a word he said so you nodded your head, felt the rubber gas mask coming towards you & woke up with 20 others in the recovery room, streaming blood despite the weird tampon things in your mouth.

Torrey was a bloody nasty piece of work, even by the standard of dentists back then.(early 60s).. An absolutely useless innept bullying cretin who even in those days should never have been allowed within a mile of young children.

[Vintage Claret]

I wrote in to 'Jim'll Fix it'

[midlander63]

Too many to mention but 3 things stand out:
1) There was a disused wooden warehouse awaiting demolition near where we lived. One night me and a mate climbed up on to the roof. The roof was wood and shallow pitched so you could run around on it. The roof was rotten and one of my feet went straight through it right up to the top of my leg. It was probably about an 8 metre drop onto solid concrete. I managed to get my leg out and crawled back to the edge.
2) They were building some new flats, a 3 storey building. In those days building sites weren't fenced off and the scaffolds weren't locked off like they are now. We were up there every night running about on the scaffolding. One night we were up there at the top level and the brickies had got all the concrete window lintels sat up on trestles ready for lifting into place. We pushed every one off (at least 30 I reckon) - I can just imagine the swearing the next morning when they turned up and found out what we'd done.
3) Stupidest of the lot and I'm not making this up. I grew up near to the West Coast Main Line. At one place the Trent & Mersey Canal, West Coast Main Line & the River Trent all converged. We spent the summer holidays fishing in the canal and fishing/swimming in the Trent. When we were bored we went up and mucked about on the West Coast Main Line - there was no fence you just had to climb a 6' brick wall and scramble up the embankment. We had an idea - between trains we scooped out the ballast between the sleepers. I went first and lay in the hole between the rails. there were concrete boxes running along the tracks with the signal cables in. My mates took the lids off the concrete boxes and laid them over me and i lay there and waited until an express train passed over me full speed. I can remember lying there and my mates saying "there's one coming" - I could hear the hissing in the steel rails as it approached and then it was passing over me - because we'd removed the ballast I can remember seeing the rails deflecting very slightly every time the train wheels passed over. When I got out i was smothered in dust from the concrete box lids.
Needless to say I never said a word about this to my parents!

[Bin Ont Turf]

Getting home from school before Mum and Dad and having to light the open fire.

What would parents be charged of nowadays with that? Child endangerment? Neglect?

[Billy Balfour]

We used to be able to walk the three minutes to the local shop on our own. I'm still in therapy and currently taking legal proceedings against my parents.

[TheFamilyCat]

Getting home from school before Mum and Dad and having to light the open fire.

What would parents be charged of nowadays with that? Child endangerment? Neglect?

Most folk have central heating these days so need to get angry about something else that isn't happening.

[bfcjg]

Paraffin heaters potential fire bombs,the paraffin stored in kitchen cabinets near to the chip pan in our house. If we ever had a fire house would have gone up in no time.

[COBBLE]

Nice subject OP. It's given a lot of us a prompt to remember things, rich experiences, positive memories, we would never have thought about, and obviously survived!

[Bin Ont Turf]

Most folk have central heating these days so need to get angry about something else that isn't happening.

What a weird reply.

[Suratclaret]

Iodine, calamine lotion and look both ways when crossing the road... That was about it!

[bfcjg]

Old fashioned fuse boxes with wire breakers,.my dad used to use a panel pin on fuses that constantly blew, sorted it until the faulty light or switch caught fire.

[Hipper]

Skirmishing through Tipping Hill Wood using fencing staples and elastic bands to fire at each other. Nobody died but plenty were hit.

We used paper staples which we formed into 'arrows' - we straightened one end and bent the other end in. We also had these pea shooter guns. They came with small plastic balls but you could use dried peas in them. Then there was the blowpipe. It sounds like war but most of us survived intact somehow.

Of course we played knuckles, or the slightly more delicate slaps. Our hands could end up red raw.

Then there was conkers. Getting them from the trees by launching large branches, or bricks, at them. Skewering them to put the string through them and then to battle. More knuckle damage.

The most dangerous thing I did was when I was learning to swim. Our mum took us to the lessons and one day before they started she said 'why don't you jump into the pool backwards', meaning standing on the edge then jumping off so landing feet first in the water. I did this but noticed that my head moved forward a bit. When I came to the surface a man asked me if I'd done that before. 'No' I said. He told me that last week a girl did the exact same jump and she caught her chin on the side of the pool - broken jaw and who knows what other damage. I never jumped in like that again. It still gives me the shivers thinking about it.

[Brunlea]

Soap box derby on Hammerton Street when racing from top down past church to car park on/in a combination of old pram wheels, wood and spring!