Our Interviews

Today we had some visitors to the school. Mr and Mrs Williams (Mrs Davies's parents) came to talk to us about life in the 1940s and 1970s. Mr Williams was born in 1933 and Mrs Williams was born in 1936. We asked them lots of questions about the comparisons and contrasts in these two decades. Mr and Mrs Williams brought in lots of artefacts and photos from the 40s and 70s for us to look at, much to the embarrassment of Mrs Davies whose photos from the 1970s caused much amusement!

Mr Williams hasn't changed much from his photo, but Mrs Williams looks a lot different from the baby in the pram. They talked about the HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION of the 1940s. Most of us think about the 40s in black and white, as many of our SOURCES suggest this. They explained that most of their clothes were grey, black or brown, but of course, everything else was more colourful!! They had fewer clothes than children in the 1970s, due to rationing restrictions and lack of money.

We looked at some coins from the 1940s. Mr Williams's mother was a widow, and only recieved 10 shillings (50p) a week. Half of this went on rent. The rest of the money had to buy food for the remainder of the week.

We talked about entertainment in the 1940s. Neither Mr, nor Mrs Williams had electricity in their homes until the late 40s. This meant no T.V.!!!! Mr Williams brought in some original records from the 1940s. He described his wind up gramaphone player. A lot different from the 1970s, when record players were common, and powered by electricity.

Mrs Williams told us that her home was the first in her street to have hot and cold running water and an indoor toilet and bathroom, and described how all the neighbours came to bathe!

In the 1970s disco became popular. In the 1940s, dance halls were all the rage, where people danced to popular songs of the day, provided by a live band.

What a change in fashion by the 1970s. Clothes were brighter and more varied materials were available. Check out this velvet jacket and the gold satin dress!

Foreign travel was more common. The war years between 1939 and 1945 meant that most foreign travel was out of the question (unless you were serving in the armed forces). By the 70s the package holidays were the norm.

In the 1940s few people owned their own car, but by the 1970s most families had one.



Nice party dress and pink bow, Mrs Davies!

Mrs Willams described her favourite childhood toys. Simply a doll and a skipping rope. Mr Williams remembered his toy doy Bonzo as being a particular favourite. He described how his Mum and Grandad saved for ages to buy him a Meccano set as a reward for passing his 11 plus.

Both described how they were caned in school in the 1940s. Mrs Williams was a teacher in the 1970s and remembers giving some children the cane (Mr Foster, Mrs Dunstan-Jones, do you have any memory of her giving you the cane????).


Mr Williams brought in lots of original games from the 1970s. They were all in their original boxes with instructions included! Do any parents remember Crazy Daisies, Frustration, Don't Let The Leaves Fall, Battling Tops, Buccaneer, Totopoly, Ker-plunk, Downfall and Sorry!?

The children played with them for ages. Forget expensive, electrical toys for their next birthdays, these 'antiques' were a huge success!! They were literally fighting over 'Don't Let The Leaves Fall' and 'Battling Tops'!