• Welcome to the new B.I.R.D. Forum. Please be sure to read the "New Member / New Registered ? Please Read" thread in the Coffee Shop. This contains some important information. To become a full member ( £5.90 a year ) simply click on your user name near the top on the right I hope you enjoy the new site ................ Jaws ( John )

Random memory!

Jaws

Corporal CockUp
Staff member
Moderator
Club Sponsor
Had visitors tonight and we ended up talking prices in days or yore

These from 1966 / 67 /68

gallon of 2 star ( 4.54 litres near as dammit ) 4/10d occasional special offer 4/6d
20 No 6 fags 2/10d


Wimpy and chips 1/6d
coke 6d
pictures 2s
bus up town 4d
bus home 4d

So a night out for me and girl friend about 9/6d or 47.5 pence

I also remember saying that petrol prices were getting outrageous when the price rose from 50p to 74p a gallon in less than a year (1973/74 I think ) and predicting there would be a tie in my life that petrol could well go up to £2 a gallon and there would be riots
 

jeffa

Been there, and had one
Club Sponsor
Yes remember happy days, got £5.d per week. happy days
 

Quiney

Registered User
When I had a Honda C50 stepthru to go to college, if I ran it on reserve for a short time then I could squeeze 20p worth of petrol in, rather than the 17½p for half a gallon. 72/73 time
 

slim63

Never surrender
Club Sponsor
You lot must be way older than me :) I only remember a packet of fags a gallon of 4 star & a pint all being around 50 to 55p

My first weeks wages in 1979 was £25.25
 

andyBeaker

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Club Sponsor
In 1975 my total income was £3.50 doing a ten hour day on Saturday in a high street retailer.

I soon learned that caddying at a very posh local golf club (Walton Heath) could earn me anything between a fiver a round or £30 for the weekend.
 

Quiney

Registered User
My first full months wages in 1975 was £30 :eek:

My first months wages in 1974 was £91 (still have the wage slip tucked away somewhere)
That was away at sea. I was on more money that my father who was the village bobby!
 

T.C

Been there, and had one
Club Sponsor
I was on more money that my father who was the village bobby!

That would make sense. I was a Police Cadet. My father was an experienced traffic Policeman having not long transferred from Surrey Police and he was on about £70 a month.

In 1978, (By which time I was a full serving policeman) we had the Edmund Davies pay review and our salaries quadrupled as a minimum (it may have been more) and a junior copper such as me was suddenly going from under £100 a month to over £400 plus we also got rent allowance.

I thought I had won the pools with all the extra money we were being paid. Didn't take long before we felt just as brasic again, but I still remember that feeling of euphoria when that first salary payslip arrived.
 

andyBeaker

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Club Sponsor
I joined a bank at 16 to kill two years until was eighteen so I could join plod.

39 years later I retired from the bank.
 

T.C

Been there, and had one
Club Sponsor
In 1975 my total income was £3.50 doing a ten hour day on Saturday in a high street retailer.

I soon learned that caddying at a very posh local golf club (Walton Heath) could earn me anything between a fiver a round or £30 for the weekend.


I had forgotten about that as well ;)

Absolutely spot on. I used to caddy at Henley Gold club when I was inmy early teens. Most of the top celebrities were members of the golf club and had more money than sense.

1 days caddying could earn me in excess of £50 (what would that me worth in todays money? ) and I always remember I went to the USA for the first time on a school exchange programme.

The whole trip for 6 months cost £108 (I still remember the cost) which included excursions, flights, Hotel on the first night, and I took £100 spending money which was twice as much as the other kids, and I came back with two thirds still in my pocket.

But the point is, that instead of flogging my guts out at the local boat chandler which I did for a while to earn £20 for a 20 hour weekend, I could earn north of £50 for a couple hours of walking. It became a bit of a no brainer.
 

andyBeaker

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Club Sponsor
I had forgotten about that as well ;)

Absolutely spot on. I used to caddy at Henley Gold club when I was inmy early teens. Most of the top celebrities were members of the golf club and had more money than sense.

1 days caddying could earn me in excess of £50 (what would that me worth in todays money? ) and I always remember I went to the USA for the first time on a school exchange programme.

The whole trip for 6 months cost £108 (I still remember the cost) which included excursions, flights, Hotel on the first night, and I took £100 spending money which was twice as much as the other kids, and I came back with two thirds still in my pocket.

But the point is, that instead of flogging my guts out at the local boat chandler which I did for a while to earn £20 for a 20 hour weekend, I could earn north of £50 for a couple hours of walking. It became a bit of a no brainer.
You are so right about more money than sense at posh golf clubs - it was almost a competition to see who would give their caddy the biggest tip!!

Walton Heath was very much a closed shop for caddys - there was actually a 'caddy master' who ran it like a fiefdom. I got in as a result of my dad calling in a favour while flashing his warrant card.
 

slim63

Never surrender
Club Sponsor
My first full months wages in 1975 was £30 :eek:

I was on a building site doing 10 to 12 hour days for my 25 quid :eek: mates who went into engineering at rolls or the jag were earning roughly £60 a week for not a lot of graft

I soon learned my trade though & went self employed in 1980, suddenly I was earning £30 to £40 a day for 8 hours :D a few quid tax & stamp paid left me enough to be quite a rich bloke compared to some, The sad thing is a lot of unskilled blokes in the trade are working for that now :eek::(:confused:
 
Top