Childhood in Coleorton

Childhood in Coleorton Open Day

Saturday afternoon 5 October 2019 at Viscount Beaumont School

When regular Heritage Group members get together the conversation often turns to what Coleorton used to be like and what we did as children - memories of houses, shops, walking through woods, fishing in streams etc. So we all had a bright idea - lets have an Open Day when everyone in Coleorton can get together and talk about their childhood around a cup of tea and cake.

Members of the Group, whether born in Coleorton or not, wrote an account of their childhood. These were displayed on boards and in folders for visitors to read. There were other displays too. Two boards held individual photographs of Coleorton children in times gone by; another two included 13 school group photos with children and their teachers, dating back to the early 1900s and Griffydam Heritage Group kindly brought their boards with information too.

Display of toys, dolls and hobbies from our childhood.

Leading up to the event, Coleorton Group members took great delight in searching their homes for items used in the past to place on table top displays. Many tables were needed to assemble all of the examples found! One stall carried over 50 household utensils and objects, from a washing dolly and a posser to a flat iron, cookbooks to ancient weighing scales, a copper kettle to pewter drinking vessels, toasting forks to a cast iron mincer, fire tongues to a carpet beater, bed warming pans to a stone hot water bottle and objects made of wood and cloth: a milking stool, a clothes horse, a variety of embroidered tableware and rag mats. Another had a myriad of toys including beautiful old dolls: rag, bisque, celluloid and composition and an early one from Palitoy; wooden and tin playthings: a train and carriages, a truck with building bricks and jumping monkey; playground pastimes: a hula-hoop, a kaleidoscope, skipping ropes, snobs/jacks, conkers, yoyos, milk bottle tops and cigarette cards; an assortment of books including old annuals; a medley of games and jigsaws and play toys for babies: a mobile, a rattle, a pull-a-long and cuddly teddy bears! display of hisehold items and toys

Display of household items and toys.

Coalville Heritage Society brought a small display of the toys that were made at the Palitoy (Cascelloids) factory in Coalville. Action Man, Pippa, Tiny Tears, Care Bears, Star Wars toys were made there. The Many Faces of Palitoy exhibition which celebrates 100 years of Cascelloid and Palitoy opens on the 12 October - 10 November at the old Palitoy factory on Jackson Street. More about Many faces of Palitoy >>

Chris Ward brought his extensive collection of Star Wars with a rare transporter.

As guests wandered around the exhibits the Group's photographic collection displayed on an overhead screen.

Childhood in Coleorton Open Day

It wasn't a day just for oldies; all were very welcome and the age range of visitors went from a one-year old to a wonderful contributor of 99 years! Over a biscuit or pieces of cake and cups of tea or coffee they all chatted about their childhoods and more memories were collected!

Finally, as members of the Group began the job of clearing the hall, some took time out to demonstrate their expertise in using the hula-hoop!!

Please do hang onto your old photos, keep them safe and write on the back the date and names of the people in the photo and where it was taken. (See See "Holding on to memories" article) And if you would like to share them with the Coleorton Community we will be pleased to hear from you.

Group members write about growing up in Coleorton

Childhood memories.

and you can find out more about Coleorton families on our Families section >>

More about children growing up in Coleorton

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