Maybe it's just me getting older? and like my father we just don't think the WORLD is any better since the 1970's with regards to the morals, respect, openness & honesty of people today, they seem to have this must have it any costs kind of vibe going on and what's with the FAME thing thesedays?

Yup the 1970's seemed like a more innocent & fun decade back then (but then again I was a kid at that time so maybe i am seeing this through rose tinted specs?) but man did I enjoy that era.

Yes modern technology is better but I sometimes wonder if this might be where some of the BAD & HURTFUL aspects of modern life are coming from? witness last weeks news about children & the internet & them being targeted as well as the pressure to conform.

THE AGE of INNOCENCE seems to be gone completely now...and children seem to have more pressures put upon them like never before, I feel blessed that I grew up in an age of...AND HERE COMES THE LIST....

BONFIRES...the stealing of Bunty (but by way of espionage & stealth not through fights they'd come later at secondary school )

SKATEBOARDING...had a beauty with day glow orange wheels & no protective helmets or knee pads...you learned quick

HOME MADE WOODEN GO CARTS with wonky unreliable braking system.

THE BEST BIKE I EVER HAD...A TOMAHAWK (UK folk will know of the famous CHOPPER bike? well this was the smaller identical version) it's one of the reasons I LOVE the film "GOONIES" so much we had a gang of kids that hung around ALL SUMMER LONG and did this & that kinda stuff.

SUBBUTEO FOOTBALL GAME...We even had a weekly league system & at times played in the dark lit up by FLOODLIGHTS, I was lucky in that I also had the STRIKER GAME too, push the heads down on the players to kick the leg up and hit the ball...almost real right?

TOPPS FOOTBALL TRADING CARDS...Had a picture of the player on one side & info the other...we didn't trade 'em though we played for them by throwing each card up against the wall & the closest to the brick of the house won both cards or three or four depending on how many of us were playing...yup those cards got one hell of a pasting but we loved 'em all the same.

WASHING UP BOTTLE FIGHTS...i'm sure folks from an even earlier generation remember these?

KIRBY KIRBY...a game we thought we invented but had probably been around for decades, living in a terraced street with a small quiet road running through the middle of it you would throw the ball over to the other side hoping to hit the curb & have it bounce back to you winning a point. first to 10 wins!

WHAT TIME IS IT MR WOLF...a game in which up to 8 of us kids would stand on one side of the steet & one was picked to be MR WOLF on the other, I have forgotten most of the rules but it involved MR WOLF turning his back on you and these 8 trying to creep up on him or her, first to touch them on the shoulder won, involved, time & trying to stand still whilst advancing over the road, AH KIDS!

ICE CREAM LOLLY STICK HOME MADE FLYERS...I haven't made one of these for years, requires if memory serves 3 such lolly sticks formed into a triangular shape (funnily enough) and slotted through and up to make it sturdy...you then battled it out mid air with your opponent (the ice cream man in those days was always happy to see us)

CONKERS....Once found my old mate Tony Doyle (hi tony should u ever read this) who lived in a large PUB soaking his in vinegar, against the rules mate & caught red handed...no wonder he won so many

ACTION MAN & EVIL KNEVIL TOYS
CROSSFIRE...a ball bearing shooting game, still have one in the attic I think somewhere.
TREASURE OF THE PHAROAHS...One of the GREATEST interactive Board Games Ever...looking for King Tut's treasure whilst avoiding various traps, hell even the playing figures were cool modelled on explorers of the time with Pith helmets...GREAT FUN but who plays board games now?

SPACE HOPPERS...Here's were I did something to my shame that was extremely naughty aged about 7, I think I was curious as to what would happen if I took a pin to mine & obviously the damn thing exploded to bits but I blamed one of my friends who got a spanking from his father (at this time this was a required disciplining for a child...TOTALLY NOT TODAY) anyway our old neighbour saw me do this & I deservedly got it...put my mother in a spot who had to head over there apologise with chocs for my mate.

THE CANE...Clearly no longer in use & rightly so but being a bit of a naughty kid at times I got this a few times at both junior & secondary school & in a strange way found it interesting as some of the teachers that gave it looked more in pain than us

CHRISTMAS ALCOHOL TREATS...the parents knew they shouldn't but it was XMAS so at this time drinks such as 'BABYSHAM' & 'SNOWBALLS' were handed to the kids, after having one of these at this age and then picking up one of my many ANNUAL BOOKS most likely my favourite SPIDERMAN i'm sure I remember thinking I was Spidey battling Doc Oc also had Six Million Dollar Man, Kojak and just about all the Tv related annuals (YEARS LATER I WOULD BUY MANY OF THEM BACK through e-bay & car boots)

PUSH PENNY FOOTBALL...this was before Subbuteo & Striker...it's the most basic yet FUN game I can remember playing.
We had an old formica (look it up kids) coffee table (VERY 70's) and we marked with pen 2 goals either side and then using 2 combs you'd push your player (a 2p coin turned heads up) up against the 1p (BALL) to try and score.

SATURDAY MORNING MATINEE SHOWS...so after school ended on Friday and for a good few years every now & again we would meet up with friends at this specially put on show for kids at the local system & as ours was a delight Art Deco Plush looking one with a BRIGHT DAY-GLOW Orange Clock at the back it always felt like an event....commence the throwing of popcorn, the first kiss, the lady with the board complete with ice lolly's & chocs for sale (YUP i'm probably the last of that generation that can just about remember this)
Normally short films made especially for kids were shown but from time to time they'd show full features at this early showing around 10am and this is probably where my LOVE FOR CINEMA came from as well as my LOVE for a little known Disney film called "THE LAST FLIGHT OF NOAH'S ARK" (Quiet Delightful)

SUPERSTARS...Anyone remember this Tv series from the 1970's, famous sportsmen would compete against each other in various challenges, athletics, canoeing, bike races, football shoot-out's and well we as a group of kids numbering upto around 8 of us would take part in such a thing a few times during the SUMMER.
We'd have a long jump competition in which we would take off from a certain crack in the pavement indicated by a lolly stick sticking out & the parents normally sat out in the vestibules (small entrance way as you open the main door dividing off entrance to the main front room) would look and mark where you had landed with another lolly stick with our names upon them & stuck them out from the nearest crack.
My mother even made my sister & I HOMEMADE sweat bands (remember those) in red, white & blue, funnily enough years later at the 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS they released some in blue & white and I had to buy one

TREE HOUSE FUN...I don't know about you but you just don't see these anymore, another of my favourite all-time films is "THE MONSTER SQUAD" if you've never seen it & have kids let them watch it next HALLOWEEN (they'll LOVE ya for it) anyhoo they have a club that takes place in the treehouse & it so reminds me of ours (which was at my cousins house) from here we would shoot a BB Gun at a target at the other end of the garden.

VISTING GRANNIE....she lived very close to us so we were always running around there each night, sadly never really knew my grandfather's but I did my two grans, both lived close, both lovely but very different, one was a a businesswoman with properties & and owned and run a newspaper shop (so FREE sweeties & comics for me each week) DID I SAY HOW LUCKY A CHILDHOOD I had as a KID.
At the other grans flat she had a Tv that had a switch in the wall that enabled you to switch it to radio that came through the Tv speakers...seemed like MAGIC, she had the old time BISCUIT TIN with various selections but were restricted to just 2 or 3 per vist, eating them whilst we sat on an old fashioned pouffe.

YUP I wish for every child worldwide to be given such a fun, innocent time.

There's one other story i'd like to share with you that always reminds me of another scene in the film "A CHRISTMAS STORY" except ours seemed even more magical & better....and folks over at JOHN LEWIS or DEBENHAMS or whichever department store might just want to consider this because it made an EVERLASTING IMPRESSION on us...

I was aged about 7 (yup around the time of the SPACE HOPPER incident) and my sister 5 and mum took us to a smaller like department store in which we entered at ground floor to catch an escalator up to the top floor there we were told we were meeting SANTA
At the top of this escalator we were met by female elves in green costume who ushered us into this closed room (no queing as I remember) inside this room was a row of approx. 5 chairs either side (so 10 in all) we were taken in by one of these elves & took up 3 of these chairs and waited for there until most of the others were taken up....once that happened the elf took her seat at the opposite end of where we had entered and the lights went out (BLACKNESS) to be followed by a white light panel show either side of us giving the impression we were moving & being transported to the NORTH POLE....lasted approx. 1 minute with sound effects of swooshing....THIS WAS COOL, lights came on & we were there, the opposite side door opened and one by one each of us was taken though to this other sealed up room where SANTA sat, he listened to us & we received our present (GOOD ONE's too...I remember getting a COOL car) everyone waited their turn and then once we had ALL returned to this room we were then returned to normality by the way we had come in...something like the short cartoon series of this era called "Mr Benn" (look it up folks on YouTube) especially the SPACEMAN episode which is quiet literally TRIPPY

And to this day I still remember that trip.

I was LUCKY which is what made me feel so SAD about that report last week...HOW in the WORLD can anyone do such things is beyond me.

YUP the 1970's has proven to be not quiet so innocent as we'd imagined & thought what with the YEW TREE Investigation but I do hope that any kids reading this might perhaps take up a few of these suggestions of fun (old fashioned though they might be) & that they will never ever have to deal with such things.

Oh & don't be afraid of the ALIENS kids...i'm sure in the long term when we finally do meet them it will be GLORIOUS.

If you have kids...MAKE it FUN for them

BANJO chocolate bars...REMEMBER THOSE?