14 October 2008

Those Were The Days ... 1978


As at least 50% of you readers of my blog are years younger than me I'm wondering whether any of you had one of these little Mothercare cookers in 1978/79?
This is the picture on the box it would have come in ... and the reason I'm asking is ... the 'model' is Hannah and she's wearing a spotty dress and pinafore which I made. She used to do ballet, tap, modern, jazz and national dance and this was her costume in a competition. She danced a ballet duet to a song entitled (I think) The Kite when she was 4 or 5. I made the outfits for both Han and her partner and appliquéed 2 kites, one red and one blue, on each of the pinafores. I think Han still has the dress. I'm not sure, but I hope she has!
The reason for this little bit of nostalgia is the fact that I'm trying to clear my desk of clutter and came across the photo. It's Mum's photo and she lent it to me a while ago to scan. Must remember to give it back! We thought at the time it would have been nice if Mothercare could have given Han a cooker but silly us, they don't do that sort of thing, so Mum bought her the cooker, keeping the box for herself!!! Since then the cooker was passed on to my god-daughter who has since returned it. I've no idea where it is currently, but I'm sure we'll come across it at some stage. Perhaps Hannah has that, too!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely thing to have...hope you find the cooker. Emily didn't have that model, but we did buy her a little sink, cooker and washing machine, I remember...very domesticated.
Margaret and Noreen

Carol said...

I hope you find the cooker too. What a great little story.
I has a tiny metal cooker and washing machine, shame they were given away. When I think of all the toys that I have chucked out or sold at boot fairs - which I should have kept for my grandchildren, so much better than some of the plastic things they make now.
Carol xx

Amanda and Tim said...

Wow how exciting! As I wasn't born until the mid 80s I didn't have one of these sadly - I do love the patterns saucepans hehe. I always wanted one of the little cookers that were in styl when I was litte (I remember it being an orange colour and on wheels and was like a mini kitchen) but I never got one. I did have a hoover, ironing board, iron and clothes horse (the latter 3 my grandad made me from wood - he was great with wood we also still have a dolls cradle, barbie 4 poster bed and dolls house which he made my mum when she was little and a wendy house complete with working door, shop front and window :o)) We might not have had the latest toys bought for s but we have some amazing heirlooms!

bigbikerbob said...

Hi, Being a male I didn't get to have a cooker but its nice to have a bit of nostalgia occasionally, a while ago there was a blog called just that but I'm afraid its been removed now.Liked the video too.

Country Cottage Chic said...

Doesn't she look cute? Very 70's!

Redwoodhouse said...

Lovely blog it made me think of the upturned box with sticky back plastic cut out rings on the top and bottle tops stuck on the front as knobs that I made as a kid. Hope the lovely cooker turns up sometime.
Jan

BusyLizzie said...

Great little slice of 70's history.. I love it!
liz x

Julie H said...

The only "cooker" I had was a Holly Hobbie one. So smacking myself for selling that at a garage sale.

Niki Fretwell said...

Hi Sue,
What a lovely claim to fame.
Of course Hannah gets her modelling looks from her mother.
(I was once in the centre pages of The Sun newspaper (NOT for the obvious reason!!) but we won't go into that!)
I think I had plastic saucepans when I was tiny, but I mostly played with those in my sandpit.

Have a lovely weekend,
Niki x

OhSoVintage said...

How weird, I downloaded this song this week as I wanted to make a cd of 60s songs. Wasn't it Simon Dupree and ..... can't remember who. I used to make a lot of my daughter's clothes too and sometimes appliqued picturs onto them. I don't remember the Mothercare cooker though.

sharie said...

She looks very cute and what a brilliant memory to have.
Shame they never gave her the cooker, rather stingy of them.
I was given a little white metal cooker as a child that was about 4th hand. There was a little light inside and I think if you could plug it in or something could actually cook a cake. Either it was broken or mum had removed the part as apart from the light mine didn't work.
I was an inquisitive child- I liked to take things apart to see how they worked - my guess is I broke it and it was binned.

Bovey Belle said...

ohsovintage - Simon Dupree and the Big Sound - Kites.

VtoV - I've just sat playing that over and over again and it has taken me back to the Top Rank in Southampton in the 1970s . . . THANKYOU for making me feel nearly 40 years younger : )

P.S. My - now 17 yr old - son had a little cooker which he played and played with when he was little. I sometimes remind him of that when I'm angling for him to do me cheese on toast . . .

LinenandRoses said...

I didn't have one but I would have loved one! I think I did have pans very similar to that though. My Mum and Dad bought my nephew a cooker for his second Christmas which is lovely, made of wood with wooden pans and utensils. He's had hours of fun with it. Sometimes it is a cooker and sometimes a work bench!

Louise said...

I don't remember these, although I wouldn't have had one, I was 14, and probably cooking on a real cooker by then! The saucepans look almost Midwinter don't they. What a lovely photo and memories to have. x