General Chat

I collect coach built prams if you want a trip down memory lane here is a link to some of them

http://www.longeatonpeople.co.uk/pictures/Long-Eaton-Steam-Transport-23-24-July-Album/pictures-12999650-detail/pictures.html

that's me in the background not gr gr gr Aunt Mable

The pics of the prams brought back memories of my eldests pram 46 yrs ago..

great pics

Nostalgia. I had two coach built prams (children were born 7 years apart The first one was really big, with 2 very large wheels and two smaller. I think it was a marmet, it was grey and white. The second was smaller and brown and white, can't remember the make. (1960 and 1967).

I love real prams :-D

Blimey that brought back some memories:)


jude :-D

I think these prams were the best. They lasted so long . The buggies that babies have now are soon outgrown and are then replaced . Not cheap either.

Sylvia I detest seeing new babies squashed up in the ruddy chair seat buggy contraptions... :-|

l love real prams too........and those that face you!!!!

jude

i had a silver cross coach built pram when i was a baby in the 60s,when my daughter was preg last yr,i looked up on the internet ,thinking that i would love to buy my grandaughter one,quoted £1,000,she didnt get it. :-D

Oh I had one as in your pics with the small white wheels...mine was a Marmet I loved it and every few days took the wheels off and scrubbed them with VIM to keep them white and clean......chrome cleaned them after and wiped and brushed the pram all over,,,,,,always decked it out in white, and had a canopy shade with fringe in navy and white which I covered to matich the pram,,,,,,,was my pride and joy,,,,,,after I gave it away I near cried every time I saw it,,,,all grubby and dirty.... :-|

My granddaughter has a 1950s Silver Cross dolls original

In 1958 I had a black Silver Cross and a cream canopy. Used to wash and polish it every week. End of 1959 sold it to a young mum in Cyprus desperate for a pram. Then I returned to UK and found I was pregnant - this time it was a Pedigree - cream with maroon hood/apron/bag. Big prams were great if you had loads of shopping just lift the mattress up and release a section of pram and chuck everything in bottom of pram!

My uncle and aunt moved into a new,purpose built farm cottage in 1948. One totally innovative part of the design was a particularly spacious hallway to accommodate a pram.

The awful little houses that are being built now barely have room for the baby. There was also an adequately sized garden for the children to play in and be fed from. This was how social housing had always been and most afrernoons the coachbuilt prams would be out in the gardens for the babies to sleep in the fresh air. Do they get fresh air much now?

Wish I had never sold the one I had - it had carried four babies for a work colleague who sold it to me very cheaply when I was expecting my daughter in 1974, sadly she never got to use it but it was put in my Mum and Dad's loft and brought down when I had my son in 1982. It was cream and brown, a Silver Cross, and was a joy to use. Luckily I had a sort of conservatory on the back of the house so I was able to wheel it in, park it there, and not worry about dirt on the wheels going through the house.
A few years on I saw an ad for someone wanting a pram and sold it to her for about £35, a friend had to take it to Yarmouth for her but I regretted it the minute he drove off, despite knowing I wouldn't be having more babies.


I also was given a Silver Cross pushchair by a neighbour which was lovely for my son when I didn't want to use the big pram. That wasn't in such good condition tho and ended up being lost when I moved house, a friend was storing some things for me and he got evicted and the things he left at the house were removed before I could get there. I lost several items of furniture too which had sentimental value, all because the 'friend' didn't let me know in time to pick the items up.

I hate the buggies that are used these days, poor babies are plonked in them with no warmth between them and the thin fabric and isolated in that they are facing the world, sun, wind and weather and can't hear anything that's said to them by the parents, (some of them barely bother and wear headphones and listen to music) - they are also closer to the traffic fumes from car exhausts which can't be healthy. I often wonder if the buggies have anything to do with the seeminly high rate of children with adhd these days.

Lizx

A few years ago there was a documentary where they put a film camera in a buggy and walked round as a normal day a sort of" Babies eye view "

Awful the baby /camera could only see legs , exhaust's and confusion.

The following day the camera went into a coachbuilt

What could the baby see
Mum

I think they should show it again

I wish they would, Princess Diana was not happy about buggies apparently and said they would cause problems with babies, and it's a thought I have long held too

I spoke to my o.h.'s d.i.l. about buggies etc when she was pregnant, and she seemed to understand what I meant. We met up with them a few weeks ago and the baby was stuck in a buggy facing the wind and fumes and no eye contact with Mum or Dad or able to hear anything they said. Oh well, their baby, their problem when she doesn't develop as fast as she could, they are already concerned because she isn't doing as well as their friends' babies.

You may think this is mad, but I have a lovely Silver Cross pushchair in my garage, I went to buy something else from a woman selling on Gumtree and she asked if I knew anyone who wanted a pushchair. It's like new, very smart and of course, faces Mum and is higher off the ground too so not so close to exhaust pipes and she only wanted £10. I got it and was going to offer it to the couple mentioned above but before I could do so, they said they had got the buggy so I am saving it for when my son decides to start a family..... he has a nice young girlfriend but she already has a 3 yr old son and wants to start training for a career - son thinks she might not want any more children at all as her little lad has diabetes and she has to inject him daily etc. So much as my son enjoys her company and likes her a lot ( and she is very keen on my lad cos she has told him so) he doesn't think the relationship will be a long term one, sadly.

Lizx

You lot sound Broody, :-S

Nostalgic perhapss - broody NO!!!

:-D.just kidding.I used to make the Springs for Silver Cross Prams,they were made in Tipton.mostly Coach Built by hand. :-D

I had a Silver Cross coach built . Bottle Green pram with the same colour interior. It was supposed to be better for the babies eyes. Bought it in 1968 and it was beautiful.
Had the sun umbrella and I had 2 Broderie Anglaise pram covers which had a loose cover to take of and wash. Just like a duvet. It was beautiful

Best was the wheels made great trolleys with them. Them was the days back in the 50s