Ice Cream was as important a part of childhood as toys were. No other foodstuff save Candy Floss could produce instantaneous salivation! In the Sixties and Seventies, like many towns, Preston was blessed with a fleet of Mister Softees and Mister Whippees, which brought their creamy delights direct to our door [or hands!]. Just hearing the vans' music, more often than not Greensleeves, several streets away was enough to bring games of Kick the Can to a complete halt and send hordes of sweaty kids back home to ask for ice-cream money!
And boy oh boy, those ice cream lollies! Jelly Terror, Haunted House, Mivvi, Split, Dracula, Red Devil, Screwball, Cider Quench, Sky Ray, Fab, Kinky, Happy Faces, Orbit and Triple Choc to name a few! Some I can't remember the names of but I recall the tastes: butterscotch ones, strong orange ones, lime ones and milky ones. The ice cream was just as good: tubs, sundeas, 99's, choc ices, wafer shells [what were they called?], jam-filled wafer ice cream 'butties' [mmmm!] and blocks of Neapolitan for the newly-invented fridge-freezer Mum and Dad had invested in to show off to the neighbours!
My old Mum used to send me out on a Sunday with a ceramic bowl, which the Ice Cream Man would fill with fluffy soft deliciousness. For added pleasure he'd squeeze some yummy raspberry sauce allover the top from one his magic plastic bottles and sprinkle some on some diced nuts. What a treat round the dinner table after the Sunday roast! Probably not done any more. Or?
One ice-cream treat I recall loving but can't think of the name was made of plastic and shaped like an Apollo capsule. I think it was a sort of light brown coloured plastic with a small lid and a spoon. There may have a similar football too!
And like our favourite toys and comics, our bestest Ice creams also came with cool badges and give-aways. I so remember wearing my Jelly Terror badge on my denim jacket with pride!
What were your Ice Cream favourites?
Zoom was popular with me, mainly because you got a free space card in the wrapper - and Steve Zodiac endorsed them. I bought Sky Ray for the Dr Who and the Daleks cards, in fact I was a 'sucker' for the lolly freebies.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I wonder if anyone remembers 'Jublees', which were just frozen juice in a triangular waxed carton. Me and my mates would go through dozens of them during the summer holidays. They were as much about playing out as a stretched Snake Belt and dirty Baseball pumps.
god yes - jublees and those plastic footballs filled with ice cream. or dalek death ray and codebreaker sticks!
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