Did you get anything from catalogues as a kid?
You know, those big thick books of goodies and gifts like Kays and Grattan. I'm not sure how they worked now but I think my Mum paid in and then bought things, especially at Christmas.
There were thinner books too like Green Shield stamps, although I can't recall what you could get from a book of them. I remember my parents licking the perforated stamps and sticking them in.
The one thing I still have that was definately from a catalogue is a pretend samurai sword my Mum and Dad got me around 1972 or 3. God, I was pleased with that sword.
What about you?
No, but my best mate's mum who lived across the road got the Kays catalogue and I always remember him getting some toys that I never actually saw in the shops in town. The Major Matt Mason space capsule and the Denys Fisher Muton and Cyborg for example. I remember him bringing the catalogue over and us checking the cool toys section and for some reason the ladies lingerie section was quite appealing to us young lads too. Ahem.
ReplyDeleteTimmy remembers Green Shield stamps and Co-op stamps as he was chief sticker-inner. 40 single stamps to a page (later there were 5, 10 and 40 value stamps (at least for the Co-op) which saved on tongue juice. I remeber taking about 30 books full of Co-op stamps into the local Co-op offices to exchange for cash in the late 80's.
ReplyDeleteGreen Shield stamp books were used in part payment for goodies at the the Green Shield catalog shop (and you needed lots of books for anything). The shops rebranded as Argos in the low 70s. Nowadays its nectar points to get money off at Argos. Petrol stations were the main supply of our GS stamps (was it BP that were the last to do them), but they gradually gave them up to run their own promos (I've a drinks cabinet full of the Esso tumblers and wine glasses).
The Argos catalog itself was always sat with the phonebook as an essential, frequently used item.
Oh, nearly forgot -Littlewoods had a catalog shop aswell, so we had that with the Argos one. We didnt buy anything from any of the mail-order catalogs, just these two shop based ones-I guess this was because you immediately got what you paid for.
DeleteMy family wasn't big on Green Shield stamps, like Timmy says, you needed a LOT of full books to get anything!
ReplyDeleteI managed to get one book completed and I remember going to a redemption centre in Kingston (just opposite the Wimpey Bar!)
We had to wait forever, but my one book bought a four pack of Revell 1/72 scale aircraft kits. I think there was a Fokker DR7 and a Mustang P51D in that selection!
An ex-Brit I met out here in Australia gave me a CD of the Mike Sammes Singers "Music for Biscuits" which included jingles for Green or Pink Stamps...
It's likely my parents would have got the SWORD Zero-X as my 1967 Christmas present from either the Kays or Brian Mills catalogues. By 1971 I had literally played with it, and the other Thunderbirds toys to pieces!
ReplyDeleteI still have bits of them all up in the Attic.
Mum's Autumn/Winter Kays catalogue was an essential part of the pre-Christmas rituals when I was a kid. So many goodies...
ReplyDeleteYep, sounds like we all benefitted from Catalogues. Oddly enough I never see them at car boot sales or in charity shops. I wonder what happened to them all?
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