kelham island, sheffield: quirky industrial oasis

Last weekend me and the Missus had a wander round Kelham Island in Sheffield.

Kelham Island is a area between two waterways just outside the city centre.

It is a mixture of delapidated waterside warehouses and regenerated red-brick buildings, breweries, student digs, cafes and shops. Its a fascinating hotch-potch of old and new. There are quirky features round every corner.

There was a wedding car Land Rover!

and Stingray on a mural!

Just off the island is the Nichols Building; two floors of collectables, bric a brac, retro and kitsch. We spent a happy half hour rummaging and could easdilly have spent longer there.

Just some of the things I spotted were: MASK stencil set, Escape from Colditz Board Game,  Sindy Sink Unit, Codeg tinplate till, Dr. Who Board Game, wooden motorcycle rocker, Annette walking doll, 90's Thunderbirds annuals.

There were also tons of Sixties and Seventies paraphernalia like pictures, chairs, record decks, tables, ornaments, lights, TV's, prints and so on. 

If your'e in Sheffield or near Kelham Island why not check out the Nichols Building. Its listed on TripAdvisor 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186364-d2190031-Reviews-The_Nichols_Building_Vintage_Retro_Salvage_Art_Antiques-Sheffield_South_Yorkshire.html

Reader Tony K visited Metropolis Toys in his area and has written about his day there, which has also featured on Moonbase Central. Have you been to any interesting collectables and kitsch shops readers? Tell us about it!

childhood holidays back then: sunshine, sad sack and chicken in a basket

My early childhood holidays were either spent at Butlins in Minehead and Pwllheli.

Other holiday destinations were Ilfracombe, Burnham On Sea, Great Yarmouth and The Isle of Man,

From the start of the 1970's I went on holiday with my older Sister's family to Abersoch in Mid Wales on a caravan site called The Warren.  I must have gone five years in a row!

I remember all these holidays being right next to the sea, absolutely red hot and great fun! I used to love buying comics like Caspar and Sad Sack from the holiday shops and always wrote a few postcards.

Where did you go readers and did you go to the same place a lot?

Japanese toy fire boat

I love this Japanese Fire Boat. It even spurts water as it sails round!

Courtesy of You Tube.

Do you collect toy boats anyone?

an imai spectrum helicopter

Its not often we see a working SPECTRUM Helicopter toy but here's one.

Its the Imai model kit courtesy of You Tube in Japan.

have you got a working Imai model readers?

the top of a cake is reserved for astronauts

A few years back I got a small packet of LP style space toys in a Blue Shield bag like this one.

I loved this little baggie so I was intrigued when I saw this similar combo of capsule and astronauts on top of a scrumptious cake on Etsy.

The listing said they were 'sealed' so I contacted the UK seller DieWunderKammerUK to enquire further about the packaging.

The seller kindly sent me these pics and info about the toys' provenance: -

from someone who was selling off their old stock of cake decorating supplies.

Based on these and my overall passion for cute LP style bundles, although a little expensive for me I have invested in a baggie.

When it arrives I will post some pics of how it compares to the Blue Shield version of this motley crew.

In the meantime I shall eat some cake.

where did you get your toys from?

Well its Sunday morning at Moonbase.

When I was a nipper in the Sixties there weren't any shops open on Sunday. Church was the thing. The peeling of bells spelt the start of a shopless day.

Today if I went into Wakefield town centre I would find loads of shops open on a Sunday. Toys can be bought in vast quantities.

When I was a kid toys could be freely purchased from Monday to Saturday. 

The quantity and size of those toys demanded different outlets.

Listing the different outlets around when I was a kid would look something like this:

• Large and branded toys - established toy shops usually in the town centre
• Unbranded toys - Newsagents and small general stores
• Small 'penny' toys - sweet shops and Newsagents
• Charms and miniatures - lucky bags, vending machines

As well these were less direct methods like mail order catalogues and there were also outlets which didn't necessarily focus on toys:

• model shops
• fancy goods shops
• department stores
• joke shops
• garages
• the cash and carry warehouse where my Dad worked

There are probably lots more places where you could get toys as a kid. Where did you get yours from?

century 21 and companies house

Over the years I have checked Companies House for info on Century 21 Ltd.

My latest check appears below as a screengrab.

To look yourself click here https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01095416

My previous enquiries to Companies House were blogged back in

 2008 

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/companies-house-information-project.html

and 2009

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/project-sword-toy-companies-where-are.html

Has anyone any observations to make from these?

spectrum pursuit vehicle in saltaire and rubbish tip

We went to Salts Mill today for a big family meet-up.

Salts is a large converted mill within the World Heritage Site village of Saltaire in Bradford.

Besides being a wonderfully utopian village, laid-out beautifully by mill owner Titus Salt, Saltaire also boasts a fine riverside park, boutique restaurants, artisan bread shops, retro stores and monumental architecture.

Inside the Mill is the David Hockney gallery, Hockney being England's greatest living artist, together with a vast airy book shop taking up a whole floor of the old loom shed.

In one of the countless side rooms is a large antiques emporium and I sampled its delights once mpre this very day.

Among the vintage toys on offer were some real bargains and some not so:

Dinky SPV loose and incomplete 7 pounds

Space 1999 Bagatelle 26 pounds

Real Hair Action Man, dressed and sat on Palitoy Motorcycle 89 pounds

There were also cabinets full of Matchbox superfast, whizzwheels and Corgi Major, along with Daleks, Dr.Who annuals and lots and lots of Seventies kitsch.

Well worth a visit if you are in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.

*

Speaking of Dinky SPV's here's an interesting 'find' I made on You Tube today. Its from 5 years ago where a young lad and his Dad are metal detecting at night and stumble across an old Dinky SPV no less!

See what you think here https://youtu.be/KXsI7ZCyy_Y?t=10m9s