Do you remember when………………………..

People spent most of their leisure time at home – reading, listening to the radio, watching television or pursuing hobbies. The most popular hobbies were knitting and needle-work for women, and gardening for men.

Children spent a lot of time playing with other children outdoors. They also enjoyed a range of hobbies such as stamp collecting.

Families enjoyed playing board games such as Monopoly, Ludo, and Snakes and Ladders. There was a craze for yo-yos, 3D-spectacles, I-Spy books and hoola hoops.

It was the decade of jive, skiffle and rock'n'roll. Popular singers were Elvis Presley and Bill Haley.

1951 - Festival of Britain - this event marked the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The festival generated demand for new fashions in furniture and furnishings. The exhibits introduced new styles of pottery, ceramics, fabrics and furniture made from revolutionary materials - fibreglass, plywood, formica and plastics.

1953 - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth ll -To celebrate the coronation, everyone was allowed an extra pound of sugar and four ounces of margarine.

1953 - The summit of Mount Everest was reached for the first time by Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzinf, his Nepalese guide.

1954 - All rationing came to an end

1957 - The space Race began with the Soviet Union launching the first vehicle to orbit the Earth, the satellite Sputnik 1, on 4th October 1957. This was followed a month later by the launch of Sputnik 2. On board was the first living creature to travel from Earth into space, a dog named Laika.

1959 - Britain's first motorway, the M1, between Birmingham and London, opened.