Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Penny for the Guy
Does anyone else remember this? When I was a kid (late 70s), you would get neighbourhood boys making a 'guy' out of old clothes stuffed with newspaper etc with a mask, and sit at the side of the pavement or perhaps wheel it on a cart and ask for money. My mum wouldn't let me do it as she said it was begging.
It seems to have died out completely. Now Halloween has taken over completely. Is that a good thing?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Angela on
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I remember those days Tom.
I don't think it's Hallowe'en per se which has taken over, just commercialism full stop. I understand the need for H&S regulations wrt to Bonfire Night (aka Guy Fawkes), as well as the need for venues like Ally Pally to make money but it's the add-ons which I don't get - Bier Fest, Day of the Dead parade etc.
I believe scouts groups still do the more traditional type stuff.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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We used to do both ( 1950s ). " Guisers " - kids in disguise - would go round the doors and hope for some fruit or nuts.
Then, leading up to November 5th, we would collect wood for the bonfire on which the Guy was the centrepiece. Living in the country, there weren't many passers-by or Tube stations so we didn't tout for money with our Guy but there was always enough pocket money to buy a few penny bangers ( an old penny !!! ), a rocket, a Golden Fountain, a Catherine Wheel or at least some sparklers.
It was the right time of year to grub in the fields for a few unharvested potatoes which we roasted in the bonfire - "roasted " being somewhat optimistic: the outside of the potato was always black charcoal while the inside was mostly raw. But when we peeled off the blackened skin there were a few millimetres ( tenths of an inch - sorry ) of cooked potato which smelled and tasted wonderful.
With the dark nights, it was also the time of year to play at being a spaceship. We would get a powdered milk can, fill it with newspaper and paraffin, punch holes in either end, light the paper and run round with the burning can under the arm with flames streaming out of the back.
Nobody was poisoned: nobody died. Beats a Playstation any day
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Two young lads used to collected outside of Ray's Newsagents (now one of the four Yaser Halim units) in the early eighties. When they had enough they'd go into Ray's and buy sweets then back out to the Guy to repeat the process until they both looked rather green in the gills.
Where I grew up in the north east we'd hollow out and carve what we called turnips (swedes down here) and stick a candle in. That was in the sixties so pre American style Halloween. Oddly those little things called turnips were called Cow Narkies where I come from because the farmers only grew then as feed for cattle; they weren't considered fit for human consumption.
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Permalink Reply by Geoff watts on
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I remember those days tom,my brother and i use to make a guy out of old cloths and stuffed with newspaper.In the early 1960s we used to stand outside the front gate of Barratts Sweet Factory at knock off time,we collected enough money for fire works and sweets.We didnt have far to take our guy, Barratts was at 109 Mayes Road and we lived at 105 mayes road great memories!!!
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Yes I remember the good old Days of Guy Fawlkes, " Penny for the Guy " way back in the late 1940s in Harringay. There were loads of young urchins,in them days. You would find one on every corner around Harringay, most would be old clothes, stuffed with paper and rags, and some would be the young kids dressing up as a guy. I sometime dressed my young sisters up!!!! We always had a bonfire in the middle of your street, which in my case was Salisbury Road, that was until the Council put a stop to it, because it would leave a black hole in the middle of road. ha!ha! Good old Days
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Permalink Reply by Roy aka Smiffy on
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Oh yes, Guy Fawkes night or Bonfire Night as we called it was fun. A few days before we'd make a Guy, usually a pair of my dad's old overalls stuffed with paper and rag, the head sometimes an old football with a cap or trilby hat plonked on top. Sometimes we had the loan of a pram but usually Guy was put in one of my soapbox 'trolleys'. Then off to Manor House tube station where we stood outside the pub. We often got a few pence, maybe up to a few shillings which was usually spent at once on sweets at Smith's tobacconist.
If there was a big bonfire anywhere we'd take him there, often there was a big communal bonfire on the piece of land between the flats in Woodberry Grove and the New River.
I have attached a couple of pictures of a small 1954 bonfire party held in our Woodberry Grove garden. All are school friends (Hackney Free & Parochial Secondary School) and I'm standing back row left and in the other picture taken in our sitting room, I'm holding Sidney, my rabbit.
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