If only fretwork could draw a crowd like this......

[scrimper]

This is a picture of the national Fretwork exhibition in 1912 and the Hobbies stand, it's hard to imagine just how popular fretwork was then and look at all the young faces in the crowd, today's youngsters are just not interested in any sort of practical hobby they just want to be playing games and posting a lot of nonsense on their mobiles and facebook!
Notice how almost all of them are men/boys and most are wearing some sort of hat!

 

[martinka]

Plenty of young 'uns doing fretwork in Russia, and lots of them doing it by hand.

 

[Bryan Bennett]

Thank you John for posting,I found it very interesting.

Bryan

 

[Chippygeoff]

Those were the days, a bloke was not dressed unless he had a hat on. You could still buy a packet of Spangles then and there were small vending machines that you put a penny in and got some blackjacks.

 

[Grahamshed]

Ohhh. I had forgotten about Spangles. used to like them.


Used to like LYONs fruit pies to.

 

[bugbear]

Plenty of young 'uns doing fretwork in Russia, and lots of them doing it by hand.

Tell me more (please) !

BugBear

 

[scrimper]

This picture is of my late father around 1920, he is using my grandfathers Hobbies Imperial fretsaw and is surrounded by some of the item he made.

What annoys me is that when my grandfather died in 1965 I could have had that Hobbies Imperial machine but I already had my Dads Hobbies A1 machine and being a young man was more interested in Motorbikes and young ladies, a scrap man took the machine away and I have regretted it ever since.

 

[ChrisR]

Scrimper.

Days gone by that will never return, sadly.

You are not alone, motorbikes and young ladies, have been the downfall for many of us. Nice memories though. :wink:

Take care.

Chris R.

 

[martinka]

Scrimper.

Days gone by that will never return, sadly.

You are not alone, motorbikes and young ladies, have been the downfall for many of us. Nice memories though. :wink:

Take care.

Chris R.

Well, this youngster will be heading for the coast on his motorbike very soon if this weather keeps up. I don't mind it being my downfall, as long as I don't fall down. I'm afraid the young ladies will have to make their own way there. :mrgreen:

 

[NewWood80]

Is it just me or is your father wearing a really big shoe??

That's two great pictures though. I'm 33 and still class myself as a youngster, well I'm not feeling my age that's for sure, though long gone are the days of all night party's, it gets to half past 10 these day and I start to get a panic on about getting my 8 hours sleep in. I find that having a proper job really gets in the way of my scroll work. I wish I could just spend all my time at it especially the more I do.

Better by a lotto ticket tonight, you never know.

 

[scrimper]

I find that having a proper job really gets in the way of my scroll work. I wish I could just spend all my time at it especially the more I do.

I will tell you something that I know you won't believe because I didn't! When I was at work retired people used to go on about how they have less free time now that they have retired, of course I always poured scorn on them, "how could you possibly not have more time?" I used to bluster, but since I retired (at a fairly early age) I found that it is absolutely 100% true, the time just whizzes by and I never have all that free time I used to dream about. I find it hard to imagine how I managed to fit work in before!

I bet most retired people here will say the same?

 

[Bryan Bennett]

John how true,a friend who passed away not too long ago.A few years ago said " when you retire you will wonder how you found the time to go to work ",sadly my Father and Father in Law both died at 64,having had the pleasure of the last 10 yrs I know what they missed.

Bryan

 

[scrimper]

John how true,a friend who passed away not too long ago.A few years ago said " when you retire you will wonder how you found the time to go to work ",sadly my Father and Father in Law both died at 64,having had the pleasure of the last 10 yrs I know what they missed.

Bryan

That's a great shame, work all your life and get no reward of retirement. I always said I would retire young and I was lucky enough to do so (although a sad occasion made it possible).

Luckily my Dad (pictured above) lived until he was 93 and may have lived longer had he not lost his sight with Glaucoma which cased him to have a fall.

None of us knows what fate may befall us and perhaps it's better not to know.

 

[ChrisR]

Scrimper.

I completely agree with you regarding the time flying by, but I am not handing retirement at all well.

I retired in 2008 at sixty five, I miss like hell the camaraderie, banter, and most of all the responsibility, of my job, I was offered to stay on part time as a consultant but due to health problems I declined the offer, a big regret.

I post this not as a warning, but just for others to think about, when I was working it was my whole life, I lived to work, not worked to live, I never went out socially and have never been away on holiday, so taking away work leaves a big hole, as going out in my case was going to work, as a consequence, I have now developed mild agoraphobia.

So ensure that if you are still working, that you have a life outside of work, and don’t wish for retirement.

I accept that this is a very personal view of retirement.


Take care.

Chris R.

 

[scrimper]

I retired in 2008 at sixty five, I miss like hell the camaraderie, banter, and most of all the responsibility, of my job, I was offered to stay on part time as a consultant but due to health problems I declined the offer, a big regret.

I post this not as a warning, but just for others to think about, when I was working it was my whole life, I lived to work, not worked to live, I never went out socially and have never been away on holiday, so taking away work leaves a big hole, as going out in my case was going to work, as a consequence, I have now developed mild agoraphobia.

So ensure that if you are still working, that you have a life outside of work, and don’t wish for retirement.
Chris R.

That's a shame and I do feel for you, in my case a lot of my time was spent dealing directly with the public and at times did suffer from anxiety but when I retired like you I missed parts of it; however my view was that our time here is not very long and I did not want so spend it all working and retiring meant I could spend more time with 'Mrs scrimper' and in my workshop.