Time for Tea - a collection of tea sets

 This is an overview of the tea sets I played with as a child.  Three different tea sets and a few extra little bits and pieces.
Playing tea parties started in earnest when I was five years old.

  My first tea set was given to me by my Grandad. This was the only present for one of his grandchildren that he brought himself instead of sending my Gran back to get it.  I can only suppose that he fell in love with it.  I know I did.  He died not long after he gave me this which makes it even more cherished.

 I played with the tea set so much.  My Mum brought little loaves of Hovis bread which she sliced so they were the right size for my tea set and baked me little cakes and tarts.

I can remember buying this tea set when I was eight from a toy shop in Ramsgate and a whole new era of tea parties began.

Luke warm tea in the teapot and multi-coloured sugar crystals meant that the cups were always filled with undissolved sugar.
This set had its good and bad points.

The shape of the teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl meant it was easier to use but it did not have plates.  Mum found me some small plates that matched.

 This enamel Chad Valley set was given to me when I was about ten or eleven, My sister who is nine years younger was also given one.
I find it surprising that this set that was not played with as

much is the one that shows signs of wear.  All my tea sets were used - a lot, the handle of this milk jug is broken and I have lost a tea cup.

I aslo had this lovely peices of minature glassware.  A cakestand, fruit bowl, wine glass and six tankards.

There were breakages, after all I was a child, this little Noddy teapot has a broken lid.  And one of the white tea plates was broken into three and had to be mended.

Other treasures include this little tea cup, the coffee cup and a very small milk jug.

  With all of my tea sets washed and ready for action I may have to put them to use again and have a tea party.  Baking is fantastic fun and I have quite a few mini cake and loaf tins.  So the question now is who to invite first .......... that is if I can bring myself to share my precious toys.

Treasures and family history

I have always treasured special things.  I still have several toys - played with constantly throughout my childhood.  The Noah's Ark that my father made me, the Barbie doll size wooden table and chairs that were given to me before I was five, the china dolls tea set brought for me by my Grandfather (the only present he purchased himself) and so many books that were loved and re-read over and over.

To these personal treasures I have now added some family possessions.  The tiepin my Gran wore when she was working in one of the banking houses in London and her wedding present tea set (in pride of place displayed in a kitchen dresser unit).  Pencils that belonged to my Grandfather.  The notebook my Mother brought with her first wages (with some of the original pages)  The Rosary given to my Great Grandfather in Flanders at the end of the Great War by one of the liberated people.  Each one of these things is a link to my family and our history.  

These are calculators. One is pre decimal and  adds and subtracts in pounds, shillings and pence.  The other is a decimal calculator in the same style.

 Recently my Mother shared some of her collection of delights - with her memories of why they should be treasured.  With much of it Mothers recollections were essential to know each piece's true worth.  A cherry stone with 'the worlds smallest elephant' inside it. This had been carved from the cherry stone and has a carved stopper to prevent the elephant getting lost - this came from the Ideal Home Exhibition during the 1950's. 

Teeny tiny elephant carved from a cherry stone,

 A pair of frogs purchased in Bournemouth also in the 50's from BRANKSOME CERAMICS, these she told me were the only thing that She and my Dad could afford although what they wanted was everything in the showroom. 

 A small heart shaped pendant that my elder brother and I had save our pocket money for and got for her from Woolworth's - over forty five years ago.  

There were items that had belonged to my Great Grandmother, circa 1900,   These included a small clear topped metal tin, an enamelled floral bracelet and a beautiful mother of pearl sewing kit case made in the shape of an egg.

 Something else that I am now proud to say I own is my mother's Civil Defence badge from the fifties.

Something that might have been thrown away unknowingly was a small pink plasticy looking elephant that had once been part of a necklace (given to my Mother by her Grandmother). 

The inside of the egg purse