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Back in
the days when there was a plethora of
luridly coloured ice lollies in equally
lurid wrappers, and no-one worried about
E-numbers, I was a 12-year old school boy
who enjoyed making his own comics and
eating plenty of ice lollies. It seemed
only natural, therefore, that I should
start collecting lolly wrappers which had
cartoon strips on the back, such as Lyons
Maid's "Brr Blobs", "Captain Rainbow" and
"Crime Squad". The practical difficulties
of collecting and keeping the many and
varied wrappers with their remnants of a
myriad fantastic flavour combinations
still lurking and congealing inside in
anything approaching sanitary conditions
soon started to become apparent, however,
and it was one day whilst loitering
outside the local corner shop and (I'm
equally ashamed and proud of my devotion
to the cause to admit it) picking
discarded wrappers from the bin (!) that
it dawned on me that there was perhaps a
better way: I would put pen to paper
(after all, this is in the days before
PCs, when even the ZX Spectrum was a
twinkling in Clive Sinclair's eye) and
write to the manufacturers! This I duly
did, writing to both Walls and Lyons Maid,
asking whether it would be possible for
them to send me some mint-condition (and
in some cases mint-flavoured)
wrappers.
Imagine my
disappointment when Walls gave me the
brush-off. In contrast, imagine my delight
when Lyons Maid wholeheartedly embraced my
endeavour, and so started what was to be a
correspondence over several years, chiefly
with their fabulous PR officer Brian
Burton, who not only sent me copious
quantities of wrapppers but also
collectable cards (remember "Jubilee" or
"Space 1999"?), character lolly sticks
(Kevin Keegan's "Goal", "Superman"'s
collection of super heroes for you to
decorate) and even face masks ("Star Wars"
masks of Chewbacca, a Storm Trooper and
C3P0), those big stickers displaying the
product range that you see on the
freezers, together with publicity material
for new lolly launches and so on. I
responded in kind with my comments on what
I thought of the products, together with
questions about how the flavours were
dreamt up, who designed the wrappers,
suggestions for new lollies and so on,
including one for a Dracula lolly which
was to feature a red strawberry filling
which, when bitten into, would ooze
"blood" <see accompanying re-creation
of the original letter, sadly now lost in
the mists of time>.
I was
already in Ice Lolly Heaven when one day,
through my letter box, the postman
delivered a letter from Brian that was
read with trembling hands and heart: an
invitation to spend a day visiting the
Lyons Maid ice-cream plant with my Dad, to
see how the ice lollies were made. It was
like Willy Wonka inviting me to his
factory! A date was duly set, I was duly
attired in something smart, including one
of my Dad's best ghastly floral ties
(sartorial elegance perhaps not being his
strongest point, but then again, this was
the 70's!), and we drove up from
Chichester to Bridge Park on the outskirts
of London for our visit. There were no
Oompah Loompahs, but there was Brian in
person, together with Charles ........,
the factory manager, who led the tour
round the clanking whirring deafening
machinery. It was a fascinating and
fantastic exploration of the factory, and
I was apparently the youngest person to
have ever had this privilege - I still
have the set of photographs taken as a
great record of my day <include
photos>, one of which was then
published in our local paper - my five
minutes of fame! The tour culminated in a
presentation of the latest set of lolly
wrappers for that Summer, together with a
whopping great box of lollies and
ice-creams packed in dry ice for us to
take home.
Sadly for
me, Brian eventually left Lyons Maid for
pastures new, and my passion for all
things ice lolly was gradually replaced by
other interests, such as a burgeoning
interest in loud rock music, attempting to
grow my curly my hair long, and girls (for
whom the idea of collecting lolly wrappers
might have landed me in the proverbial
"Trainspotter" camp)!
The
collection has, however, remained
carefully stored in a succession of lofts
throughout the intervening 25 or so years,
and it was a chance discovery of this
Lyons website that rekindled my interest
in doing something to share my collection
with a wider public. Even my children have
enjoyed seeing some of the wrappers, such
as those for the Mr. Men lolly - who
knows, one day perhaps they too will start
collecting something and also in the
process begin a journey of discovery that
will bring them equal pleasure!
My hope
for the future: that the current wave of
nostalgia, helped in no small part by the
Friendsreunited website and the re-forming
of so many bands from the '70's, will
cause one of the ice-cream manufacturers
out there (come on Nestle, show your
mettle and restore pride to the Lyons Maid
moniker, or come on Ben & Jerry's -
here's a great brand extension opportunity
for you) will launch a range of nostalgia
ice lollies, re-creating some of the
well-known names of the past such as Lolly
Gobble Choc Bomb (now with real Belgian
chocolate, of course), Haunted House, Red
Devil (now with an alco-pops style vodka
or similar kick to it, for those grown-ups
who still want to be kids at heart!) I
have all the collateral you need to
re-launch the products, and I'll be first
in the queue at the first shop to stock
'em!
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