Remember when...

[Erato]

We were sent to Sunday school but rather haphazardly; often, my father would throw on a bathrobe over his pajamas and drop us off in front of the church then go home and drink coffee till it was time to pick us up.  In the summer, we would pretend to forget it was Sunday and escape into the woods to avoid it.  Once we hit 'confirmation class' [age 12] we were allowed to quit religion if we so chose.  You know what I decided.  If we didn't go to Sunday school, we'd have a good long breakfast and listen to a certain radio program [we didn't have a TV].  I forget what it was called but the presenter was named Robin and the theme song was the second movement of Rhapsody in Blue [which for years I thought was Rhapsody in Bloom]. 

If the grandparents didn't come for dinner, we often went over to visit them in the afternoon which was a bit tedious because my grandfather had a tendency to be long-winded about religion, politics or history.  Worse yet, there were sometimes foreign dignitaries visiting from Africa in which case the entire conversation would take place in Umbundu and all we could do was fidget.

On the other hand, there might be outdoor chores and some of them were fun - like taking the trash to the town dump and then scavenging for anything useful.  Or maybe my Dad would have to go in to work to check on something in the lab and we'd tag along.  Or we might do something productive like blueberry picking.

[kiwihalfpint]

we were allowed to quit religion if we so chose. 

I had to attend until I was 16.  I also attended Bible Class Sunday evening. 

Cheers
KHP

[Viktoria]

I have my husband’s Sunday School attendance card ,he and other lads his age went until they had to do their National Service at 18 until 20.

Home from being an evacuee  for 4+ years in 1944/5 when S.School morning and afternoon which I loved, stories ,simple “ Choruses “ to sing ,the two Chapel services.
A lovely Sunday lunch of roast lamb and veges from the garden.
Home made fruit pie with custard.
No work other than preparing food,pig fed likewise chickens .
No sewing and only allowed to read Bible stories,.

Back in Manchester not nearly so strict,Sunday School and chapel , a walk in the park, with Sunday School friends ,Sunday tea and when older we went to the cinema !
Lunch ( called dinner) was roast beef , and apple pie with custard.
Tea , cold beef ,what salad was in season ,stewed apples or rhubarb,with Carnation milk and eat up any bread and butter left over which I still like with fruit.
Sunday school was like a club, we had days out , got prizes for attendance ,nice books I still have mine , pic nics ,and we got to walk - well in Manchester - in the massive Whit Walks, when every church walked from their parishes to Albert Square and The Cathedral.
20’,000 Sunday School children took part.
Shops were closed and any self respecting housewife did not hang washing not even in her own backyard .
It was a quiet day, walks in the park, cemetery to visit graves with fresh flowers , children did not ‘“ play out” .
No shopping ,vast majority of shops closed anyway.

Best clothes ( just one outfit usually ,a new one each Whit week) .
Visiting relatives sometimes.

Then get your stuff ready for school .

Viktoria.

[Treetotal]

It's interesting to read how others spent their Sundays. I wasn't forced to go to Sunday School, I went along with friends as it seemed to be expected of us when we were young and we never questioned it. We were not a religious family. My Mother was brought up in the Catholic Faith and turn her back on it when she got married. My Father was an agnostic and believed that we should be free to choose our beliefs. The turning point for me was when I read "The Origin of The Species". It's all about personal choice.
 
Carol

[Viktoria]

Indeed, and there are aspects of all religions which seem less than kind to me.
However in the Christian faith ( Protestant in my case) the basis of kindness and forgiveness is what I extract from it .
Much I reject,the harshness that is sometimes there and any bigotry .
Again that is someone’s interpretation ,but not mine .
We had a topic a little while ago , and I said how was it kind and what good did it do to be harsh with for example a young unmarried mother ,it could undo nothing .
As a deterrent ?
Well help first and sermonise later if at all.
As a day of comparative rest and quiet ,observing Sunday is often needed in the fast pace of life,whether you attend a place of worship or not .
I hope you all had a nice day, however you chose to spend it ,given the present restrictions.
Viktoria.

[Bee]

I went to Sunday school once and i cried because I couldn't be in the same class as my sister, neither of us ever went again.

As a child Sunday dinner was usually mutton, yorkshire pud, mash and veg followed by pudding.

The afternoons were spent listening to the Clitheroe Kid, the Navy Lark, Round the Horn, Carousel? then after tea it was Sing Something Simple.

[louisa maud]

Apparently when I was 4 years old I asked to go to school on Sunday, so off I went to the local church for 3pm, about 200 yards along the road, I stayed till I was 16/17 and became a Sunday school teacher, about that time  I won the Alice Allwork memorial prize given to a  girl and boy once a year, very proud of that and I still have it

I also joined the choir, help to set up a youth club, no dancing allowed on instructions from the Vicar, then the church closed, I felt our vicar at the time had a hand in that and so when everyone else went to the sister church, I didn't, at 18 I went on my own plus one older woman to a local high church, help to set up a youth club there,  so Sundays on special days was 8am communion, 11o/c service, 3pm Sunday school and 6pm service, but normally it was just 1 service and Sunday school

Also on Sunday before church I did   a paper round to cover for my brother at 2 shillings

My father worked on Sundays as a groom for a local dairy so if he wasn't at home by about 2 ish we didn't have our Sunday roast till after Sunday school, oh yes, I had the job of making the custard on occasions as far as the hot milk, after dinner I think we listened to the radio

Although, like a lot of people we were considered poor I thought of them as good days or I might just have forgotten the not so good days

Louisa Maud

[eadaoin]

No Sunday School - just Mass, and then the whole day to play out on the road. (and then homework just before bed, because I always left homework till the last minute!)

In the 1950s, pubs in Ireland didn't open on Sundays, but legally a "bona fide" traveller was entitled to refreshment at an inn. I think you had to be 3? 5? miles from home. Many roads out of Dublin had Bona Fide pubs at just the right distance from the city centre.
My parents didn't have a car, but occasionally got the loan of one - then drove up into the Dublin mountains on Sunday for a pint (my mother didn't drink, so I'm not sure what she had!)

[Gadget]

We had similar Sundays to many of the previous posts - a family day: no playing with friends, Sunday roast, Sunday School, family walk, tea with cold ham or tinned salmon and salady stuff, pickles, etc. followed by cake and tinned fruit. This was interspersed with various relatives popping in for a chat and cup of tea. Listening to the radio - Two Way Family Favourites, Archie Andrews,etc. When it was wet it would be reading and jigsaw puzzles, plasticine, drawing, playing with the buttons from Mum's button box............. We didn't have TV.

However, my favourite memory was of my Dad making toast in front of the fire  so we could have toast and dripping for supper. He'd even made the toasting fork