Fish paste sandwiches and orange squash
British Visqueen children's Christmas parties
By Gill Clements
My Father worked for British Visqueen, a company in ICI plastics division in Stevenage. There was a large workforce and the company threw Christmas parties for the employees’ children.
Party time
Coach loads of us would be bussed in. We were all given a party tea with jelly, orange squash and fish paste sandwiches. The long runs of tables were covered in uncut rolls of the plastic carrier bags that they manufactured; one year it would be all union jacks and another year peacock feathers, according to the design they were producing at the time.
They had a Father Christmas giving every child a present and music and games, which always seemed to include a “twist” dance competition and singing “We all live in a yellow submarine”.
Add your comment about this page
A lovely memory, it reminds me of the winter school parties that we had at my local junior school, which always finished with a visit from Father Christmas and chocolate cake.
This brings back memories of the Christmas parties I went to when I was a child. My Dad worked for the New Towns Commission in the 60’s. I can remember playing all the usual party games and the highlight of the afternoon was meeting Father Christmas and receiving a present from him.