King & Country
Captain
- Joined
- May 23, 2005
- Messages
- 5,009
Hi Guys,
December is always my favourite month of the year because it’s so full of the anticipation of Christmas and the magic of Christmas Day itself.
Here in Hong Kong it’s the most beautiful time of the year because we also have ‘winter’ here in the tropics...
The temperatures drop, the sky is pure blue with not a cloud in sight and a bright, clear sun takes the chill off the morning with the promise of a beautiful day.
While I look forward to December 25[SUP]th[/SUP] it’s also a time to remember many happy times in the past with friends and family no longer with us.
I well remember when my younger brother Gordon and myself were wee boys back in Renfrew, Scotland and our Dad would take us up on the bus to nearby Glasgow to visit what we all thought was the biggest and best toy shop in the entire world... or at least our little part of it.
‘THE CLYDE MODEL DOCKYARD’ was an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of delights for little boys of all ages from all over the West of Scotland and beyond.
Located in the middle of an upscale, Edwardian-style, shopping arcade its two large, plate glass windows displayed an amazing assortment of model ships, aeroplanes, toy cars, electric train sets and, of course, toy soldiers!
Gordon and me would and could stand in awe at those toy displays, our noses pressed against the glass just imagining what it would be like to have Santa bring some of these offerings to our humble abode.
To be honest I had a sneaking suspicion our Dad felt the same way. He loved toys almost as much as we did! However being a hard-working carpenter and boat-builder by trade my Dad did not have the ‘deep-pockets’ that could have purchased many of the fine items on display... But all of us could enjoy just looking at them... Looking was, after all, FREE.
I remember one particular ‘Festive Season Visit’ to the Clyde Model Dockyard when Gordon and yours truly were entranced with a huge presentation box of William Britain’s Toy Soldier Guardsmen.
To our small awe-struck eyes it seemed to contain hundreds of little lead soldiers brightly painted in their scarlett red tunics and glossy black bearskins.
Inside the giant box was an entire military band, plus dozens of guardsmen marching, presenting arms, standing at attention, even running which seemed, even then, a wee bit strange for a parade. The set also contained mounted Horse Guards and other Officers on parade... It was just ‘mind-blowing’ or whatever was the late 1950’s equivalent of that description. “What must it be like”, Gordon and me pondered, “to wake up on Christmas morning and discover that huge box of toy soldiers awaiting our inspection under the family Christmas tree...?”
Well there was one thing both of us knew for sure at the time... That beautiful big box was definitely not going to be under our wee tree back home in the one bedroom and kitchen flat on the third floor of our tenement building in Renfrew.
But you could always dream...
Jump forward now, many decades later, to a beautiful, bright and sunny morning here in what was once the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and I’m putting together a display for one of our local collectors who has just bought this entire ‘parade’ collection for his 10 year old son to open on Christmas morning.
This gentleman’s son loves toy soldiers and already has a pretty extensive collection but in the last few months this little boy has been particularly enamoured with K&C’s ‘CEREMONIAL’ Range.
His Dad told me his son thinks he’s going to get some toy soldiers this year BUT will certainly not be expecting this!
Lucky, Lucky boy!
I feel lucky too... ‘because before packing it all up, l had the opportunity to play with it first.
So some dreams really do come true... Even if it takes a few decades to come to fruition.
All the best and enjoy...
Andy
December is always my favourite month of the year because it’s so full of the anticipation of Christmas and the magic of Christmas Day itself.
Here in Hong Kong it’s the most beautiful time of the year because we also have ‘winter’ here in the tropics...
The temperatures drop, the sky is pure blue with not a cloud in sight and a bright, clear sun takes the chill off the morning with the promise of a beautiful day.
While I look forward to December 25[SUP]th[/SUP] it’s also a time to remember many happy times in the past with friends and family no longer with us.
I well remember when my younger brother Gordon and myself were wee boys back in Renfrew, Scotland and our Dad would take us up on the bus to nearby Glasgow to visit what we all thought was the biggest and best toy shop in the entire world... or at least our little part of it.
‘THE CLYDE MODEL DOCKYARD’ was an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of delights for little boys of all ages from all over the West of Scotland and beyond.
Located in the middle of an upscale, Edwardian-style, shopping arcade its two large, plate glass windows displayed an amazing assortment of model ships, aeroplanes, toy cars, electric train sets and, of course, toy soldiers!
Gordon and me would and could stand in awe at those toy displays, our noses pressed against the glass just imagining what it would be like to have Santa bring some of these offerings to our humble abode.
To be honest I had a sneaking suspicion our Dad felt the same way. He loved toys almost as much as we did! However being a hard-working carpenter and boat-builder by trade my Dad did not have the ‘deep-pockets’ that could have purchased many of the fine items on display... But all of us could enjoy just looking at them... Looking was, after all, FREE.
I remember one particular ‘Festive Season Visit’ to the Clyde Model Dockyard when Gordon and yours truly were entranced with a huge presentation box of William Britain’s Toy Soldier Guardsmen.
To our small awe-struck eyes it seemed to contain hundreds of little lead soldiers brightly painted in their scarlett red tunics and glossy black bearskins.
Inside the giant box was an entire military band, plus dozens of guardsmen marching, presenting arms, standing at attention, even running which seemed, even then, a wee bit strange for a parade. The set also contained mounted Horse Guards and other Officers on parade... It was just ‘mind-blowing’ or whatever was the late 1950’s equivalent of that description. “What must it be like”, Gordon and me pondered, “to wake up on Christmas morning and discover that huge box of toy soldiers awaiting our inspection under the family Christmas tree...?”
Well there was one thing both of us knew for sure at the time... That beautiful big box was definitely not going to be under our wee tree back home in the one bedroom and kitchen flat on the third floor of our tenement building in Renfrew.
But you could always dream...
Jump forward now, many decades later, to a beautiful, bright and sunny morning here in what was once the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and I’m putting together a display for one of our local collectors who has just bought this entire ‘parade’ collection for his 10 year old son to open on Christmas morning.
This gentleman’s son loves toy soldiers and already has a pretty extensive collection but in the last few months this little boy has been particularly enamoured with K&C’s ‘CEREMONIAL’ Range.
His Dad told me his son thinks he’s going to get some toy soldiers this year BUT will certainly not be expecting this!
Lucky, Lucky boy!
I feel lucky too... ‘because before packing it all up, l had the opportunity to play with it first.
So some dreams really do come true... Even if it takes a few decades to come to fruition.
All the best and enjoy...
Andy
