Museum of ANTIQUITIES
NO 11: THE VACMASTER
This column has been taking you down some lovely, winding lanes… and now it’s reconnecting families too.
“I had to ring my baby brother, John Peacock, about this one. He’s 66!” says Liz Atkinson from Stafford. “We hardly ever see each other as we both have too many grandchildren and are always busy, even though we are retired.
“He remembered the name of this fabulous contraption our dad bought which was a hand-held vacuum called the Vacmaster. It could also stand up with a handle and he remembered that it even had a hair-drying attachment with a big plastic hood.
“Also, we had an aluminium contraption about 3ft-long, shaped like a mini Anderson Shelter which had a 240 volt lightbulb in it which was plugged in and put in our beds. I used to creep under the covers and stare into it imagining it contained another world.” Neither Liz nor her brother can remember what that device was called.
“Both contraptions were purchased in either 1959 or the early 1960s and we’ve had a great time on the phone remembering them and other relics from our childhood.” One evening, she remembers her dad bringing home a small plastic bag.
“It contained something black and he told us it was the future,” she says. “It was a sample of carbon fibre and he had to take it back to work as he shouldn’t have brought it home. He worked for the Atomic Energy Authority.” That’s one cool dad, for sure. Can you identify Liz’s otherworldly bedmate? Or have another memory to add to our Museum of Antiquities? Send them in to siobhan. mcnally@mirror.co.uk