The toy that taught resourcefulness

It’s December. It will surprise some folk to know that I recall this sort of scene with great nostalgia. Not this particular scene of the 1940s but later in the mid-1950s I got my first Meccano set. Outfit No. 0.

A great many young lads from the early 1900s to the 1950s (and maybe later) suffered the same extreme frustration trying to learn how to do it and improve one’s dexterity usually ended in a dad deciding you needed help. Fathers all over the Meccano world would take the object from the lad followed by the repeated command, ‘pass me a bolt’ or ‘pass me that girder’. ‘Not that one, the long one.’ Then mothers all over the same world reminded the dads that it was the lad’s gift from Santa after all. Meccano was a great teacher of resourcefulness in many respects. Money however got you to the larger outfits – right up to No. 10. The length of the strips here makes me think No. 10 without any rancour. These boys have built a motorised crane to which the lad standing is applying a little oil. The lad on the right is Ivan Tarulevicz. Ah Meccano… that’s what I want for Christmas.

Contributed by Perry Rice, Heritage Librarian – Photographs, Hamilton Central Library. If you have any information you would like to pass on or would like to buy an electronic copy of the photo, please emailheritage@hcc.govt.nzquoting: 2005.64.5