Ice Cream Vans

[staffslad]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

There was a regular ice cream van that came around when I was young. I think it was Mr Whippy, though that may well be a generic name used by many ice cream vans. I still live in the same place and last week heard vans stopping at the same points they have done for decades. One was playing Greensleeves and another the Match of the Day titles music. They must be still making a profit on their rounds. In the 70s, fewer people had freezers to hold ice cream and afford it even if they had a freezer. Today, with freezers being almost a universally owned item and literally hundreds of kinds of ice cream available, it does surprise me somewhat that the vans come round as much as they do, though I am glad they do as it would be sad to lose them.

[George 1978]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

The Mr Whippy brand (which to me was when an ice cream looked rather like the Thatcher-era Conservative Party logo of course) was probably the generic brand for ice cream vans - they were prominently seen in Nottingham during the summer months of the 1980s and 1990s, usually playing a familiar tune which I don't know the name of, but it is a Marlene Dietrich song if that helps - and they had Mickey Mouse or Tom and Jerry characters painted at the back with "Mind That Child" written in red.

In the late 1980s there were a mobile freezer service called Hemglas which certainly travelled around various streets in Nottingham every two or three weeks, selling ice cream, ice lollies (suckers as my late mother used to call them) right up to the frozen meat range - I used to confuse Hemglas with ordinary ice cream vans, although the difference was that Hemglas sold ice creams and the like wholesale just like Iceland or Farm Foods and not sold initially as ice cream vans do. I made a thread about it a few months back - Hemglas used to send us leaflets through the door with bus timetable-alike times on where and when they will be on our street. The family who lived next door but one to us used them regularly. I thought at first that it was a franchised ice cream van company making scheduled appearances on our local streets, but it was something a bit different to that.

The problem with ice cream that it can even be too hard when frozen - I got a tub of Carte Dor from my online Tesco shopping just a few weeks ago, and I had to put it in the fridge so that it was soft enough to scoop into a bowl where it was nice and soft. The stuff served from the vans were never too hard or frozen thank goodness.

[staffslad]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

The Mr Whippy brand (which to me was when an ice cream looked rather like the Thatcher-era Conservative Party logo of course) was probably the generic brand for ice cream vans - they were prominently seen in Nottingham during the summer months of the 1980s and 1990s, usually playing a familiar tune which I don't know the name of, but it is a Marlene Dietrich song if that helps - and they had Mickey Mouse or Tom and Jerry characters painted at the back with "Mind That Child" written in red.

In the late 1980s there were a mobile freezer service called Hemglas which certainly travelled around various streets in Nottingham every two or three weeks, selling ice cream, ice lollies (suckers as my late mother used to call them) right up to the frozen meat range - I used to confuse Hemglas with ordinary ice cream vans, although the difference was that Hemglas sold ice creams and the like wholesale just like Iceland or Farm Foods and not sold initially as ice cream vans do. I made a thread about it a few months back - Hemglas used to send us leaflets through the door with bus timetable-alike times on where and when they will be on our street. The family who lived next door but one to us used them regularly. I thought at first that it was a franchised ice cream van company making scheduled appearances on our local streets, but it was something a bit different to that.

The problem with ice cream that it can even be too hard when frozen - I got a tub of Carte Dor from my online Tesco shopping just a few weeks ago, and I had to put it in the fridge so that it was soft enough to scoop into a bowl where it was nice and soft. The stuff served from the vans were never too hard or frozen thank goodness.

Would the song be Lili Marlene?

Yes, I remember the 'Mind the Child' warnings on the backs of ice cream vans, and the Tom and Jerry cartoon figures.

[George 1978]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

Would the song be Lili Marlene?

Yes, I remember the 'Mind the Child' warnings on the backs of ice cream vans, and the Tom and Jerry cartoon figures.

That's the one - I knew the tune but couldn't put a name to it.

[George 1978]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

There was a regular ice cream van that came around when I was young. I think it was Mr Whippy, though that may well be a generic name used by many ice cream vans. I still live in the same place and last week heard vans stopping at the same points they have done for decades. One was playing Greensleeves and another the Match of the Day titles music. They must be still making a profit on their rounds. In the 70s, fewer people had freezers to hold ice cream and afford it even if they had a freezer. Today, with freezers being almost a universally owned item and literally hundreds of kinds of ice cream available, it does surprise me somewhat that the vans come round as much as they do, though I am glad they do as it would be sad to lose them.

I think that Harry Hill tried to put ice cream vans into Room 101 because he said that the vans played Greensleeves and ruins your tea.

[George 1978]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

Just heard the first ice cream van chimes in my area last week - do they really start around February each year?

[Zincubus]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

Just heard the first ice cream van chimes in my area last week - do they really start around February each year?

I always think of that Peter Kay story that his dad used to tell him that when the ice cream van played their jingle it meant that they had sold out of ice cream


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[staffslad]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

I have heard several ice-cream vans this week with it being half-term and the weather mild.

[George 1978]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

The half term break could be a good reason, although I would have thought that they would have waited until Easter after the clocks had done forward and there is extra daylight in the evening.

The year before last I saw an ice cream van doing its business and it was pitch dark - around 7.15 pm on a Sunday evening in October!

[Danniella]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

When we were kids we loved the guy in the ice cream van as he gave us lolly ices that were stuck together which he couldn't sell. We had a nick name for him too which he thought was great, Jelly Head! :-D

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

After the popularity of the movie "The Sting," the ice cream vans used to play Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer."

[George 1978]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

A local ice cream van might have played The Entertainer as well - I have in my mind an ice cream van playing it.

[Fatboy]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

A local ice cream van might have played The Entertainer as well - I have in my mind an ice cream van playing it.

There's an ice cream van in my town that still plays this tune.

[Zincubus]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

Some parents tell their kids that when the ice cream van plays the ‘song’ it means they’ve SOLD OUT of ice cream !!


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[Mulletino]

Re: Ice Cream Vans

Can't remember if i posted this before but my best memory of the Ice Cream van was being at my grandparents flat in Leyton one summer and the Ice Cream Van came, we all rushed down the stairs to it (as did other kids) and I was allowed to have a "Popeye" which was an Ice Cream with an Ice Lolly shoved in the top, except this one was a double, Twin cornet with two scoops of ice cream in each and two ice lollies sticking out! Magic!