Playmore Toys

My father was a toy maker. He had a company called Playmore Toys - more play with Playmore, that was his slogan. He liked it.... And so begins the 'Duck Tales' story in my one man show. But my father really did have a toy factory though he was hardly Geppetto from Pinocchio. It was all rather more industrial than that. Lowplas (Lowestoft Plastics) - my Dad liked his word play - began in the 1960s blow-moulding the backs of television sets and gradually started making toys. It wasn't called Playmore Toys until the 1980s and by then the most popular of their ranges were cricket sets for the beach, pots and pans with sprayed on smiley faces and plastic ducks for the bath. They also made the squeakers for the bottom of sweet-filled walking sticks (and also the walking stick handles). If you had a seaside holiday in Britain in the 1970s or 80s you probably played with Playmore Toys and didn't even know it!

This is a picture of my Dad at work on the factory floor - the caption on the back says 'swordhandles'. So that explains everything doesn't it.