Long-time regular readers may remember my post about my Tonibell Miniball, which I inadvertently left in the loft when I moved house back in 1972. 19 years later, I gained access to the loft of my old home and recovered my Miniball, thereby settling a mystery in my mind once and for all. Y'see, I didn't know for certain whether the ball was actually there, it was just a suspicion, but one that turned out to be well-founded. I've now had it back in my possession for 34 years, far longer than I originally owned it, or the time I was without it. (If you're interested, you can read that post here.)
Anyway, for some reason I've developed an interest in Tonibell memorabilia, and recently acquired three model ice cream vans sporting the Tonibell name and logo. I'd never heard the name before I bought my first and only Miniball around 1967 or '68, though I believe the company still operates today. Which is my cue to show you my three vans, plus an original badge from many years ago. There are other vans in the series (made by Oxford Diecast), which I may decide to collect in the future. The ones on show here are all different scales, from tiny to medium to large, but they're great collectables.
19 comments:
Amazed your new owners never cleared the loft after all that time, but good news for you. I remember the Tonibell Miniballs Kid and the adverts for them in comics etc. I remember a few friends and myself trying to play football with the empty miniball but it wasn't very good. I had no idea there was a range of model cars with their logo ( who made the models?). I had a similar Corgi Walls ice cream van ( similar to your light blue one)
The family with whom we swapped back in 1972 never owned the house, McS, they were merely council tenants. My TBMB was hidden behind the water tank in the loft, which is why it escaped detection for 19 years until I retrieved it on a pre-planned visit. I never moved back into that house, it was my current one I returned to after four years.
Oxford is the name of the company who made the ice cream vans and I believe they're relatively modern collectables, though Spot-On and Budgie Toys made Tonibell ice cream van diecast models back in the day. I've also got three Corgi Wall's ice cream vans, an Oxford Mr Whippy one, and a modern generic pull-back motor one which I bought from The Entertainer toy shop in my local town centre.
The pull-back one, that is - not any of the others.
I don't remember Tonibell ice cream but ice cream vans definitely still patrol my neighbourhood - I heard the jingles of one recently.
When I was a kid an ice cream van came to my village regularly. The ice cream man was black and it was an unusual sight to see a black man in those days - everybody addressed him as Tony which I naively assumed was his real name!
You never know, CJ, maybe it was his real name. Or it could've been a Tonibell ice cream van and they were addressing him as Toni.
Ice-cream vans taught so many kids 'Greensleeves', didn't they?
One of my earliest memories is my father taking my brother & myself to a fayre/fete (?) at my local castle, when we were about 4 years old. As well as a karate board-breaking demonstration, I remember an ice-cream van, in the castle grounds, depicting, amongst its other ice-creams and iced lollies, one with a Viking on it. Despite looking up old ice-creams/lollies, nothing with a Viking picture seems to exist! After my father passed away, I found a colour-slide of that event, with the board-breaking etc - validating my memories - plus, a colour-slide of the ice-cream van, with the company name, "Whistons", on it. Unfortunately, the pictures of ice-creams & iced lollies, on the van's side, are tantalizingly out of the shot!
Phillip
That's truly amazing that you found the Miniball after all those years in the loft. I had the Famous Five Club badge and membership card but I thought I'd lost them. I assumed they must be somewhere in the loft of my first or second house (not my childhood home) and had got left behind but last year I found the badge in my current loft so I hold out hopes that the membership card is somewhere here as well. I moved here in 2014. Haven't heard of Tonibell but love those model vans.
Greensleeves - allegedly composed by King Henry VIII, though historians think he stole it. I wonder who Whistons were and whether they yet exist? At least you have the memory and a slide to back them up, P. Are you in the shot?
I hope you find the membership card, M, to keep the badge company. I wish I'd been a member of the Famous Five Club, but I'm a member of the William Brown Outlaw's Club and the Dennis The Menace Fan Club (oh, and the Chipper Club), though I joined them as an adult.
Kid - Strangely, no - yet others kids are in the shot, waiting at the ice-cream van. I've tried looking up Whiston's ice-cream, but all I get is Winston's! Whiston's is probably some local chap who went bust/retired decades ago!
Phillip
That's a wee shame, P - it would've been great had you been in the photo.
I always wanted to join a club whenever I saw one. I'm in the Dennis the Menace Fan Club, the Fireball Club, the Warlord Club, the I-Spy Club (the Code Book is ace!), the FF Club. I wanted to join the Desperate Dan Pie- Eaters Club and the Plug Sports and Social Club but they were too expensive for my pocket money at the time. I acquired DD's Club set from eBay a few years back but Plug's still eludes me. Although not clubs, I've got the 2000ad Red Alert Wallet and the Team Tornado Mayday Pack. I didn't know there was a Just William Club, I'll look into that. I also want to be an Ovaltiney although I don't like Ovaltine.
Unsure if the William Club is still going, M, as it was around the mid-'80s when I joined. Tell me more about the Fireball Club, if you'd be so good.
The Fireball Club was in Bullet comic. I think it's probably the first club I joined as Bullet started in 1976 and I didn't start buying The Beano until 1977 when I joined Dennis' Fan Club. The Fireball Club was brilliant with a great red wallet, letter, Fireball Calling cards, Top Secret Story of Fireball (which was also used as a code) and a special Fireball Pendant - like Fireball wore in the comic strip. A nice addition to the club stuff was the free gift in #2, the Survival Guide which I also still have.
Fireball club membership wallet/pendant 1976 Bullet comic | #1778299592 https://share.google/vl89U3OFjw1FvMONF
Forgot to say, most people think Fireball was Peter Flint's nephew because he called him Uncle Pete but it's not so. Flint and Fireball's father were wartime colleagues and not related - it's in Fireball's Story which came with the Club membership. It's a good read.
Ah, right, I thought it was something to do with Fireball XL5. I'd join a club for that in a second. I know there was a Supercar Club as I've got the facsimile membership card and badge that came with the DVD box set.
Meant to say, I'm also a member of the Dennis & Gnasher Club, which replaced the original Dennis The Menace Club a few years back.
Kid, glad you reunited with your whippy vans, they look mint. You probably know already, that Talking Pictures tv is currently re-running Supercar on Saturday mornings if interested? I'll randomly throw this in! I've just watched Jaws 50th anniversary on the cinema with the family. I was 7 years old when I first saw it in the cinema on holiday in wales, and it scared the pants off me! Yet, at the same time, made me want to collect or wear anything Jaws related! I must say, what a timeless, nostalgic and excellent film it is, definitely made for the big screen. I'll just add, the cinema was full with young and old, which is very unusual these days due to the current modern day trash on offer. We also recieved a small original art poster for free. I'll be quiet now, too much 70's nostalgia endorphins. 'Goodnight or good morning to all!'
Tonibell Miniball, the vans are new, didn't have them as a kid. I've got the Supercar DVD box set, as well as Fireball, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Joe 90, AAW, to watch whenever I feel like it. Never seen Jaws, though one of my pals of the time (now dead) loved it when it first came out.
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