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The rather poor illustration accompanying this post is supposed to represent the wonderful things that were Galaxy Counters. I believe they were phased out sometime during the 1980’s but don’t know exactly when. Something very similar is still available today as one of the sweets in a packet of Revels, but it’s not quite the same, as you will see.
Imagine a Galaxy Minstrel. Now remove it’s crispy shell to leave just the chocolate inside. This is basically what you get in a packet of Revels. Now stamp a little white number on one side of the chocolate. NOW you have a Galaxy Counter. A small difference maybe, that doesn’t really alter the taste at all, but does make the sweet much more fun for a child to eat. Kids are easily pleased you see. Do you remember the thrill of opening a tube of Smarties to see what letter was on the lid? Well with Galaxy Counters that thrill was multiplied as every sweet had a number printed on it. My sister and I would announce to whoever was listening what number we were about to eat every time we ate one.
If my memory serves me correctly then Galaxy Counters were sold in little white packets, about the same size as a packet of Cadbury’s Buttons. The packets had various pictures of different woodland animals on, such as deers and squirrels. I’m sure there was an orangey red coloured owl wearing a mortar board as well. I have a feeling there may have been a joke or something printed on the packet as well, in the same way that Cadbury’s Buttons had a nursery rhyme on them, but I can’t be sure.
They are rather moreish aren’t they Caz!
I can’t believe someone on here remembers ‘Nutty’ bars (Karen)!! I’ve been boring people to death for years talking about these. I was beginning to think I’d made them up!!
Thank god – i thiught i was going crazy my partners kept saying i was making it us. Now they are back bigger & better, my prayers have answered x
does anyone remember the picture being a dog and his footprint were the counters ?
also I just want to say that I am so pleased that I am not going mad, up until recently no one that I have ever met had heard of these choc !
Galaxy counters have just been re-launched, they are now only sold in the large share bags but who cares they’re back
Hurrah, i’ve just googled this as my hubby & daughter thought i was mad talking about a white packet with a giraffe on it with galaxy counters in.
So happy to prove them wrong
Just to say the same as most of the rest of you that these ‘new’ Galaxy Counters were around in the late 70s to early 80s, but I also thought i’d imagined the little white bag!
I didn’t imagine the big brown bag I’ve just scoffed however 😉
OMG I like many on this forum have tried to get other people to remember the galaxy counters from my young days I started doubting myself. i do remeber the Cabana bar. Now I’ve got 2 for you do you rememebr digestive biscuits that were covered in a chocolate that was like caramac? And the oter one is in one of the biscuit selections that they sell at Christmas there used to be a shortcake biscuit with pink icing in the middle. Please help!
YAY!!! I am sooooo glad I finally found the name of these sweets. I have been talking about them for years and nobody seemed to know what I was talking about LOL. I used to try and get the packet with the bird on it (think it was a pelican lol) I remember all the other sweets and bars on here too but this used to drive me mad cos I couldn’t remember the name….aaaaahhh thank you! 😉
Does anyone remember which year Galaxy Ripple’s first went on sale in the UK ?
I am worried by how many of these I remember. I seem to recall saving up packets and joining the counter club. The animals included I think, Percy the Pelican, Geoffrey the giraffe, Ollie the Owl and I think there was another possibly Clive the Camel. Was delighted to have them back but they were cuter when smaller and less fattening! The fry’s 5 centres bar were good as the split was often in the wrong place so you get 2 flavours together ….and the Milk tray bars (this had a much nicer selection of chocolates than you get in a box these days – 2 I remember – lime barrel and turkish delight amongst others) were big favourites and even the Cabana bar. Any of you remember the Amazin (it’s amazin what raisins can do!) bar and the Banjo (wafer), I loved them both. Spangles were great, as were tootie fruities – green and pink were yummy (not like the ones they make now which are too hard). Burton’s Toffeepops biscuits are great too- anyone remember them? I they make something similar in Austrailia but not so good but a friend tells me you can get them in Ireland today. Another vague memory was some kind of brown coconut made to look like tobacco and in some kind of treasure chest? I think I am going to end up being diabetic looking at this!
I have always remembered these but thought nobody else would, I clearly remember the giraffe on the front of a white packet!
Yes Judy B, I remember the digestive biscuit bars – they were called Gold Bars, but I think you could only buy them in a multipack. They were made by McVities, which brings me to another point: does anyone remember McVities Chocolate fingers? They were far superior to the Cadbury’s ones that are so prolific today. The biscuit was shorter, and the chocolate coating was kind of rippled. Also does anyone remember the short lived Ovaltine bars?
I’ve just found 2 old galaxy counters packets buried near one of my old fishing spots. The packets are rough as they’ve been buried for years. One says 3p on but the other says 6D 2 1/2p on which makes me assume it’s older. Pretty cool find. I’m only 23 so I have no memory of these sweets but does anyone know if there is any collectors out there? Surely these can’t come up that often.
Wow! What a find! I’m amazed they’re still intact after all this time. Decimalisation in the UK happened in 1971, so that probably means we can date them to around that time. Those packets are probably 46 years old!!
I don’t suppose they are worth very much in cash terms, but I’ll bet there’s a collector out there somewhere who would find them priceless.