Re: Childhood memories.

Hiya Cakecrumbs.


I too often spent most of my days when not at school outside playing, frequently with others but sometimes alone exploring.

As a family we never lived in any one place for longer than three years though right up until I was in my mid teens, but on the bright side it gave me one heck of an education in many ways.

From pointing out a fish in a tank in Portugal to eat for dinner, to cycling absolutely everywhere in The Netherlands and from picking ripe Gauvas off the tree in South Africa to tickling trout in a burn in Scotland I have in many ways been very fortunate.

Many of my best memories would however be of the simplest things, like building a "den" with pals to play either soldiers or cowboys & indians with those oh-so-realistic toy guns that used to be pervasive.
I could be out for many hours playing, sometimes quite a distance from home and yet it was commonplace and nobody worried; if you were late home you maybe got a swipe round the ear.



Ooh the photo has appeared.
Are you the taller of the two?

Re: Childhood memories.

Hi Mr Beeblebrox.

Oh yes, making dens. I had forgotten about that. A couple of the local lads dug a pit in the field by the school and covered it with branches.

I too could be a loner, out exploring on my own, or out with a bunch of other kids playing cricket or fishing for tiddlers in the beck.

Re: Childhood memories.

It was a really nice read. I enjoyed it. Not just imagining your experience as a kid but imagining how different but at the same time how similar it was to mine. I grew up in Dee Why on the Northern Beaches of Sydney the youngest - by far, of three. My home was only a short walk from the Pacific Ocean. Dad was a printing machine engineer and Mum was a department store buyer. As you would guess our young days were full of sun, surf and trying to ride it, and the occasional aquatic beastie. And I don't mean non human necessarily I spent my teenage years living in the West Coast in 2 beachside suburbs of Perth and Fremantle. And yes you guessed it..mor surf and sun. Only there it sets into the Ocean. Indian to be exact. Lots of other memories but long story short, they are the strongest ones.

Re: Childhood memories.

Love this thread, thanks for starting it Fruity. Your boyhood memories are wonderful.

I had a wonderful childhood, money was sparse but we didn't go without food or clothes.

I remember coats thrown on my bed in the winter and we had no carpets except in the living room. I can still see the carpet, it was green with flecks of yellow in it. The black and white tele in the corner of the room and the radiogram was under the window where my big sister used to play her 45s. I remember my beautiful big Sister played Sweet Talking Guy, It's My Party, Bobbys Girl lots and to this day I love to hear those songs.

We had a pantry where Mum kept all the tinned stuff and in there was a electric meter, when my mum and dad were skint she used to put buttons in and when the electric man came he used to give her them back lol.

Mr Garside the Provi man used to come on Fridays and he always gave me a Rileys Chocolate Toffee, also on Fridays Mr Thomas the insurance man always came, I have fond memories of how lovely those two blokes were.

My two sisters were quite a bit older than me so when I played out it was with friends rather than my Sisters. I remember player hopscotch chalking on the flags and I remember tying a skipping rope to the lampost and me and my friends would skip, sometimes two of us would jump in the rope!

I remember I once climbed a tree and I couldn't get back down, I was too scared and my friends went and told my parents and Dad came to save me.

sometimes Mum would give me a piggy back up the stairs when it was bedtime and I remember one particular night laughed so much as she struggled up the stairs with me, awwww Mum xxxx


At the bottom of our street we had a large grassed area and I used to do cartwheels and handsprings and crabs, I was quite the gymnast but I could never do the splits which used to annoy me.

We'd go down bluebell wood and catch newts and sticklebacks, ride the tarzan swing, go home really muddy but mum never minded.

The council estate we lived on had shops at the other end and my Mum would call 'Beverleeeeeeey' and I could hear her from the other end of the estate, either I did or my friends would say, Bev your mum is calling you, she had a right foghorn for a voice my Mum lol.

We never had a phone so we'd go on to the public phone.

I remember one day my Mum was sending me to the shop with a purse that had a five pound note in, that was a LOT of money then, and as I was walking on the estate I threw the purse up in the air to catch it and it dropped in some bushes. I was horrified and search as hard as I could I could not find that purse, it's a complete mystery to this day where it went and my Mum went bonkers with me for losing the money

I didn't ever really get into any dangerous scrapes, I was a softie.

I don't have much bad memory of childhood except me and my friend Linda were playing on the swings and she stood up and worked up and went right over the handlebars, she broke her wrist and her wrist bone was sticking out.........it was horrible and I've never forgotten it, poor Linda.

Anyway I've waffled long enough, sorry, I got carried away. I loved every moment of typing that and I could go on forever.

Thanks for listening, hope I didn't bore you too much .

Re: Childhood memories.

I'm really enjoying your replies. I had nothing to compare my childhood with so it's really interesting to read about other people's experiences.

When I was about six I was walking home from Infants school one day with a friend when we came across a couple of black kids about our age in a neighbour's garden. We stopped for a chat and found out they were from London.
The following day I was walking home from school with the same friend when he asked, "Shall we go and see if those Londoners are still there?" and I knew immediately who he meant.

It's called the age of innocence for a reason. In a village of about 3000 white folks, as far as my friend and I were concerned, the only thing different about these two boys was the fact that they were from London.

I loved climbing trees but managed to fall out of one on the last day of the summer holidays and broke my arm. I started junior school with my arm in a sling and had to learn to do joined up writing left-handed.
It was another six weeks or so before I could write with my dominant hand by which time I was way behind the other kids in my class.
To this day I maintain that's the reason why my handwriting is so awful, and I'm sticking with it.