Mature Times - Reminiscence

Happy memories of the firemen's strike - and Jon Snow

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:14:44 +0100

I served in the Army from September 1975 to November 1984. I have many very fond memories of those times, and one of the best was during the firemen's strike in the 1970s.

Who remembers "One Minute Please"?

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:42:07 +0000

Whenever that popular long-running programme "Just A Minute" is featured, as in the interview with Nicholas Parsons (MT, February 2008), seldom is its predecessor "One Minute Please" mentioned.

More number plate memories

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:03:35 +0000

Reading your article about numberplates brought back some happy memories for me; I can personally remember my old car numbers, better then the newer ones.

Remembering the evacuees

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:17:58 +0100

I watched my uncle lead about a hundred children up the street. Every so often he stopped and from his clipboard he called out either one or two names. He then took the children to meet their host family. As I stood in the front room watching them approaching our house, the scenario momentarily reminded me of the story The Pied Piper of Hamelin I had recently read; however these were children not rats. Ann Shaw recalls welcoming evacuees into her Welsh mining village.

"I do" as the bombs dropped!

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:53:47 +0100

During the service, the air raid siren sounded. The service continued accompanied by the noise of our planes chasing German planes, bombs hitting their targets and people screaming. The service was cut short, except for the exchanging of rings and the announcement of "man and wife together".

More evacuee memories

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:28:12 +0100

The bombing started about a week after I got home - and didn't go away again - our school had fire bombs at one end but we just carried on!

Nostalgie de guerre

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:06:12 +0100

One bomb fell directly on our village, but didn't go off. When the bomb disposal men took it to pieces, it contained a perfectly innocuous substance and a greetings card from the Dutch resistance!

Remembering a very different childhood

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:45:10 +0100

Following on in our series of evacuee stories, Mature Times reader Peter Hopper recalls his childhood years spent in Skegness - free from many restrictions, but needing to earn money... even if it meant invoking the wrath of local taxi drivers!

This was my playground

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:14:13 +0100

This was my playground. Children squabbled; tears flowed shortly followed by laughter and resumed friendship. We fell on the uneven surface, cutting hands and knees, we learned to cycle whilst holding onto a wall, we were told off by neighbours for some misdemeanour but it was always taken with respect. Now so quiet. Where are the people gone? Reader Ann Shaw revisits her childhood street.

Do you remember when music was tuneful?

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:21:10 +0100

It is sometimes said that people were happier in the fifties than today. I wonder if this could be partly due to having more music in our lives.

Looking back

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:44:55 +0100

Would I like to be one of the young people of today? I don’t think so. I can’t help wondering where they are going. What do they have to look forward to in a switch on, push button, instant fun and drama environment? Too much too soon and too easily - but at what cost?

Were YOU in the Tufty Club?

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:09:56 +0100

"Were you a child of the Sixties like me who remembers proudly wearing your Tufty badge?" Reader Jan McGeachie slips back in time.

Looking Back

Tue, 08 May 2007 14:15:42 +0100

Reader Joan Nield takes a wistful look back at her childhood.

Were you a Busy Bee?

Wed, 02 May 2007 10:04:25 +0100

Coronation Street star William Roache MBE, (Ken Barlow) is inviting animal lovers to join him on a stroll down Memory Lane and recall their childhood days as "Busy Bees", raising money for the PDSA.

When pocket money was a halfpenny a week

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:40:42 +0100

My pocket money when I was a child was halfpenny a week and I always went to the same sweet shop to spend it. I didn't buy sweets immediately but took a "gamble" which I was offered by the shopkeeper.