A 1950s childhood

The only appliance which could be found in all the houses I knew was the cooker - gas or electric. Our own boasted an oven, four gas...

We had been in our flat for well over a year when my parents decided it was time to cover the endless magnolia emulsion with something a...

Here is Gwen in her Queen's Road Primary School official uniform. (Picture courtesy of Gwen Irving) I took the colour photos when I was...

Like all the other families in our flats we had neither a fridge nor a freezer to keep food fresh.

British Rayon Research Association Working day mornings always began with the BBC Home Service news droning at full volume. The radio was...

Here are a few of the flat dwellers. Frances Audas is on the left and her little brother Tim is next to her. I think that's Leslie Thomas...

(Cover from my mum's cookery book - the one she could never find the ingredients to use.) My mother was a very good cook, so I knew the...

Here I am aged 2 with my mother's brother, John, at Southport open-air pool With the arrival of my seventh birthday, the word ‘allowed’...

Towards the end of the summer holidays, it was always time to sort out clothes for the new school year as I would disobligingly have...

Aunty Jessie used to say, ‘By Friday night I make sure I've got all my jobs done, so the only thing I have to do at the weekend is get my...

Bonfire night and Christmas had come and gone. It was the most miserable time of the year. It was winter. Try as we might to keep warm...