My childhood years were spent at 46, Bexley Road, Kingstanding, Birmingham, 22C with my Mom and Dad and brother Graham. I was born in 1938 and my Mom was Lily Ann Watts (Nee Gregory) and my dad Stan Watts. What a great childhood it was, although not rich we were never short of sustenance. My Mom, like other ladies of that time, could conjure up an appetising meal from various things including rabbit, cows heal, tripe, ox tongue, brawn, eels etc. The eels were provided by my dad who was a keen fisherman. Our playground was the street in general playing games like rounders, football, cricket, tennis also some less well known games like tip tack, cannon, kick the can, marlies, tig and tag, hop scotch and whip and top. Our activities were played without the danger of traffic, only one car owner in our street, as the milk, coal and bread wagons were pulled by horses who paraded at a stately pace. Sutton Park, a couple of miles away, was a regular playground of mine with my mates Robin, Joey and John. What fantastic times we had swimming in the lido at Keepers Pool, fishing in Powell’s Pool and boating in Blackroot. Blackroot had amongst its hire boats a small traditional style canoe; we would hire this at a bob an hour and get lost in a dream world of Indians and Canadian trappers. The Mayfair cinema was our local flea pit and as kids we would attend the tuppenny crush on a Saturday. Later on we became ABC minors at the Empress, Sutton Coldfield. My war time memories are a bit hazy that is apart from the sweet rationing. I do remember swapping shrapnel and bullet shells, where these came from I can’t remember. In Sutton Park towards the end of the war or may be later, I can remember enemy prisoner of war working in the fields. American soldiers were posted near us in Kingstanding and “got any gum chum” was shouted whenever we saw them.