The Golden Age

This is about the golden age for being a child – if ever there was one. I wonder if that time was ‘when I was young’ for all of us. I know I had a wonderful childhood.

Looked at by today’s youngsters, this might sound amazing. I watch my two and a half year old grandson with his mum’s ‘tablet’ and his fingers dash over the screen, stretching things and twisting things and generally managing the micro world. Well of course I didn’t have such a thing in my childhood.

In fact, I can produce a long list of essentials we didn’t have. We had no car, no television… well, I expect that says enough to make present day youngsters cringe in horror.

But what did we have back in the early 1950s? Well I had a loving family of Mum, dad, sister and brother. It was loving and normal in many ways. My brother and I hated each other for much of the time. I probably struggled to find common ground with a big sister. But life always seemed socially comfortable.

We had a freedom which present day kids don’t have. Outside my house there was an open road, almost undisturbed by motor vehicles although there were a couple of bus routes past the door. Playing in the street was the norm. I still have relatives living on that street including youngsters of an age I was back in those early fifties. The street has sprouted pavements – essential because of the amount of traffic. Parked cars line the street. There’s no way kids can play out there. Village streets have been taken from people because of cars. So my young relatives can play in the garden or they can get taken elsewhere in a car. It’s a much more trapped world.

I could mooch around and meet friends – all of whom lived locally because we all went to the same local school. I should say we all walked to the same local school. ‘The school run’ by car was a thing of the future. We could set off for walks and adventures in the local fields. We had simple fun.

Here’s brother and sister playing in a field we always called ‘The Red Indian Field’.

At my first school I was very quickly madly in love with Joy who had a long walk to and from the school for she lived out in the woods. It was the best part of 2 miles. But we walked back to my house, hand in hand. My parents obviously thought this cute for they took a photo.

And there we are! Yes, there were cars – one can be seen and there was a pavement near the school which was just a large house.

A new town was built around us and that school closed. The new one was further away and Joy came by bus. I lost contact. I wonder where Joy is now. I hope she has had a happy life.  And I hope present day youngsters come to feel that they lived in The Golden Age when they were kids.

Tags: 1950s, childhood, freedom, then and now