Memories of being "Young"

My father was only nineteen when i was born. I don't think he had planned to become a dad at such an early age but i arrived and he had to make the best of it. My brother arrived 22 months later, followed by my sister when i was four,and I don't really have any memories of my dad until my sister came along. The first memory i have is of a holiday on the Isle of Wight. I think i was about five, Malcolm three and Julie a small baby. I remember we stayed in a caravan and the weather was absolutely awful. It poured every day and we couldn't go out. It must have been a nightmare for our poor parents, three small children in a tin box , and nothing to do.Then dad decided to go out for a while and came back bearing gifts, a toy for each of us! I can still remember the jack-in-the-box that he bought me,vividly.

Dad worked for British Rail, first as a shunter, and then as a guard. We travelled everwhere by train and to this day i really love going somewhere on the train. When i was at secondary school i travelled to school by train. I was so proud when dad was the guard as he allowed me to sit in the guards van with him and ring the bell that told the driver it was safe to go. My friends thought this was cool!

At Christmas we used to go to my Granmothers, Nan Young, for Boxing day. This would be a huge family gathering , lots of aunties and uncles and many cousins. There was a lot of food consumed, dozens of presents opened and great fun had by all. We slept over and often had to share one bed between three, or four children. The next day we went home on the train, which involved going from Surrey to Victoria and then catching another train down to Kent . My brother, Malc, would always fall asleep during the journey and dad would try to wake him up just before our stop. It was impossible: Dad would stand him up, put his coat and hat on, pick him up and carry him home , where he would be undressed and put to bed.Through all of this he remained asleep! He reminded me of the doormouse in Alice in Wonderland!

My memories of family holidays are both good and bad. Dad built the most amazing sand boats for us. They were huge and we could all sit in them and pretend that the tide would come in and we would soon be bobbing up and down on the waves. He also liked to bury us in the sand , often up to our necks! I once lost my silver bracelet in Devon during one of these "burials".
I had been buried up to my neck and when dad dug us out the bracelet had gone. We spent ages digging around in the area but to no avail, it had vanished! I remember feeling very cross with dad as i'd had it since i was a baby. Dad tried to cheer me up by taking us for lunch but believe me , in our family, this was no picnic. We would set off to look for a cafe, or a fish and chip shop. Dad would find one and we would be about to go in when mum would shake her head and say it was filthy, we weren't eating there. Then mum would find one and dad would say he wasn't paying those prices! And so it would go on and on and on..... Often we children would be starving and tearful by the time we found somewhere that met the criteria demanded by both parents.We laugh about it now, but i remember how the smell of chips would make my stomach rumble and i would be cursing my parents under my breath!

I don't think i had a great relationship with dad when i was younger. He was so young when i was born, really just a boy. I was jealous of his relationship with my younger sister, Julie. Looking back i feel that by the time she came along he had learned how to be a dad and she benefitted from it. She looks like him and has dark curly hair and big brown eyes. She used to turn those puppy dog eyes on him and he'd be lost. He was always picking her up and swinging her and i have strong memories of them laughing together. I used to wish he would be like that with me. We did have some fun times though. I remember going to the social club at weekends .We would run riot with our friends while dad and the other railway men played cricket.My dad wasn't sporty but he would join in the game and sometimes even made some runs! Then, we would all go back to the club for tea and in the evening there would be music, dancing and a bar! Dad would often have a little too much to drink and, much to the embarassment of his kids, perform his party piece- a striptease!! Luckily he stopped short of nudity.

Dad was a fantastic grandad. He loved all his grandchildren and used to rough and tumble with them or tell them silly jokes. When he and mum decided to move to Surrey to look after his mum and dad we missed them but tried to visit often and we had plenty of family get togethers, including holidays. The sandboats were built for the grandchildren, who loved them as much as we had. Christmas was fun too. The pile of presents for my children almost concealed the christmas tree. Mum and dad would come round with armfuls of parcels and put them under the tree and then watch happily as they were opened with squeals of delight.