50 years ago......

What a lovely memory - I was 9!

I had been married for 3 years and had just started trying to get pregnant. It didn't take long - fertility is not a problem in my family! - and she was born on 31st July, 1963. The winter of 62/63 was very harsh but I was floating on air as I was so thrilled to be having a baby - I had become very broody.

I was at boarding school in the NE of England & my parents were in East Africa (Tanganyika /Tanzania) I enjoyed boarding school but did see some unhappy kids there. Would never have contemplated sending my own..for all sorts of reasons!

That was the year I sat (and passed) my 11 Plus! Started at the Grammar School in the September - what a culture shock!

Lovely memories! I was 13, just moved from a village to a suburb and discovered boys, The Beatles and Tom Jones!

I was 14 and had just discovered the Rolling Stones. That was it! From then on, I was constantly seeking like-minded fans, going to their concerts and truanting from school to sit in friends' houses and play their records. My parents were not happy, I never went to another Maths lesson, took a few exams and passed them, including English with a distinction, much to the English teacher's disgust (top of class, too, despite having no Maths results). Threatened with expulsion. Was it worth it? Definitely!

I was 12 and travelling daily to school, having moved house some weeks before the end of term. It was quite a long journey involving two buses, and I used to follow my older sister - she wouldn't allow me to walk beside her! - until the day she wasn't well and I had to go alone. And got lost. That's when I got glasses........

I was six. I remember coming in to warm my very cold toes. We sat on the floor with our bestockinged feet on the fender.

I was 14 and at boarding school in Ireland with 'the nuns'. My mum died when I was 5 so I went boarding when I was secondary school age. Have to say I quite enjoyed it. The routine suited me but I was a bit of a goody 2 shoes! I was terrified that my father would find out if I misbehaved, I could not bear to imagine the consequences ............... In retrospect, he probably would have given me one of his 'looks' (which I am told I have inherited?) and said he was 'very disappointed with me'. Far more effective than being shouted at ................... Ho hum, memories eh?

I used to do that Bags, and ended up with chilblains!

I was 16 and just about to leave school. We finished at lunch time and in the afternoon I lost my virginity!

Quick work, Ella!

I'd just finished "O" Levels. Now DGD1 has just finished GCSEs.

50 years, eh? Mmmm.

I don't know if Einstein realised it but time speeds up as you get older. Do you remember when the school holidays stretched ahead for ever - now, I turn round and my grandchildren are having babies, getting married, going to university, travelling the world....... STOP! It is all going too fast.

Expecting my 3rd child in 4 yrs.Living in a rented terraced house in Liverpool. DS born in Oct.Hot summer followed by very harsh winter.Remember trudging thro deep snow to collect prescriptions.

I was 8 years old and had just become an aunty for the second time.

Thinking about taking the A levels the next year that would decide the rest of my life!

I`d just got engaged, at the beginning of June, proceeded to lose my ring a few days later, in August we fell out, I returned the replacement ring, in November met the lad I was to marry the year after. It`s our 49th anniversary in July.

....and never a cross word, number....!!

I was 15 and my Mother's Parents died within months of each other. my sister was taken to both funerals but I was left behind, I hadn't seen either of them when they were I'll either,suddenly they weren't there any more, it was a very strange feeling, and my Mother refused to talk about it ever.

Sorry I meant ill.

Green, you jest, surely!

I was 17 and working in a relatively posh job - County Court Clerk - and hating it. I used to go up to the attic which we called the archives, where all the old ledgers were stored, supposedly to do some filing, and read those 19th century court records, all written in copperplate. Then I'd climb on a pile of them to look out of the big semi-circular window over the Calder Valley, full of terrace houses, mills and mill chimneys spouting black smoke, and try to imagine the place in prehistoric times.

Then someone would come up and drag me back to reality, and work.

One day I discovered I had no energy - it got worse, I made a mess of everything, got shouted at all the time, finally went to the doctors and ended up in hospital. I had severe anaemia from heavy periods, a cyst on my cervix and other problems. I learned a lot in the week in the women's surgical ward, and have been a feminist ever since. The lives of some women - awful!

Yes, 50 years ago was quite a turning point for me.

Fifty years ago I was married with three children aged 11, 6 and three,we had very little money and it was hard to make ends meet but we were happy,a day out meant going to the park or to the beck to try to catch tiddlers, it had to be something within walking distance and didn't cost money,I would love to do it all again, happy days.