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Out & About

Children growing up in the 1940s and 1950s had far fewer toys than children do these days and spent most of their time outdoors. With little traffic on the roads they played out on the streets of their neighbourhood. For children growing up in Haslemere, a relatively rural location, children played in woods, farmland and the local recreation grounds. Children at this time were also expected to have a hobby and joining societies such as the Girl Guides or the Scouts were part and parcel of growing up.

Track 11 Local Bonfire

Credit line: Andrew White talks about going to a local bonfire night festival.

Transcription:

Interviewer: Can you remember the other kinds of things you got up to for recreation when you were a kid?

Interviewee: Well, all I do know is that you could go out in the morning, nobody bothered you. And you came home when it was meal time. God knows how you knew what the time was ’cause none of us had any watches but we were never late for dinner because if you weren’t there, you didn’t get it. And that was it, and all about it, but we were never late. But especially things like bonfire night, for weeks beforehand the whole street of kids would go up into the woods, drag home great big bits of wood and you had ropes you pulled on with and stacked this great big bonfire up.

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