The speaker for the night, phoned to say that she would be unable to attend the meeting, as she was stuck in a traffic jam. Stan Smith, the President of The Basford History Society, asked me if I would mind giving a talk to the members, of living through the Second World War. I had with me some artifacts, a Gas Mask, shells, bullets, and service men and women’s hat.

The meeting went very well, with stories of the Black out, discipline in the schools, and stories what children got up to. I was thanked by Stan and the thirty members of the Society for stepping in at short notice.