Tag: adventure

Happy Days  – Boyhood adventures!

Happy Days  – Boyhood adventures! This little story describes some of the adventures with my childhood best friend Graham in the 1950s. Those were wonderful days, carefree, happy, fascinating, and full of discovery. We were true adventurers!

I was born in 1946 and I grew up as a boy in the 1950s and as a teenager from the late 50s to the early 60s.  Last year my very best friend from those boyhood days passed away.  Although we’d lost contact with each other  for some of our adult life, we found each other again on Friends Reunited around about the year 2000 and we kept in touch and met each other frequently since then.  I have very many happy memories of our time together and this story is both a tribute to him and what I hope is an interesting and amusing record of our boyhood adventures.  Enjoy! 

We lived  close to the western Surrey Hills south of Aldershot and Farnham. This area became our playground. Much of the story which follows is set amongst these beautiful Hills. 

My very best friend throughout my childhood, right from early days, was Graham Brooks.

Photo of Graham and me when we were small. The edge of the copse is in the background to the right marked by the oak tree. Aldershot Gasometer in the background]

We had great fun together. Once we were old enough, we started to venture out, and this little story describes some of our adventures. Those were wonderful days, carefree, happy, fascinating, and full of discovery. We were true adventurers!  

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Summer Newsletter

What a summer! Cycling adventures through mountains and along coastlines, a memorable trip to Porto with my sons, Adrian and James, an escaped to La Rochelle, and a spring visit to Annecy in the French Alps to see our daughter and her family. I even caught up with old skiing friends. Other highlights included launching my podcast website, publishing a heartfelt tribute to my father and his fellow POWs on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, and raising funds for Ukrainian causes. It has been a season of adventure, reflection, and purpose.

What a summer it has been! From cycling adventures across beautiful mountainous landscapes and coastal routes to a memorable trip to Porto with my sons, Adrian and James, the season has been full of highlights. Carol and I enjoyed a lovely getaway to La Rochelle. In the spring we had a wonderful visit to Annecy and the French Alps, where we spent time with our daughter and her family—and I even caught up with old skiing friends. Added to that I launched my podcast website and published a heartfelt tribute to my father and his fellow POWs on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, and I managed to achieve some meaningful fundraising for Ukrainian causes!

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The lads on a 1960s road trip to the Italian Riviera!

You can also listen to this adventure on my podcast CLICK HERE

An amazing trip across Europe!

This podcast is dedicated to my great friends Graham Brooks and Pete Jeffries who sadly now passed away. My adventures with them will always live in my memory.

Graham Brooks had been my friend from childhood. Later as we became lads about town, when I was about 17/18, we teamed up with Pete Jefferies, who was a friend of Graham’s.

In 1966, Graham bought a wonderful car, a Sunbeam Rapier, which was cream and red, where all the side windows opened giving you the feeling that you were in an open topped car.  It had dual ‘SU’ carburettors, which was all the rage in those days. Graham, being very adept at technical stuff, was able to maintain the very complicated engine. We had trips out in the car in England, but during one discussion around the table, probably in the Jolly Farmer pub in Guildford, we three set down a plan to travel across the continent, to Italy. Pete had suggested it. Perhaps he had been there before with his parents. We agreed on Italy as our destination. And so over the months that followed, we planned our route.

Continue reading “The lads on a 1960s road trip to the Italian Riviera!”