Work ‘n’ Play

A game of Cluedo on the left and in the middle shove-halfpenny on a board made by Grandad. This did not prove to be as popular as Rubik’s Cube or Fabulous Fred (see below). The shove halfpenny board still exists if anyone wants a game. Not sure where the halfpennies are though. Iain, it should be said, subsequently learned how to consistently complete Mr. Rubik’s puzzle in fewer than 30 seconds however much one shuffled it about beforehand.

Fabulous Fred was an early electronic toy that tested your memory. It was very addictive as you can see here. It was rarely out of use for many months. Cost a fortune in batteries!

Painting by numbers. Iain is reading ‘Blake’s Seven - They Fight for the Freedom of Space’ price £1·50. (The original photograph is clear enough to read it on the back cover).

Decorating a plastic toy and a visit to an indoor fete at the home where Uncle Ian’s mother lived.

The roundabout in Oakley Park, Albany Road. On the right the ‘water proof to 30 metres’ watch with which no young lad of the time could be without. We went to Dixon’s to buy it where despite much effort no one was interested in serving us. So we tried W.H.Smith’s next door where we found it a pound cheaper. I vowed never to set foot inside a branch of Dixons ever again and 25 years later I have yet to break that resolution.

Cart-wheeling was a favourite occupation for Kirsty so it is a pity that the only record of it was severely under-exposed. It was taken on the strip of grass adjacent to the beach at Rustington, Sussex.

So where’s the photographs of children working then? The best that can be found is of Iain watching how it should be done and the nearest we get to Kirsty working is evidence that she devolved it to her friend Andrea.

These photographs are displayed in chronological sequence - apart from the final two.

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