The August magazine has many stories to tell as Down Your Way readers reminisce of ‘those hazy, lazy, crazy, days of summer’ and wish that ‘summers would always be here’.

Averil is the one with the alice band - third row, fifth from the right.

Every month I bring readers articles ‘to life’ with the inclusion of nostalgic images, sometimes provided by readers themselves or by the many contacts I have built up over the years. Beth Belshaw, for example, wrote in with a wonderful article entitled ‘No More School No More Stick’ in which she tells of her memories of childhood summers in the 1950s accompanied by photos from her family album. One photo is of Beth as a young girl which has the caption ‘Me on the beach in a bubble cozzie and swim hat that pulled your hair out when you took it off’. I remember mine well, in fact I did have a postcard of me wearing the said costume sitting on a donkey. After the ‘photo-shoot’ I was unceremoniously dumped by my donkey much to the amusement of all onlookers!

The height of fashion they may not have been, but at least they were preferable to those knitted cozzies! Not made for elegance or comfort, the ‘wool’ made my mother’s hands sore and brought tears to my eyes on many occasions. The only time it didn’t itch was when it got wet but by then all attempts at preserving my modesty had disappeared as I took in water at a fair rate of knots.

Another memory from my childhood is of a puppet show at Whitby but alas, all I can remember is what I think was their signature tune The Black Hills of Dakota: were you there? Have you photographs of your childhood you would like to share or maybe, like me, you are looking to contact old school chums. If you also went to Westfield Junior School in Acomb, York you just might recognise yourself and get in touch, here’s hoping.. By the way I am the one with the Alice band 3rd row, 5th from the right.