Re: childhood memory

Newt fishing? Yes, I have a story:

When I was about 10 years old, me and a friend used to take our nets and buckets and fish for newts wading in a shallow muddy stream which ran alongside our school. We wore wellingtons normally but sometimes fished from the bank side.

There was an overhead railway bridge at one part of the stream and we would need to wade under it to get to the other side. One day, I had willies on but my mate didn't. On finding that it wasn't very easy for me to piggy back him at the risk of falling in the water, we both decided to cross the railway lines instead.

All well and good, until suddenly there appeared two plain clothed policemen ahead who took our details (wish we had lied!!), and they paid visits to our parents. We ended up in court and got probation for a year.
That was the only time I've ever been in trouble with the police in my life.

All because of fishing for newts!

Re: childhood memory

We used to catch newts, sticklebacks and tadpoles from a pond in a field near us years ago. We put them in jam jars with a string handle.

Those were the days when it was safe for the children to be out in the fresh air for hours on end without our parents worrying where we were

Re: childhood memory

That is so true.

Re: childhood memory

Unfortunately, those days are gone forever. I don' t know how things got turned upside down but life will never be the same again.

Re: childhood memory

When I was 4 years old, I'd leave the flat after breakfast and not come home until late afternoon. I'd climb trees and play in the gorge around the many waterfalls. Oh my, but those were wonderful days.

Re: childhood memory

They were good times.

Re: childhood memory

All kids want today are their 'tablets'. At three years old.
Very sad.

Re: childhood memory

That seems a bit harsh I thought all kids played on the railway lines. We used to put pennies or ha'pennies on the rail before the train came along. Afterwards we had a very large piece of copper but at the time it seemed to be great fun. I used to be a train spotter too until the demise of steam, diesel locos never caught my interest

I used to collect frog spawn and tadpoles and even fish for inedible fish in Cotswold rivers but my kids seem to have much more fun when they used to catch yabbies in a nearby dam. The just tied a small piece of meat on a piece of string threw it in the dam and when a yabbie grabbed it they slowly pulled them out of the water and brought them home for dinner.

BTW a yabbie is a small fresh water crayfish and tastes very yum! These days I am told they are a vulnerable species.

Re: childhood memory

Living virtually on the bridge leading to Chatsworth park, with bar brook running past the house, I spent most of my childhood getting wet, with my partner in crime, the boy who lived opposite us. We were the only two of the same age at that end of the village and grew up like brother and sister.
We spent hours trying to catch minnows and bullyheads, testing whether certain items would float, this entailed dropping things from one side of the bridge, then running to the other side to see if they floated through. One day we put my new sandals in the water to see if they would float, they did, right down the brook where we couldn't them, most likely ending up floating past Chatsworth House. I assure you I was definitely not popular with my mother.

Weekends and school holidays were spent mostly climbing trees in the park, climbing up and down haystacks, rolling down banks, never a moment's care. We always seemed to be in trouble over something, not the sort of trouble there is these days though.

Such a shame that it's no longer safe for children to do what we used to do, but that's life, it moves on, we hopefully move on with it, you can never go back to those days, it wasn't the same world and never can be. Even back then there was danger for many children in many parts of Britain, we were just lucky to live where we did I suppose.

Re: childhood memory

I can remember excitedly collecting conkers when they fell from the tree after a windy spell.

Also I would throw up sticks into the tree hoping to snag some down.