I was born in 1947 in Chelmsford and lived in Stock until I was 15. My uncle Gordon Barker ran the post office and before that my grandmother Miriam Barker.

When I was 8 we moved into a brand new house in Birch Lane which my uncle built for us. There were hardly any houses down there then, our house was the first modern house to be built. Next door was the coal yard and we used to play in Walnut Tree cottage as it was derelict.

I remember waking up to a wall of sound which was the dawn chorus, we were surrounded by fields. The porters who lived on the common had a little kid goat at one time which we used to play with. My brothers and I used to cycle up and down the lane popping the tar on the road when it bubbled. The Tants who lived up the road had horses who grazed in the fields opposite and two dogs who they used to call in every night. And old Mr Alan who used to live further down the road used to cut his ditch with a scythe.

My Father Ian Campbell was an avid amateur dramatic supporter and we put on loads of productions at the old village hall, freezing in the winter, we used to sit hugging the paraffin heaters during the rehearsals of Dad's very over ambitious pantomimes!

We attended Stock C of E Primary School which was run by Mr Jones who was Welsh and loved singing, so did I, so I enjoyed singing I also had piano lessons which I shared with Peter Boszko at his house which smelled of shoe leather as his father was the local shoemaker. lessons.

I remember Mr Baker who ran the fish shop and Mr Esson who ran the butchers, there was also a green grocers.

It was all there , I remember playing on the common with my friend Katy Holmes and singing carols under the Christmas Tree on the green.
Very happy days!

My mother who is still alive at 92 recognises the photos of women with coal sacks as Birch Lane outside the coal yard as it was then. She remembers Stock since about 1932.

our school sports day was held annually in Fosters Lodge just up the road from the school and it was brilliantly organised by the parents and teachers and we used to compete in relay races with other schools, Stock usually doing very well from my memory!

I can't imagine what state the lawns were in after we had finished, although we only ran in plimsolls in those days.

I used to have dancing lessons with Mrs Laing who lived down a narrow track at the side of the Catholic Church and she encouraged boys to go as well, so my brother and I learned the Scarf Dance which we can still hum today! I remember doing some ballet as well.

Also Greenwoods was a source of fascination for me as it was a home for 'unmarried mothers' and I found it all tremendously exciting watching these young mums before the birth and just afterwards wheeling their prams about.