At the start of the Forum’s meeting on the 24th of February the Forum stood in silent memory of former member Brian Franklin who died recently in a care home on the Isle of Wight.
Our guest speaker for the meeting, introduced by John Spinner, was Keith Barber from Morley. His talk was entitled A Trip Down Memory Lane and was an illustrated nostalgic look at the 40s, 50s and 60s.
Keith was born in Hunslet in 1940 and started school in 1944 when schoolchildren had to endure gas mask and shelter drills. He shared with us reminiscences of back to back houses with shared outdoor toilets, one cold water tap and a tin bath in front of the fire. We were reminded of the stringent rationing in place which did not completely disappear until 1954. Children had few (if any) toys but were very inventive in the street games they played. The only home entertainment was the radio until television appeared in the 50s and this had only one channel for evenings only and in black and white, of course.
After the members had added some of their own memories Chairman Mike Earle proposed a vote of thanks to Keith for providing a thoroughly entertaining morning.