Lynn and I have been very good friends for 69 years. We met at the age of five when we both started at Wellington Way Primary school in Bow in the East End of London. We soon became part of a small group of friends and well before we left primary to start separate senior schools we had became firm best friends and spent most of our free time together. 
My father was the caretaker at Wellington Way and in our early years we spent many happy ‘out of school’ hours in the school playground and frequently climbed up onto the roof of the attached school kitchens to chat and to watch the world go by.  It was also not that long since wartime so we built dens on the local bomb sites and played amongst the rubble. Truly our Tom Boy era!
We both joined first the Sunbeams, then at the age of seven the Brownies, often practising in the school playground to earn our various badges. Our first trip away together was to Brownie camp. We then moved up to the Girl Guides and following that we joined the Red Cross Assn together and that took us to different venues to be on call to administer first aid. However, I must confess that they were mostly ‘jollies’ where we had a ringside seat at an exciting event. However, during our time there we also delivered ‘meals on wheels’ to local sick and elderly, being the ‘runners’ for the van drivers who directed us to the right door. We also did a few first aid competitions and once a uniformed parade through the streets of central London.
Early on as we first started to be independent, although still at primary school, my father encouraged us to be brave saying ‘you can’t get lost, you have a tongue in your mouth’ and he would send us across London by tube to his contact in Chalk Farm, a very long journey indeed or so it seemed. We would collect a box of tropical fish and earn pocket money for going but would also enjoy the adventure and the reward of cookies and cake when we arrived. The fish were later sold at Club Row market where my Dad and a good friend of his traded in livestock. It wouldn’t be done nowadays but we used to help with what they termed exotics i.e. Snakes, Lizards, Tortoises etc.  A few times we exhibited at locations like Town Halls and Museums, and it was Lynn’s and my job to show off the animals while my Dad’s friend gave a lecture about them, also to talk to people afterwards about the environment they would need to keep them as pets.
Then as we began to branch out further we could often be seen roaming to places like Victoria (Vicky) Park, sometimes taking a dip in the Lido or a boat out on the lake, or heading off to Wanstead Flats when the fair was in town. That was great fun and our adventurous spirit later led to us exploring all over London. Throughout this time we attended the local Church Youth club for Sports and a weekly Disco and we also went to evening classes on subjects like cookery, which Lynn was immediately good at, as opposed to me, and she often helped me with my dishes. We also did a Car Mechanics course and … we started to notice boys!!
Long before we had left Primary School it had become quite the norm for Lynn to join us on family days out and also sometimes for me to join hers. Now as our teens progressed she also joined us for several family holidays. One of the first in 1961 found us camping in Swanage, Dorset, my parents with Lynn & I and it was there that we met the ‘Dutch Boys’. Camping for us consisted of two large tents, no sewn-in groundsheets in those days, which my Dad would pitch face to face with an awning between for the cooking area. My parents slept in one tent and Lynn and I had the other. We would retire to bed, lie quietly until we heard my Dad snoring, then we would slowly lift the back of our tent and sneak out. We didn’t wander far but we just felt free to sit and giggle over the days events.  However, on one particular evening we bumped into ‘Hank & Hans’ who were star gazing; they had arrived on their motorcycles and had pitched camp nearby. We started a friendship with them and surprisingly, as after all they were boys, my parents took to them too and by the end of the holiday had invited them back to stay at our house. The following year in 1962 they took up the invitation and we girls spent a happy time showing them around London and this then led to a reciprocal visit to Holland, our very first holiday abroad. We stayed at Hans’ house, where his parents looked after us well, and we had great fun exploring mostly with him as Hank was working by then. We travelled far and wide within Holland, three up on his motorbike which was very exciting and we even went as far as Brussels & Antwerp in Belgium. All went really well until on one particular roundabout Hans lost control. Lynn who was on the rear bounced off backwards, the bike went over & skidded with the other two still on it but fortunately we all only ended up with no more than bruises, but Hans also with a bruised ego!  
As time had gone on and we were allowed to stay out later our daytime exploring of the sights of London led to our hobby of autograph hunting. We would haunt the stage door at several venues like the Palladium & we had many exciting meetings with the ‘Stars’. We also acquired free tickets for TV shows and were often in the audience for Juke Box Jury, where, as it was recorded, we were sometimes able to spot ourselves later on TV. We were also regulars at the Hackney Empire watching live TV shows like the Arthur Haines Show, gosh that seems such a long time ago but we met many ‘Pop Stars’ and singers of that era e.g. Adam Faith, Pat Boone, Alma Cogan, Petula Clark and many more, all names from the past! It was around this time that we ventured to exciting places like the famous 2 I’s Coffee Bar in Soho, we went Ice Skating, and became regulars at our local Roller Skating Rink and then we started to go to both the Ilford Palais and the Tottenham Royal. Both the latter were popular dance venues with weekly live groups like the famous ‘Dave Clark Five’ & ‘Freddie and the Dreamers’. The routine was that early evening the girls danced around their handbags and the boys stood watching and looking ‘cool’, then as the evening wore on they decided when to make a move. 
Another family holiday in 1962 at the age of 16 was to Port Isaac in Cornwall where Doc Marten is filmed. In the program intro you can easily spot the house in which we stayed. It’s the lonesome ‘White House’ up on the cliffs on the right, and we loved it there. Although days out were spent with my parents, we were also allowed freedom to explore. We roamed the cliff tops, the village & beaches nearby and had a thoroughly great carefree time. However, this was the last holiday with parents and the following year we chose to go to Prestatyn Holiday Camp in North Wales. We met a great group of young singles there and teamed up in particular with a boy from Manchester who had a car!! He took us out & about making sure we saw much of North Wales including a visit to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysliogogogoch.
As we progressed through our mid-teens life had become more exciting with meeting boys on our travels and as this was well before mobile phones were invented we gave some of them our ‘telephone box’ number. We would hover around the one nearest to home waiting for them to call at a set time by prior arrangement, and mostly they did. It was an exciting period of discovery, days out, parties, boys etc and, eventually it was at one of those parties that we met a particular couple of boys one called Pete & the other Brian. At the end of the evening they offered to walk us home, I stood chatting with Brian while Lynn branched off to ‘chat’ to Pete, and we all know what followed on from that happy encounter!!
At 16 we had both left school and started work, me in a Bank and Lynn as a secretary at the Law Society. They held quarterly ‘socials’ as they were then called, a get-together for Colleagues to socialise, drink & dance and each employee could take a guest. In Lynn’s case that was me & it was there, thanks to Lynn, that I met my future husband Ken. From then on we teamed up as a foursome and became almost inseparable, Lynn, Pete, Ken & me and that was the start of a new phase and many adventures together.
At the time my Grandfather lived on the South Coast so early on every Bank Holiday we loaded my Dad’s Shooting brake with goodies, put blankets & pillows in the back and off we went to Eastbourne with Dad and Mum in the front and, as it was well before the introduction of seat belts, the ‘famous four’ lying on blankets in the back. We all enjoyed our cuddles & a good greasy breakfast at Joe’s café along the way followed by a great day out at the seaside. 
Our first holiday abroad as a foursome was to Paris in November 1964 followed by a fabulous two week sunshine holiday in May 1965 to Gandia in Spain where my Dad’s cousin owned a penthouse apartment. Next in 1966 came our touring adventure as by this time Lynn and Pete had a car which was very upmarket in those days. Our adventure was a camping holiday in Northern France and we visited various historic places such as Mont St Michel plus we spent time on wonderful sandy beaches. One abiding memory was the laughter at our introduction to French campsite toilets, just a hole in the ground! We also started to get domesticated with cooking on a primus stove and washing up in a bowl balanced on the bonnet. We had a great time and these holidays very importantly, apart from being fun, cemented both our relationships which led both couples on to marriage – and, of course, each of us was Bridesmaid to the other. 
After marriage we were still very close, we had outings, events, shows, visits, meals together but we also concentrated on our separate lives. However, one particular evening at Lynn and Pete’s we were gathered as usual and after dinner Lynn said we having something to tell you. My immediate response was yes I know, ‘you are pregnant’. Lynn was astonished that I had guessed but that evening she was simply glowing and we were so close that I just knew. It was such a happy time for all and of course soon after Claire joined our ‘gang’. Next we had the fabulous news that Lynn was pregnant again and we were looking forward to the arrival of a new baby who of course turned out to be Peter. Lynn was so happy and everything seemed perfect but those happy times were not to last as Lynn suffered the dreadful tragedy of losing Pete - and we were all devastated.
I always admired Lynn and the way she handled things but never more so than then. None of us can truly know just how hard it was for her even though we could all see it. Thankfully Maureen was in the country and she took over the household while the rest of us just did our best to support Lynn.
Quite a few months later, after Peter was born and after Maureen had returned to Australia we wondered how best to divert Lynn’s sad thoughts of Pete, so, Ken began to babysit while we two went out. Not far or for long at first but a change of environment was the focus and this led us in a strange direction. One day we were wandering around St Katherine’s dock at the Tower of London and we passed ‘Ivory House’ just as ‘props’ were being delivered. We must have looked very curious so were invited in and a chat led to a job offer, which we promptly refused. However, when we later relayed the story to Ken he said why not, and that he would look after Claire and Peter while we went to ‘work’. It was hardly that but we did get paid along with some nice tips from American tourists. The venue was called ‘Medieval Times’, so, dressed as ‘wenches’ from the Tudor period we served mead wine to guests (mostly tourists) upon arrival and then served meals at long tables. The lights were dimmed, bugles were blown and we paraded from the kitchens with soup in huge cauldrons followed by various courses, with Syllabub pots to finish. Meanwhile the entertainment consisted of Jokers dancing, Damsels singing and Knights fighting and, of course, the White Knight always won.  
The next adventure was Lynn’s first ski trip, with Ken and I and several other friends. We witnessed her first few tentative steps on skis and were very impressed that she persevered throughout the holiday.  One time on the beginners slope she lost control and went careering off heading to a brick wall. We were worried for her but … a very low garden edging covered in snow took the brunt and instead of hitting the wall Lynn was smothered in snow and came out of the tumble laughing. For us the old Lynn was back. 
Soon after came an invitation from one of Lynn’s cousins to join their family on a holiday to Golden Sands in Bulgaria and Ken was happy to let me accompany Lynn, Claire & Peter.  By this time she had met John and I well remember that Ken and John were at the airport to greet us upon return. Just as well as we had an emergency landing due to the loss of brake fluid, but luckily all went well.
In later years I enjoyed several holidays with Lynn, just the two of us, plus the one with Claire & Helen to the UAE, and during those times we spent many hours happily reminiscing about ‘the old days’ of our youth.