Ron Levett's memories, from the early 1930's, when he lived in the small village of Alfriston in Sussex

Every Sunday, after the Home Guard parade, we all went off to the Market Cross Inn. There I learnt to enjoy the Star Brewery's Brown Ale. This was a rather spicy dark beer. I remember seeing the brewery delivering to the Market using a steam lorry.

In the evenings in Brighton I spent quite a lot of time at the cinema. There were far more cinemas in the town than there are nowadays. The building where Boots are now situated, near the Clock Tower had a large cinema downstairs and a very popular dance hall above it. Joe Loss and his orchestra was the resident band. There were two cinemas in West Street, the Academy on the left side facing the sea and the Odeon on the right.

There was a news cinema in North Street and a large theatre on the opposite side of the road. There were many smaller cinemas, one in Western Road Brighton and one in Western Road, Hove. Most cinemas showed a main feature film, a second 'B' feature, the latest newsreel that was mostly propaganda although we didn't realise it at the time and usually a cartoon.

Entrance to the cinema cost around a shilling, which may sound cheap but wages were around one Pound a week. At the larger cinemas there was even a recital on the organ included.

For live entertainment there were at least four theatres. There was the Hippodrome where I remember seeing Max Miller and hearing his near the knuckle jokes. There was also a little theatre in North Road where mostly second-rate acts appeared.

I saw The London Festival Ballet give a performance of Sheherazade at the Theatre Royal and was completely overwhelmed by the music and the spectacle.

At the age of seventeen I realised that I would stand a better chance of getting into a regiment of my choice if I volunteered, rather than waiting to be called up, where I could find myself in the RAF, the Royal Navy, or even sent to work as a 'Bevin Boy', working in a coal mine.

My school chum, Basil Stepney was directed to mine work. For him this was probably a good thing, because he became manager of a whole group of National Coal Board mines.

I went along to the Recruiting Office in Queens Road and put my name down for the Royal Armoured Corps. I had a medical later in the week, passed A1 and took the Oath of Allegiance. I was told that the earliest I could be called to the colours was when I was seventeen so I resigned myself to six months waiting.

After what seemed an interminable wait, on 6th October I received my calling up papers together with a travel warrant, made out from Berwick Station to Wool, in Dorset. I said goodbye to friends and the family and set off for the war.

Ron Levett, 2001