I was born in Coventry, West Midlands, on 19th October 1970, wrote Angie Beaumont (nee Turner) and have lived in the city all my life. I have very vivid memories of a holiday that we had when I was a young girl, probably in 1974/75 when I was about 4 or 5.

I don't know why I remember this one so vividly; others that I had later don't hold so many memories for me. It was a holiday down south to the Isle of Wight. It felt very grand as we had to go on a big ferry boat over the water to get there.

In those days Kevin Keegan was a football player and he must have been big at the time as I remember dad kidding my mum that he had just seen Kevin Keegan getting on the boat.

When I was small, dad used to make up Red Funnel and Blue Funnel stories (they were boats). It transpired that our ferry was Sealink and blue in colour, so I thought I was going on Blue Funnel.

When we were out and about one day, dad backed into a lamppost and we had to drive to a garage to have the car repaired. We actually stayed in the car while they jacked it up on the ramps, I loved that.

I found out later that mum had a win on the holiday camp's bingo game the night before and all of her winnings and more had been used to fix the car -- she was not amused.

We used to drive at night, to what seemed like an empty field with a dirt track that was very straight. It used to be an army site I think, and seemed so big to me. We used to watch the wild rabbits hopping around in the twilight. They were very tame. Dad used to sing 'Bright Eyes'.

One day we were on the beach and a man came up to take my photo (sounds really dodgy today), he said he was a beach photographer and that is what he did for a living. He gave me the photo for free.

I remember giving it to mum and dad and they couldn't make out where it had come from. I told them about the man taking my picture, but they never saw a photographer. To this day they are not sure if he was for real or not.

I have very strong vivid memories of Blackgang Chine. I remember the whale model where you stand inside the mouth. I went back years later and it was slightly different to how I remembered it, but not much.

My last strong memory was of a carnival or parade of some kind. We were standing on the side of the road and the floats and people in costumes came past.

Somebody was dressed as a penguin and they tweaked my nose and I cried because I didn't like it. I remember mum and dad telling me not to be silly, but all I wanted was to go home.

Angie Beaumont, Coventry, 2001.

Angie's memoirs relating to her life in Coventry can be found in that section of this website.