Hello, my name is Malcolm Leggett and I was born in and still live in Gorleston, Norfolk.

Born at Pier Plain in Gorleston in 1947, I remember playing, as a child, in the ruins of houses that were bombed during the war. On many occasions the Police would come to turn us out of the buildings, saying that they were unsafe.

I realise now that what the police said was true but as a child you do not have any fear. The police used to turn up in a black Wolesley 4/68 patrol car, which had a chromium bell fitted to the front of it that could be heard from quite a distance. (Memories of this are rekindled whenever I see an old black & white movie with a cops and robbers chase in it.) As soon as the police had gone, we returned to the ruins.

Our house was flooded to a depth of five feet during the east coast flood of 1953.
We lived in the end house of the terrace and were rescued via a window in the side of the house the following day when the water level had dropped somewhat.

I also include a picture of my brother John and myself taken on Gorleston beach in 1948.

I went to Stradbroke School as a child and attended both the infants and juniors.
The only memory of the infants' school is the name of the lady on playground duty at dinner times. Miss Moss, a very jolly lady. I do not remember the names of the teachers.

I do remember some of the teachers at the junior school. My first year teacher was Miss Leman, next was Miss Haines, then Mr Ferris and my final teacher was Mr Head.

Mr Head was the only teacher at school with a car, which I remember very well. It was a black (I don't think there was any other colour in those days) upright Ford. I even remember the registration, JKE 523. Nice easy one that was.

I used to sit on the roadside on Pier Plain collecting car numbers. Sometimes after about an hour, I might have collected about six or seven numbers. Nowadays you would miss more cars than that whilst writing one number down.

I used to look forward to Saturdays in the early 1950's. It was the day that mum would give us all threepence (approx 1-1/4 new pence).

We would also be given a ration coupon each and run off to Mr Wilson's grocery shop and buy 2 ounces of dolly mixture sweets. That was our lot for the week. Mr Wilson's shop was on Pier Walk, just round the corner from where we lived.

Mum used to get her groceries there. They were all booked down during the week and paid for at the weekend. It usually cost about 30 shillings to feed us all for the week. There were a lot of us at home. I was one of seven children.

Dad was a fisherman and we virtually lived on fish during the herring season. (So did our neighbours). I used to go on the riverside and wait for dad's drifter to come steaming up the harbour. As it pulled alongside I would jump aboard and go up the river to the fish wharf where the catch would be unloaded.

I have attached a picture of my dad on a drifter. It is YH479, named the Young John and was owned by J Moore. Dad's name is Louis Leggett and he can be seen second from right, heaving the nets.

Malcolm Leggett, England, 2001