As a child in Flaunden we had a real choice about where we could spend our pocket money. Up the hill, Birch Lane, was the Post Office, will all the usual bars of chocolate. But in Hogspit Bottom there was a choice of two places. One was a shop where a girl called Helen lived with her mother. I can't remember her surname. But here we could get a quarter of sherbet lemons or other delights weighed out and put into a paper bag.
The other place we would get sweet was Sandy's Garage. Sandy was a real character and he lived in a shack next to the garage and behind two old petrol pumps. If you plucked up the courage to knock very loudly on the shack door you were sometimes rewarded with Sandy shouting at you to come in. Once inside there was a stack of drawers which held such delights as lollipops and chews. Quite how old these sweets were didn't bother us. Sandy rarely charged us more than a halfpenny for a fistful of sweets. Sandy was an eccentric character and we could never predict his mood, but he never caused us any harm.

I know councils are under pressure to cut expenditure and thus keep Council Tax rises to under 5%, but what a shortsighted decision to close Bovingdon Fire Station.
Congratulations to Jamie Fyfe and all those who campaigned to keep the station open. Keep fighting,
As a pupil at Bovingdon School I can remember the excitement when the engine left the neighbouring station. I remember watching the retained fire crews arrive - usually on their bikes - ready to put their lives at risk to help others.

Does anyone remember that wonderful hardware store in Bovingdon run by Mr Geoff Williams? I have only just learnt, with great sadness, of his death. His wife, Audrey, was a teacher at Bovingdon School with my mother, Ethel Dando. Mr Williams always wore a brown overall when he served in the shop which, at that time, was next door to Horwoods Bakers and, if I remember correctly, a fish and chip shop beyond that. Mr Williams was a gentleman in the true sense of the word with a lovely sense of humour.

Talking of shops - one of my first Saturday jobs was with Horwoods. I served in the shop in Bovingdon High Street and then went and helped at their second general grocery store in Chipperfield. No automatic tills or calculators in those days, I had to add up the prices of loaves, rolls and cakes in my head. Belated apologies to all those customers who had to wait patiently for the Saturday girl to get her sums right. Maths still isn't my strong point!

I'm a former Gazette journalist who grew up in Flaunden and Bovingdon. I now live in Norfolk, in a village where the ducks almost outnumber the humans.
I'll use this space to witter on about my memories of Flaunden and Bovingdon and maybe I'll hear from friends and acquaintances from my past.

I moved to Tambarram, Hogpits Bottom, Long Lane, Flaunden, in about 1957. Our bungalow was the middle one of three, near the Bricklayers Arms crossroads. The builder named it after a village in India.
Opposite us was the Smith family land where they lived when not travelling with Smiths Fair. Julie Smith was a friend of mine and I can remember her mother not letting us in her immaculate caravans when we'd been playing on the muddy field. Julie had a sister Sylvia and brother Tony.

Ken and Marjorie Keen had the Bricklayers Arms and my brother and I would sometimes go down with Dad on a Sunday morning. We would be parked on the bench outside and given a bottle of Coke and a packet of crisps each to keep us quiet! Sometimes, when the pub shut, Ken would let us in to play bar billiards.

The other people I remember from that end of the village  at that time are Jennifer Saunders (who I think is still there), our neighbours Len and Elaine Porter with their children Michael, Geraldine and Gail, and Maud and George Procter with their son Neil. Two particular friends were Lesley Halls and Diane Hallam. It was Diane's mum, who worked at Sharlowes Farm, who taught me how to grade eggs by looking at the yolks against a light.  What a skill to have!

The Burgin family opposite had a donkey in their field - a great attraction.

We went to Sunday School in the village church whereMiss Murray-Thompson was organist and Miss Bunyan was the teacher. We walked up the road to the church, but usually came home via the bridleway across the fields.

That's enough for this first ramble - more to come. Please send me comments.