My earliest Christmas recollections go back to when the war started in 1914. I was seven years old by then. Children’s toys were already scarce for all manufacturing was concentrated on munitions but ‘ by hook or by crook’ our parents managed to get us a little something for our stockings each year. The system was much the same until we were a little older and of course when the War was over. In the toe of the stocking would be a silver coin, followed by fruit, a few nuts and sweets then the big surprise such as a dice game, snakes and ladders or the card game snap etc. I also remember a Ring Board, not much by today’s standards but we had fun, and later on we appreciated what problems our parents had in procuring these items. Brother Bill and I were quite pleased and happy because we were more accustomed to being guided buy the slogan of those days –

‘Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without.’