Having been born here 71 years ago, I have seen quite a lot of changes. Because so few people moved to Mersea in the fifties, any child starting at school midterm was a novelty. For myself, I just about tolerated school; even now, when I hear a school bell ringing it reminds me of how I used to dislike hearing it because it meant I had to go every day. The toilet block was outside, in the middle of the playground, and was always cold. There were roller towels that always felt damp and big blocks of pink soap that you couldn't actually get your hands around. School sports days were always quite competitive, where you could win medals, not rosettes; unlike today where everyone seems to get one. Most of the children stayed for school dinners which I recall were very nice, apart from semolina with a dollop of jam in the middle. The dinner lady would stalk round the tables to try and make sure that you ate it up. I have never eaten a mouthful of semolina since then.

Lots of children went to Sunday School at one of the local places of worship, especially when the Christmas party was due. Our entertainment was simpler, then; we would spend hours messing about crabbing or building dens. My dad was a keen cricketer and played in the Mersea team. Mum made cricket teas for at least twenty years, so my weekend playground was usually The Glebe (once known as The Peace Field). Regatta Day was something we all looked forward to. The excitement when the big old lorries went trundling through the village and the word soon got round that "the fair's here" and we would go and watch the men putting up the dodgems etc, but oh the sadness when they moved on. I seem to remember that the Flower Show in the Legion Field was always good fun, as was the Legion Christmas Party. There was also the Sea Cadets' party, but you needed an invitation for that. I craved my mum to let me join the Brownies; she said, "You won't stick at it". In the end she let me but, of course, she was right.

When we reached the age of eleven, we were bussed off the the Island to Colchester. We were like country mice and town mice so had to act cool unlike in Mersea, where we all knew each other. When I finished school, I went to work at the sailmakers and didn't actually know any Mersea kids who went to university. How things have changed in that respect!

I remember my teens as being fun each week; when we got our wage packet we would trundle off to Colchester and buy clothes. Teenage girls hardly touched alcohol then and to make a Babycham last a couple of hours was really daring. Drugs had hardly been invented then, so we didn't have that problem either. The good thing about Mersea was that most of us knew each other so if you were doing something that you shouldn't, it always got back to your mum and dad - which is what I always told our four! Sometimes I would go out drifting for herring with one of the Mersea boys and whilst we were shaking the nets out one evening, along with some of the other boats, I spotted RH and knew then that he was the man I was going to marry, which I did forty-nine years ago.

I have been very fortunate to have had a loving stable family whilst I was at home and to have been blessed with our four children. I have always tried to give them what both myself and RH had growing up here. My family and friends are very dear to me but added to that list are the church and the sea. I can see the church tower from my kitchen window and the sea is just down by Monkey Beach. As long as I can hear the church bells and know that the tide ebbs and flows twice a day, then I am content. Mersea has so much history attached to it and I love going to the museum to sit and talk to like-minded people. Perhaps one day I will write another article on Mersea's history.

Sea Cadet Party in the Legion Hall. Heather is seated front row, 2nd from the left.

More Mersea history