When we were teenagers, in the early seventies, we played football on Heath Park in Runcorn, until you couldn't see the ball.

Once, the football went into the pond, the water was dirty, and we knew there was broken glass at the bottom, it was going dark, no one would volunteer to go in with the frogs.

Luckily it was in the middle of the Scouts "Bob a Job" week and a little red headed Boy Scout happened to be passing the Heath Park, so we grabbed him, gave him a stick and held him over the pond to get the ball.

After the boy got the ball out, he ran off throwing lumps of soil at us and using quite shocking language for a Boy Scout, perhaps they had a badge for swearing in those days. We shouted after him "See you again next year" "Not blooming likely he shouted". He was none too pleased with the task, even though we did give him a bob for the trouble.

Later in the year, as the autumn weather came and leaves littered the pathways, we climbed trees for conkers to string.

We also used our old jams jars to go blackberry picking, the ones we had collected tadpoles in, but had to throw them back as Dad would go mad if we took anymore home. We washed the old jam jars in the dirty pond water, then we went blackberry picking at Weston, after playing in the caves on Runcorn Hill. The blackberries were always at their best in mid to late September.

We took them home and Mum made homemade blackberry pie and a rice pudding to go with it. I can still taste that pie now, as far as the Boy Scout goes, I wonder what happened to him, I bet he kept well away from the Heath Park on "Bob a Job week"!