Paul was born in Wimbledon and when he was four we all moved to Purley where he lived till joining the army at sixteen. Paul was always a mischievous boy, loved to tease and was inquisitive and active. One of mum's abiding memories was of Paul sitting on top of the coal bunker with some stolen saucepan lids, banging them together noisily and laughing gleefully when the neighbours came outside to see what he was up to. Of course they found it very funny, Mum was not quite so amused! She had to hide all the knives on top of the dresser as Paul would climb up and take whatever he could find and disappear outside with it. Paul's favourite toys were his beloved donkey on wheels which we had for years and his teddy bear who's nose he used to bite till it turned up and later his beloved Mr Turnip the wooden string puppet, which we used to play with upstairs. His favourite books as a child were Winnie the Pooh and Toad of Toad Hall, he would sit and chuckle for hours while he read them and I have his cherished copy of Toad that one of his Aunts gave him as a child. We had a lot of friends in our road, we were very lucky. Paul was friendly with all the boys and they would often go off on their bikes together. There was a grassy bank down the end of the road where you could find lizards and make bows and arrows out of the elder tree branches. The neighbours boys gave him and Peter some mice and a huge cage which lived outside in the passageway and we later got a cat called Cilla who Paul loved. He could climb the lamposts and hang from the handlebars at the top under the lamp, nothing phased him at all. We had a lovely big garden and the top was our wild bit, that was never cultivated and we all spent hours there in the summer months. bonfires were great fun, Paul always managed to get sooty. Paul joined the Scouts and used to go off to camp in the summer. We all also used to visit the aunts in the holidays and Paul loved going to Granny's house in Hindhead. It was a magical place, with whispering pines and a huge garden with a vast vegetable patch and strawberry frame, massive Victorian greenhouse that Paul loved too. he loved the bonfires that Smithy the gardener made and walking on the golfcourse with Sam, Aunties spaniel who used to make us howl with laughter when he dived down through the bushes to the fairway and stole the golf balls! Paul had two or three close friends at school and they remained his friends till he left to join up. I remember Mum saying Paul was always late leaving in the mornings, always running all the way to school which was at least a mile away! I remember him buying a black leather jacket, all the rage, Mum hated it and Paul loved it! We used to fight over Mum's delicious sunday roasts, for the seconds, Mum's potatoes were the best ever. we used to have contests sliding along the landing in socks at night when mum and dad were out and the poor babysitter had to keep coming upstairs (too late!) to tell us off. it was a very long landing and perfect for skidding and pillow fights! Christmas Paul was always first awake, by 7am, stocking opened, chocolate all eaten and blowing the curled up whistle paper! We used to have barrow rides round the garden and even used to charge round in the old pram!