WALKING home alone from school, carrying crates of milk into class, risking life and limb on a go-kart and watching the Red Arrows practising.

These are some of the boyhood memories of Jim Hudson, who spent his early life at Shipton-under-Wychwood.

He writes: “I would walk to St Mary’s School each morning and evening, usually on my own from the age of five. “If I was lucky, I would be picked up by the Smith’s Industries’ bus taking workers home from the factory in Witney and go home with my dad.

“If I missed the bus, I would walk home past an old hand-operated water pump. During the summer, I would stop to wash my face and hair and drink the cool water.

“At school, one of the greatest honours was to ring the school bell at dinnertime. I only remember being allowed to ring the bell once, but I can still remember the feeling of importance. I must have been a very good lad that day.”

School dinners would be cooked at Burford Primary School and ferried in metal flasks and two pupils would lift each flask into the kitchens, followed by the one-third pints of milk.

“On hot days, we were allowed to take the class desks and chairs outside. During the break, we stacked the tables one on top of each other, with chairs on top of that. We used this as a home-made climbing frame and called it ‘table and chairs play’. The teachers would stand by, telling us to be careful.”

Another memory is walking to church for a harvest festival.

“At church, we boys had to take off our school caps, but the girls could leave their bonnets on. Teachers fussed over us, making sure our hair was combed and our partings straight. They would spit on handkerchiefs and rub the muck off our faces.”

Outside school, he and his mates would make camps and dens out of hay bales in the field, watch the Red Arrows practising from their base at Little Rissington and build go-karts from old tea chests. After attaching pram wheels, they would race them down Fiddlers Hill.

“Whoever was driving, nearly always lost control at some point and crashed. We didn’t bother with brakes – once the cart was going, you could not stop it. We never worried about cars coming the other way. We were all grazed and cut, but it was great fun.”

Mr Hudson, who joined the Royal Navy and now lives in County Durham, has a picture of pupils at Shipton School in 1967.

There are plans for a reunion of pupils who attended the school in the mid-1960s. If you would like to attend, call Jim on 0191 512 6420 or email jimahudson@sky.com