A few days ago, I mentioned in a post that my memory was acting up. I was given some good advice by Diana Sheridon, on how to tackle this problem, thank-you Diana. I showed the post to my son Iain, and we started talking about human memory. I said that I only needed a little prompt to bring back a long-forgotten story.
We then started talking about the things I have written about, things that happened in Chertsey all those years ago. I said I was very keen on model making, and in 1944, with the money I earned as a delivery boy, I used to buy my model kits from a shop opposite Woolworths in Guildford Street.
As soon as I mentioned models, into my memory came my friend David Mawford. He was very good at making the most complicated kits such as the Golden Hind. A Galleon with intricate rigging, something I could never do.
I then described a little aero engine that he had for a line-controlled model plane, that we used to fly up the Chertsey ‘Rec. I said it was an ED Mark Two, a 2cc diesel engine, it cost four guineas—four pounds twenty pence in todays money. I then said it was made in Surbiton, near Kingston, Surrey, and the firm was called Electronic Developments— hence ED.
As is normal for the youth of today—he is 56. He Googled ‘ED Mark Two’, and up came an advert in ‘The Aeromodeller’ dated 1946. The advert was for the ED Mark Two, model diesel engine, the price was four guineas, and it was made by Electronic Developments, from Kingston Surrey.
I remembered the very same magazine and the actual advertisement. I must have read every part of the advert, otherwise why would I have known all these details. It just shows that it pays to advertise.
Seventy-four years later, I can still remember my first car’s number plate from 1959—FH 9494. A 1933 Ford Eight Alpine Tourer—but I struggle to remember my current cars number which I have had for two years.
Such is the life of the elderly!
Madeinchertsey 