I’ll never forget my Claygate childhood

I no longer live in Claygate and there have been times that I regret leaving the village after spending around 25 years there – from child to adult. With my old village being the backdrop to some recent unpleasant news, I’ve been muling over my feelings about the childhood I spent there.

Just thinking about the word Claygate drums up so much nostalgia for me. Bad things did happen while I grew up there, sure, but the main story would be one of a magical place that allowed me and my friends the freedom to run with our imaginations.

Claygate had and still has an abundance of woodland and open countryside. As a child living with a woodland behind your home – sitting at the end of your garden almost – I had endless possibilities for make-believe and adventure. Maybe the environment of fields, woods and the heavy scent of nature compounded a feeling of safety. Claygate always felt like a place outside of normal time. Violence and crime never seemed to be on anyones lips and there was a sense of freedom from the ‘big bad world’. The world seen through a child’s eyes? Possibly.

Let me take you through a few of the standout moments from my time living in Claygate;

Queen’s Silver Jubilee, 1977. Street party! Friends were easy to come by in the cul-de-sac that I lived in. We all seemed to get on, no matter what the age. The children from the street would play games of forty forty or it seemed that way. I remember winning second place in the fancy dress competition that day. Both my younger brother and I were dressed as red indians but I went up to collect the prize. I have a picture of me in the prizing winning costume somewhere and will think to get it scanned and added at some point.

AD&D and beyond. The foundations of my appreciation of what a good game is began back in the ’80s. Card and board games came and went but as soon as I experienced my first taste of a AD&D game at a friends, my whole perspective was changed. The friend in question had a games room that contained a snooker table that doubled for some table-top gaming. I think we had a small group of around five but that was an ideal number for my Cleric to get some tough adventuring. I loved that the DM spoke the scene and from the rolls of a trusty d20 developed the adventure with hardly any visual aids. Our AD&D group didn’t live long. It didn’t break any records but it was magical moment that I have not since recaptured. Of course computer gaming – thanks Elite – then came into my life but not before I’d had a good few years of PBM games like that of Crasimoff’s World and Saturnalia. I remember I use to hound our postman as I waited for each new turn to arrive. Some of the wonder of PBM gaming was the wait between sending your turn in and having a GM work out what happened and getting it back to you. A two week wait wasn’t unheard of and can you imagine today’s gamer having that kind of patience?

I feel there’s more about my childhood in Claygate that I have yet to put down in words. You may well see a further post from me on this subject but it really depends on whether you, dear reader. Would want to hear more about those wonder years?