Bonnyrigg childhood memories spill into new book

Now living in Leeds, driving instructor Sandy Wilson only started writing eight years ago, for a blog on stories from his childhood. A year ago he joined a writing group and then decided to put all of his stories into Memory Spill.

He said: “The stories are from 1953 up to 1967 when I left school. Quite a few people are buying it there has been a lot of interest, it’s stimulating a lot of memories for a lot of people.

“It’s of the time, the way the schools were ran, and kids were free to do what they wanted outwith school. We once accidentally burnt down the local railway station, Broomieknowe Station in Bonnyrigg. We were just playing there one summer, my brother brought petrol and threw it on a fire we had and of course the whole embankment went up then the station was burnt down, and nobody knew we did it!

“People remember these things, when I put the stories on my blog people would get in touch from all over the world to say they remember an incident, place, or person I mention. It’s quite funny how people remember certain things from so long ago.

“This is the first book but I have had stories on various internet sites in America. My next book is going to be about my five years in Spain.”