Happy times are revisited
They were born and bred there, spent many a happy hour in its playground and regularly played Ackie 123 at its tree with their friends. They were born and bred there, spent many a happy hour in its playground and regularly played Ackie 123 at its tree with their friends. So when the Faulkner family learned their former home on a Walsall housing estate was being reduced to rubble, they decided to have one last game for old time's sake. One member even flew from New Zealand for the first time in a decade to take the trip down memory lane. Demolition work started several weeks ago on the blocks that are being levelled to make way for hundreds of new homes. The Faulkners lived in a home at St Quentin Street, in the middle of the estate, from 1970 with parents Roy and Avril. Ian Faulkner, 38, Jane Faulkner, 40, and Stephen Faulkner, 37, and their partners felt the years slip away as they came together yesterday to play one last round of the hide and seek game. Read the full story in the Express & Star.
So when the Faulkner family learned their former home on a Walsall housing estate was being reduced to rubble, they decided to have one last game for old time's sake.
One member even flew from New Zealand for the first time in a decade to take the trip down memory lane.
Demolition work started several weeks ago on the blocks that are being levelled to make way for hundreds of new homes.
The Faulkners lived in a home at St Quentin Street, in the middle of the estate, from 1970 with parents Roy and Avril. Ian Faulkner, 38, Jane Faulkner, 40, and Stephen Faulkner, 37, and their partners felt the years slip away as they came together yesterday to play one last round of the hide and seek game.
The Faulkners and their friends John and Leanne Mason and Brett Peach were known as The Scorpion Gang across the Walsall borough.
AIan now lives in Darlaston, Jane in Birchills and Stephen flew all the way from New Zealand for the occasion. They gathered beneath a tree that still bears their initials from when they were youngsters.
Ian said: "It has been very emotional for us to see our old stomping ground being destroyed and we just wanted to do one last thing to pay tribute.My mum had tears in her eyes as she watched us playing a game of Ackie 123."
Ackie 123 is a variation of hide of seek where the hiders have to make it back to the designated post before being found. The last person to make it back to the post becomes "it".
Walsall Housing Group and Bovis Homes is clearing the site in Old Pleck Road, Pleck, for a £20 million development of 223 homes.
