Readers' memories of life before mobiles and the M6's early days

PICTURE FROM THE PAST: A stylishly dressed couple enjoy a meal and cigarettes with an elevated view over the newly constructed M6 motorway ahead of the grand opening of Keele Services in Staffordshire in 1963. Operated by Forte’s & Co. Ltd, the £500,000 service station featured a striking bridge restaurant spanning the carriageway, with seating for nearly 300 diners. The complex also included snack bars, transport cafés, extensive parking and a dedicated mothers’ room staffed by trained stewardesses. It was due to open in autumn 1963 alongside the Birmingham–Preston stretch of the motorway. Do you remember visiting the bridge restaurant at Keele Services when the M6 first opened? | ©PA

placeholder image — PICTURE FROM THE PAST: A stylishly dressed couple enjoy a meal and cigarettes with an elevated view over the newly constructed M6 motorway ahead of the grand opening of Keele Services in Staffordshire in 1963. Operated by Forte’s & Co. Ltd, the £500,000 service station featured a striking bridge restaurant spanning the carriageway, with seating for nearly 300 diners. The complex also included snack bars, transport cafés, extensive parking and a dedicated mothers’ room staffed by trained stewardesses. It was due to open in autumn 1963 alongside the Birmingham–Preston stretch of the motorway. Do you remember visiting the bridge restaurant at Keele Services when the M6 first opened? | ©PA

Our readers look back at life before mobile phones and reflect on the dangers - and adventures - of growing up in the 1950s, while another reader takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the Bayeux Tapestry and the legacy of the Norman conquest

Surviving with no mobile phone

Am I the only one who bravely steps out not carrying a mobile phone these days? My grandkids warn me of the dangers I subjected myself to when working in our top field in the ‘50s. Pulling sugar beet may be cold and wet and stubborn, but you wouldn't say, "I'm going to pull beet and I may not be back." Hoeing sugar beet may be a back-aching job, but I never saw anyone walking around for three weeks looking like the Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Skylarks singing high above was a sight/sound to behold, but if you disturb their nest on the ground, it's like hell hath no fury for disturbing their hallowed nest. The moving of the electric fence carried a small element of danger, but I don't think that 12 volts ever killed anyone.

Driving past now, it's hard to believe that I survived past my 10th birthday. How could dangers lurk in this most green and pleasant setting? If I set out now (it's unlikely – I'm 83), I would require a hard hat, high-vis coat, torch, gloves, steel-capped boots, and a compass.

Sticking up corn, after the binder had ejected its canvas-bed-tied-up occupant, was the most boring of jobs ever invented. Apart from 500 thistles in your hands, the likely cause of death could be boredom.

A cause of concern – and illegal – was four of us hanging on for dear life on the short journey home on our Fergie tractor. Hanging onto the mudguards and standing on the swinging arms where the plough would be attached to was an accident waiting to happen. "We plough the fields and scatter" comes to mind – but not over our faces as father opened her up to 15 mph on the open road.

Ps. I'd call the Samaritans if I got a mobile.

EW Stanworth, Midlands

We’ve all gone tapestry mad

Quick fetch me a needle, thread and thimble, the country’s gone Bayeux Tapestry mad. Or should it be Bayeux Embroidery?

No matter, those naughty Normans won the Battle of Hastings, therefore they designed the history of the events to be displayed within the embroidery. They carefully left out the bit where a few weeks before Hastings the Anglo-Saxon King, Harold II, had a big punch up at Stamford Bridge, near York, with one of his brothers and a load of Vikings. Therefore his army was much weakened by the time of Hastings.

So those naughty Normans started a 1,000 year debate on how close we should be to Europe, which is still going on. At least the Normans were good enough not to include a very distant cousin of mine, AElfwin Leofwine Steggallio, at the end of the embroidery, selling souvenirs of the battle to visiting Norman tourists.

Peter Steggles, Rushbury

You can enjoy other pictures from the past and more with our weekly FREE Nostalgia Newsletter - with scores of archive pictures and exclusive features on the history of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire and the Black Country - all sent to your inbox every week. Sign up here.

Have an opinion? We want to hear from you.

Share your views by writing to Readers’ Letters at [email protected].

Letters to the editor must include the writer’s name and address. Letters will only be published anonymously in exceptional circumstances. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity or style.

Do you have a picture from the past to share?

We would love to hear from you. Whether you have an old photograph, need help identifying a street or recognise a familiar face, send your images to [email protected].

Please include your name, where you are from and as much information as possible about the photograph. We will publish as many as we can online and in print.