For me, its significance is two-fold.

Firstly, on the back row, second left, is my dear old dad, Richard Crambie, who served in the Home Guard during the war being in a reserved occupation as a munitions inspector at the local BTH factory in Skipton Road, Colne. Secondly, its very date makes the sepia photo, now 65 years old, and indeed on last Sunday, June 1st, 2008, I too reached the milestone age of 65.

What is certain today, six and a half decades on from my arrival as a war baby in a world turned upside down (my own mum and dad bombed out in the Blitz, losing everything) are the immense changes from those far off times to the present day.

Growing up in Colne during the 1940s and 1950s were happy days indeed and memories of those post-war years are with me always. In my mind's eye, I can still picture my dad in his "Dads' Army" uniform and he would put his cap on my head with the badge gleaming in the sun in our backyard. I can see my mum donkey-stoning our front door step at 8 Hall Street, first the brown stone, then the white stone, all along the edge, just the same as every other house down our street.

Next door at No. 6 was "Irene's shop" run by old Mr Waters and his niece, Irene, round the clock. The shop's interior was an Aladdin's treasure trove for young boys like me and full of captivating items.

Hanging from the shop's ceiling on huge shiny hooks were sides of bacon and great pieces of ham while in the corner was an enormous potato scoop with lots of brass weights alongside. Around 30 big square tins of biscuits with glass fronts were all along the back wall and by the shop door stood a large cardboard cut-out of "Sifta Sam" saying in capital letters "Buy my Salt Today". Just behind Irene's till were around 25 wooden drawers with labels saying nutmegs, saffron, baking soda, Oxos, Parkinson's pills, Dolly Blues and tapers. Then, by the side of the counter, best of all, were the sweets, spearmint chews, penny Arrow bars, "Black Sambo" bubble gum, liquorice sticks, sweet tobacco, pear drops, sherbet lemons and sarsaparilla tablets.

I'm a lucky man indeed. I've reached 65 with memories that can take me back to happy days at any time. I live in a place I love and would live nowhere else on earth and best of all, I have a family who mean the world to me and who I know unreservedly love me every bit as much as I do them.