One of Derrick Holt’s abiding memories of his early life in the Marston district of Oxford was the almost total absence of cars.

“If you went anywhere, you walked, cycled or took the No 8 bus.

“From our home in Ferry Road, it was a reasonably short walk into Oxford via Mesopotamia.

“Those were the days when the streets were always clean and devoid of potholes, and the policeman, who knew most of the local people, toured the area on his bike.”

As we recalled (Memory Lane, May 7), Mr Holt’s family moved into a new home in Ferry Road in 1927 when Marston was still virtual countryside, with few buildings.

He writes: “My father had an allotment on what is now the council estate around Farmer Place.

“It was common practice for allotment-holders to go to the copse in Copse Lane and gather pea and bean sticks. I believe Copse Lane was the main route to Headington before London Road was built, but to us, it was a grassy lane where a gipsy caravan would park, no doubt to use the copse to obtain the raw material to make clothes pegs.

“An event which stays in my mind was seeing a large airship almost stationary over New Marston School, just as we were about to enter the classrooms.”

Mr Holt (pictured right), now of Fortnam Close, Headington, recalls one occasion when Richard Crossman (left), who went on to become a Labour Government minister, was standing for election to Oxford City Council. “He was giving a speech from a soap box outside Lower’s post office at the bottom of William Street and someone mentioned flooding at the approach to New Marston.

“His reply was that he wasn’t interested in the bad things, only the damn bad things!”