If there were proof that the friendships forged in childhood last a whole life through, Godfrey Eden and Rob Druce are that proof.

Born in Garsington in the middle of the Second World War, they were chums virtually as soon as they left their prams. Throughout their infant and junior school days they were inseparable, whether out in the fields, fishing for tadpoles, climbing trees, re-living wartime battles or taking turns at playing Robin Hood or the hero and villain of some make-believe western.

Godfrey's departure at 11 for Thame as a boarder at Lord Williams's Grammar School and Rob's to Wheatley Secondary Modern failed to divide the pair. Rob would go to Thame to see his chum perform in the school's plays, directed by the legendary Oxfordshire theatrical personality, Gerard Gould.

And that is where it began - their 40-year association with Garsington Players.

This week they will appear in Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills, the story of a group of children during the long, hot summer of 1943. The children in this sad but amusing story are all played by adults.

"The strange thing is that all the summers when Rob and I were young seemed to be long and hot," said Godfrey, who retired recently as personnel operations manager at BMW. "Of course, they weren't, but somehow the play seems to prolong that myth."

Producing the play is God- frey's wife Judy (Rob was best man at their wedding) while Rob's wife Mary is prompt, a role in which it is hoped she will not have to be too active. Best man at their wedding? Yes - it was Godfrey.

"I suppose we were very much like the boys, tearing around the village upsetting some of the older people," said Rob, the buyer for A.S. Scientific Productions in Abingdon.

"I'm not ready yet for my second childhood - but some might reckon this is it."

Also in the cast are Marie Holmes, Kate Hey, Rod Graham, Alan Riddles and Colin Davidson.