Living in a wooden Army hut for 15 years may not appeal to everyone, but for Patrick Cummins, it was like heaven.

Looking back on his early days at the Slade camp at Headington, Oxford, he says: “I loved it – it was the best time of my life.”

We were reminded of the many families who lived on the site off The Slade when photographer John Stanley sent in pictures he had taken there in the post-war period (Memory Lane, July 27).

The camp and its prefabricated buildings provided much-needed homes for city folk after the Army moved out.

Oxford Mail:

Young Patrick and his family – mum Bridie, dad Paddy, sister Josephine (known as Monsie) and brother Bill – moved to 80 Ninth Avenue in 1948 and lived there until 1963.

He attended Our Lady’s School and Edmund Campion School at Cowley, but it was the leisure time he spent with his friends on and around the camp site that he enjoyed most.

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He recalls: “There was a ramp for the Army tanks that we used to climb, we would go scrumping for pears and apples, and soldiers would lock us in the guard house for an hour as a joke when they caught us sneaking through the fence to collect conkers.

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“We would dig through the soil to find live shells and use a nail and hammer to get them to fire. How we never got killed, it was a miracle.

“Every year, we would fight the boys from Wood Farm for a week, and then become friends again. We would grab each other, but no-one really got hurt.

“I remember visiting the shops in Cinnaminta Road, and Dad going for a drink at the Corner House pub which was run by Bob Jacks, a retired policeman.

“I also remember Mr Garrett, the caretaker – if you needed any repairs to your home, you went to him.

“Every Sunday, we went to the Prince of Wales pub in Horspath Road for an ice cream – it was our Sunday treat.

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“I loved it there – if I could, I would build a house in Ninth Avenue and go back.”

The family moved from the Slade camp to Cumberland Road, off Cowley Road, and Mr Cummins still lives there, but in a different house, with his wife Sue.

Oxford Mail:

Robert Brechin

Read again: family were Slade camp pioneers

Robert Brechin and his family were the first residents to move into the Slade camp.

When the Brechins arrived in November 1948, the Army was still on site trying to make the huts habitable.

Any more memories of the Slade camp to share with readers?