IT WAS a day these children had been looking forward to for weeks.

Few families could afford a proper summer holiday back in the 1950s, so a day’s outing by coach caused real excitement.

The children and their parents are pictured at the Buckinghamshire beauty spot of Burnham Beeches.

They had travelled there in the coach behind them, supplied by Drings of Oxford.

The trip was organised for families from Wolvercote, Oxford, by Walter Lloyd, of St Peter’s Road, in the mid-1950s.

The picture was sent in by one of the children who enjoyed the day out, Pauline Barnes, whose maiden name was Chadwick.

Although her sister, Tessie, is in the picture, she is missing from the line-up.

Mrs Barnes, of Burwell Drive, Witney, tells me: “Walter often ran trips for us – sometimes we went to the seaside.

“None of us had very much, so we always looked forward to them.

“I was about eight when went to Burnham Beeches and I remember we walked, ran up and down hills and played in the sand. We came home filthy.”

Mrs Barnes remembers the names of some of those who joined the trip – Bill, the coach driver, Mrs Bucket and Carol, Mrs Morgan and Eileen, Gerry (a visitor from the North of England), Eva Chandler, the Lewis children, the Payne children, and Colleen, Maureen, Kathleen and Eileen Noonan.

Today, Burnham Beeches, which lies between the villages of Stoke Poges and Fulmer, is regarded as one of the best examples of ancient woodland in Britain.

It was acquired by the City of London in 1880, in response to a threatened purchase by housing developers.

Despite its relatively small size of 540 acres, it attracts about 500,000 visitors a year, who appreciate its tranquillity as well as its rich diversity of habitats and wildlife.

It is home to woodpeckers, woodcock, tawny owls, foxes and dragonflies as well as some of Britain’s rarest invertebrates.

Burnham Beeches is designated a National Nature Reserve and a Special Area of Conservation under the European Habitats legislation.

Recent innovations have included a sensory trail along an easy access path, just under a mile long.

Do you recognise yourself or anyone else in the picture, or remember the trip?

Let me know.