Specs

These were my very first pair of glasses. The most basic National Health glasses for a youngster. It was noticed at primary school in the 1950s that I had trouble seeing the blackboard so it was suggested to my mother that I should visit an optician.

I remember my first visit for an eye test. The optician didn't have a shop, he worked from a terraced house somewhere in the back streets of Birmingham. You walked straight off the street into his front room. He was highly thought of and I continued to go to him for some time afterwards.

I wasn't keen on these glasses and I resisted wearing them in public. I had appearances to keep up! I remember not wearing them for country dancing at school and having difficulty seeing the demonstrations of what we should be doing (for "Strip the Willow" or something similar).

Anyway, I am pleased I have hung onto them!