IT was back in time to the 1920s last Friday at Westbury Court Care Home in Westbury-on-Severn.

A day of activities celebrated the life of Queen Elizabeth II by focussing on the decade of her birth. Dean Heritage Museum provided an exhibition with photographs and objects, as well as bringing along a 1920s ‘rummage box’ for residents to

look through.

Westbury School pupils sang an array of songs from the period and brought pictures created by infants at the school for the residents to judge and award prizes to the winners.

Most of the 35 residents at the home took part in the event and three, all in their nineties, recorded their memories to share.

Activities coordinator, Steven Moore said: “92-year-old Peggy Birch, used to run the Nags Head in Yorkley. She recalls that sweets were in short supply when she was a child and remembers eating toffee apples and sharing a sherbert fountain with a friend at the school gates.

“Arthur Brookbank, who is 92, grew up in Bream. He remembers being told off by the vicar for sucking Zubes throat lozenges in church. He thought it was most unfair as the vicar’s daughter would sit in the front row eating chocolates.

“Hilda Sankey is aged 94 and worked in the old house that stood on the site of Westbury Court Care Home. She told us all about life as a parlour maid there.”

Hilda also recalls life in Westbury before the river was diverted.

Stephen added: “Children used to be taken to school by boat as the village flooded so often. Hilda told us that children were taken to school by ‘horse and float.’ ”

Local singer Rick Jones entertained residents in the afternoon and Cllr Richard Boyle attended, as did PCSO David Birch.

Stephen said: “Many of the residents’ family members came along and we had a fantastic time. Everyone here is still talking about it.

“We put a lot into this event and got a lot out of it in return. Despite the hard times it’s obvious that lots of our residents got a lot of pleasure out of life as children in the 1920s.”