My cousin Hazel and myself were best friends from a very young age. In the 1950s we lived just a short distance from each other on Roughwood Road on the newly built Kimberworth Park Estate as it was then known. Hazel lived with her parents (my uncle and aunt) Eric and Edna Lee at number 61. I lived at number 89 with my parents Bill and Bella Bagnall.

We were very close and would spend many hours together at each others homes. Hazel was quite reserved and timid as a young girl and I think that over time as our friendship grew, Hazel's confidence also began to grow and she blossomed into a beautiful young person.

I remember when hazel became interested in keeping Hamsters and her dad Eric made a fantastic wooden Hamster cage for her. It stood about four feet tall with four levels one above the other. All the floors were connected with sloping ramps for the hamsters to go up and down. Each floor had it's own purpose, one for feeding, one for sleeping and another for play and exercise with tubes and wheels etc.

Another time I remember was about 1961 when Hazel went on holiday with my parents and me and our older cousin Roy Nettleship, his wife Muriel and their baby daughter Janice. We stayed in a chalet at Humberston Fitties near Cleethorpes and everyone had a lovely time. We would spend most days at the beach, doing the usual swimming and paddling in the sea and sunbathing etc. Cousin Roy had brought a tent which was pitched on the sand for us all to get changed in. In the evenings the adults went out to the pub and Hazel and me had the job of babysitting little Janice. This was no easy task as janice was not a very sleepy baby and she needed lots of nursing and looking after. By the time the adults returned from the pub we would be tired out and ready for bed.

Then in 1963 tragedy struck when Hazels father Eric died at only 41 years of age. Hazel told me afterwards that she and her mum had returned home and found Eric laying in bed as though asleep. When there was no response Hazel checked his pulse and said "mum, I think he's dead". I can't imagine how awful this must have been for her to experience at only fourteen years old.

No longer wishing to live in the same house, Hazel and her mum moved home to live for a while at Wood Road, Kimberworth Park, and soon afterwards they made the move to Sheffield to live at Park Hill in a high rise flat.

Hazel was married in 1969 to Brian Jacobs, and I remember moving their belongings and furniture to a flat that was in a road that I can't remember the name of, it was just off Ecclesall Road. I worked in furniture removals at the time. It was after this time that our lives began to take different paths and sadly we would only meet up at family gatherings, weddings and funerals.

How I wish that I had made a little more effort to keep in touch.