Preface to Teenage Tales of Hungerford

Written by Jimmy Whittaker

Preface

So much can happen during one’s lifetime and I view that I have been blessed to have spent my teenage years growing up in Hungerford, despite it being classified in some generic travel guides as a small sleepy market town in southern England. When you speak to strangers about Hungerford, they remember only the Hungerford Tragedy of 1987 which purports to have put Hungerford on the map. In some respects, I regret that Hungerford is now globally known for this; however, in this book, I describe in a series of tales, what a wonderful place to have spent one’s teenage years and, more importantly, the 60s when things were changing for the youth of the day.

One of my gifts in life is a superb memory which has allowed me to describe the events, people and places as accurately as is possible for an old age pensioner in his dotage.  I would probably estimate that 95% of this book is true, with economies of truth making up the rest.

Hungerford in the early 60s had a population of just over 2000: with such a small population everybody knew each other and therefore knew everybody else’s business. In many ways, this made Hungerford almost a family business, but I won’t dwell on in-breeding!  Indeed, if you were to investigate census information from 1901 to 1971, you would see that the same family names pop up time and time again.

Today in 2015, the population has almost trebled and the purpose of this book is to record what a great place Hungerford in the swinging 60s offered youngsters growing up there.  You will find details of my adventures, the friends I made, descriptions of people and local characters, the town and its environs and a little bit of history.    Probably most important, was all of the largely innocent fun that we had, and that our children’s children would still enjoy today.  I consider myself very lucky to have had my teenage years full of adventures from start to finish.

Whoever said that the teenage years are the most difficult part of growing up, must have just jumped off a plane from Fantasy Island.  Mine were the best that even money could not buy.