AS a child, I frequently played the 18-hole novelty golf course and became very proficient. Visitors paid a small fee to obtain a scorecard, club and ball which, at the 18th hole the ball disappeared into a target, and could not be retrieved.

Those players who were annoyed and came into the shop demanding their ball back were told that the game was over and they had to pay again for another round. Some were cheeky enough to miss out the 18th and played another round for free! Parents Norman and Jessie worked hard in our cafe which was a target for thieves, so sometimes mother, father, my brother Kenneth and I slept in the cafe to guard it.

One night a man was discovered half way through a window and was challenged by my father. He claimed he wanted some cigarettes but my father and brother chased him off and he escaped back to Teignmouth along the sea wall.