THE years from the 1930s to the 1950s were among the most austere in living memory. They also encompassed great changes, particularly in a predominantly rural area like the Vale of Evesham.

A man who lived through those times, Dr John Sandalls, born of a working-class family in Common Road, Evesham, has written A Common Lad, which portrays life through the eyes of a boy growing up between 1936 and 1958.

He explained: "Through my personal recollections, I have attempted to paint a picture of what life was like for young people born into working-class families in Evesham. For people like myself, born in 1936, we were nine years of age before we knew anything of life in peacetime.

"That is not to say that the first nine years of my life were unhappy and unexciting. Indeed, very few young people find life dull even under conditions of deprivation and I count myself very fortunate to have spent 19 of the first 21 years of my life living in Common Road; the missing two years were spent doing National Service in the Royal Air Force, mostly in Northern Ireland."

As well as life experienced by the children on the Common, Dr Sandalls, looks at some of the local, national and international events that impacted on his generation.

Dr Sandalls recalls an adolescence even more enjoyable than his early years. The war had ended and although always short of money, he somehow managed to go to pubs, take part in sport, go to the cinema and attend the Saturday night dances in the Lifford Hall, Broadway.

"I believe the way of life for people who grew up on Evesham Common in the 1940s and 1950s must have had many advantages," he said. "None of us fell foul of the law either then or since. Several of us passed the grammar school entrance examination and the Common ultimately produced a research scientist for Cortaulds Textiles, a research scientist for the Atomic Energy Authority, a professor of veterinary science, a senior engineer for the BBC and a mayor of Evesham. Most of the others carved out solid careers in the building industry or developed their own horticultural and agricultural businesses."

The book is on sale at £10 in Phoenix Bookshops, Evesham and Winchcombe, Evesham Book Centre, Book Bargains in Evesham, Evesham Almonry Museum and Heritage Centre and Perfect Image, Bewdley Street, and by post from Dr Jon Sandalls, Tamara, Locks Lane, Wantage, OX12 9DB at £12 to include p&p.