Here are some recollections of good ones, basically in chronological order. If any of you bastards read these - email me at djmikecurley@gmail.com - and update me!! Those of you who read this and reckon - I was a good mate too - this list tends to ignore work type friendships which are covered elsewhere, and concentrates on those friends who shared their and my life.

Roy Allen/Allan - my first young friend from the age of 5+ to about 10, We lived at 71, he at 93? Hurstfield Crescent, Hayes, Middx. His mother ?Ruby? was smallish, tubby with open round face and sparkling eyes and hint of a smile, and his father, tall thinning straight dark hair with moustache. Their front room was full of "things" - lots of electrical gizmoes and 8mm film projector and films - remember seeing Laurel & Hardy etc... films there. We went to same Nursery and Primary school, Grange Park and used to play in the street (ice slides in the circle during winters, next to the lamp-post) other friends then - Allan ?? and Brian ?? (had asthma), next door was ?Billy? and across the street were ???name of a haulage company?? Remember playing at home by piling pillows at bottom of stairs and jumping down into them from higher stairs, also "walking" round on quart brown beer bottles (what if they'd broken?), and playing hand/football on the floor in front room with rolled up socks. Can remember Brian asking if I knew what a skyscraper was - and I gave what I thought was a good answer - one of those planes that fly high and leave a condensation trail behind them. we all used to go "to the woods" (which is where the Heinz offices are now) - lots of fun there - stream, trees and the big house in the middle of the meadow. Also roller skating area up near the "Rec", and the Rec itself - football. Playing marbles in the gutters and when the drain-cleaners came round asking them to suck up and regurgitate any marbles that had fallen through the drain grate. Another game was running round the crescent, but also hiding clues in trees, telegraph poles etc... telling where the next clue was.

Geoff Barrow,- I must have met him at Grange Park too. I think he was in the "A" stream, whilst I was in the "B" stream. I cannot remember too much friendship before the age of about 11 ( we were both in the Grange Park football team (he - left-wing and me right-back - not much chance of friendship there!) that won the Hawes trophy that/which year (must have been around 1953/1954) - playing soccer for the school against villains and criminals from other schools around the area. I can remember the final - played at Hayes FC stadium, one summer evening - we were pitched against some school or other (cannot remember the name) and their main-man was (I think John Hollis - why do I remember that??) - who was on holiday in Austria or Switzerland or somewhere and raced back only just making the final by changing into soccer gear in the car to the stadium) - ha-ha - we beat them 2-0 or 2-1, but thereafter he moved from Hayes to Greenford, whilst I moved from Hurstfield Crescent to North Hyde Rd - both in Hayes. He was at Southall Grammar school and I was at (firstly) Townfield Secondary and then Ealing Tech. During this period - ages from about 11/12 to 16/17 - we did lots of things together but concentrated on cycling. Burnham Beeches, Maidenhead and along the Thames towpath - I always remember Red Hill at Denham being such a struggle and then turning left at the top off to Burnham Beeches - in later years I lived in Denham near Red Hill, but by then had a car - never even noticed the incline!! We used to go out all day along the Thames Valley - Cookham, Marlow - maybe 150 to 160 miles (occasionally as high as 200) - but I remember the average speed for the day was about 12 mph!! Apart from cycling there was of course the starting teenage years and the explosion of Rock and Roll and 78 rpm 10 inch records being replaced by 7 inch 45 rpm disks - the good old autochanger record decks and then stereo radio-grams. Geoff married Hazel (lived in High Wycombe and then moved to ?Dunstable?) and the last time I saw him - and his dad (Hi Mr Barrow!) was at my Mum's funeral at Amersham 10th May 1991.

Well!!!!... Haven't we grown up?? This has to be around age 16/17 - so... summer again??... 1958??

Update!! Added (October 2005) a couple of piccies of Geoff's Marriage/Wedding. I honestly do not know the date - so have chosen mid-1960's, and decided that it looks autumnal - so therefore - October. I recall that this was the "reception" - at the Crown in Penn, although I don't think I was there......??

John Perry & Barry Parker - these two were Ealing Tech buddies. I can only remember Summer Projects - working together on literature compositions and then parties at Barry's parent's flat - Maggie Leng and Mary Draper provided the female 50%, and the party tended to consist of listening to Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley etc... what imaginations we had then!! I think both of them became "professional students" - going to ?Kingston Tech? and then doing various Diplomas and Degrees in order to prolong the day when they had to work.

Paul Tucker - we're still in contact - occasionally. We met at Ealing Tech in about 1957, he was living in Northolt and I was in Hayes. Played soccer, table-tennis in the student's Common room, then visits back and forth between respective homes - out with his sisters Pam and Wendy to the Kodak Saturday night dances in ?Wealdstone?. His dad (Ernie) bought a yellow Ford Anglia - with the cut-back rear window, then Paul bought a dark green Austin A30 and I bought a red Beetle. He finished Ealing Tech 1 year ahead of me, went to work on the Stock Exchange and when I started at The Times newspaper, we traveled on the Central line together. He met Dorothy at his work (she was a telephonist) and within a few years they were married (I was best man) and living in Fleet, Hampshire. I can remember, it was a new house, with mud for a back garden and I think a canal at the end of the garden, but they got that well sorted. They stayed in Fleet (having 3 fine sons), moved a couple of times - and are still there - grandparents now!! Good memories... staying overnight, the Kodak dances, Ern's new radiogram & Ray Conniff/Billy Butterfield, and his continual affirmations that "Al Boley was the best"!, tea-times with the whole family - well done Jess, the bike rides from 1 house to the other, particularly one Christmas Eve - or New Year's Eve, setting off around 23:00 and it just starting to snow, Chris and Charlie living nearby, black Scottie dog ??, Isle of Wight holiday with relatives, the car "rallies", the car crash....

Paul Basson (Bassy) - met him via work/Tucker - they both worked at the same company and were programming a computer produced by the company I worked for. Shortly after that he joined Ken Johnston at 1900 Programming - as did I. He drove a British Racing Green MGB and used to bash up the M1 to Yorkshire to see Anne, most weekends (they'd met on the ?Lakonia? - which sank with lots of deaths) and I was best man at their wedding. Bassy had broken his big toe as a result of his high-jinks at his Stag-Night and couldn't get into his wedding shoe - so had to resort to a Tuf boot - quite a picture as they were kneeling down at the altar - Bally on one foot and Tuf on the other. They then went to live in Penn, Bucks whilst I went to South Africa - Bass got into property speculation, and running his dad's furniture shops and on my return I joined a software company he had money in - Systems 70, with Jim Davies - Mike Waller had just left this company. The Bassons (Paul, Anne, James & Claudia) and the Curleys (Almuth, Mike, Britta and Inga) had a wonderful life in Penn - lots of "parties", barbecues, tennis-matches, Bridge evenings with the Barkers, swimming get-togethers, and then the Bassys went to live in Monaco.....paradise...apparently. Been to visit them a couple of times - memorable weekends particularly one where...... Bass picked me up at Nice airport in his Porsche 911, drove along the coast to Monte, the next day out on their yacht, swimming, shampooing, barbecuing, then in the evening, still on the boat, drifting around the entrance to the harbour to watch the regular fireworks display, then sailed down to the Sporting Club, where the roof was just opening and Joe Cocker was on stage, then back to the harbour, but en-route we heard a tinkling piano coming from one of the big boats still moored at the harbour entrance - it was Elton John giving a performance for 50/60 guests - hang around there getting a great free-show, next day - more messing about on the boat, and then on Monday - helicoptered back to Nice airport - great!!

Fred Boulton - he sits right in the middle of the Bassy friendship (timewise) - I met him on my first day - arriving in South Africa, 1969/70. He was working for 1900 Programming, and came to the hotel (with a couple of the other boys and Sue Oldrieve, his girlfriend). We went across the road for lunch and there it was - "Monkey Gland Steak" - had to have that!! - turned out to be nothing to do with monkeys - just a sauce on a steak - good though! Fred had been living in SA for about 3/4 years already, shared a flat in Berea with Sue, and looked like Steve McQueen.... or do I mean Joe Cool?? Lots of racing about in cars - all over Southern Africa - up to Mozambique (initially he had the Punchy Peugeot 404 but changed to the little orange Lancia) - great times - in the Drakensberg mountains where we were so cold camping one night, we decided newspapers wrapped around us would be a cheap easy way of combatting the cold. Fred asked Jean (his girlfriend/wife) to go into a little shop and buy us lots - but she came back after only a few minutes - empty handed - saying "they only had Afrikaans papers"!! - we fell about laughing saying - "we don't want to read the bloody things"!! Other trips were the weekends down to Durban - Friday night driving through the veldt and then the escarpment Van Reenens Pass etc... great times. What about the evening when just Fred and I were in Cafe Mozart, up Wanderers way - having drunk our first bottle of Bellingham Grand Cru when Franco (the owner) joined us for a toast from bottle number 2. On toasting he complained that the bottle was off - (Fred and I hadn't noticed), and he insisted on another bottle with 3 more glasses - and of course the second one was much better (he claimed) - again we couldn't tell the difference, and he insisted on making us aware of the difference - and of course the glasses and bottles got mixed - and in the end Fred and I drank both bottles - using all 6 glasses! What was the name of the Country Club place that Franco and his wife opened up Illovo/Sandton way?? - King Henry?? Fred visited us in the UK a couple of times - once with Erika (wife 2) and the next with his daughter, but since then have lost track of him - he was with an Advertising Agency.......... Yo!! May, 2002 - we're back in contact!!

Ralph Magro - Ralphie is all Hong Kong - met him through Nolan Philipps in about 1995 - he runs a Head-Hunting/Computer Services company - but has never found me a job!! He and Rowena lived in Causeway Bay then moved to a great apartment in Mid-Levels - just south of Caine Rd - 2 floors - AND a garden!! One of those oases of green, quiet amongst 45 storey apartment blocks - lots of barbecues and they have lots (4) of cats, fish, turtles. Went skiing with them and Brittsy/Inga to Verbier in march 1999, fab weather/snow - good time. Here they are..

Colin Newbury, Yvette Newbury, Zebedee Newbury and River Newbury. First met Colin (he was Contracting like me) at Philipp Brothers in the City sometime between June 1985 and June 1986, he lived Amersham (then Marlow) way so we met at weekends and dinners. Yvette came on the scene around 1986 and we sort of lost touch until dinners in Amersham with Christine B in 1991/1992. I went to Hong Kong in 1993 so we lost touch well and truly until Colin and Yvette decided on a "world-trip" - I remember getting a card from them in Nepal in December 1994, with suggestions of them visiting Hong Kong. They duly arrived and stayed in my hotel room for a while - before we saw them off on the Ferry up to Shanghai. Got cards/letters from them (and recommendations of "great places of the world" - Galapagos, Mendoza, South West OZ (they stayed with Fizzy in Perth)) from Sydney (29/11/95) and Columbia (29/3/96) and expected them to be back in Europe early 1997. I think buying and selling of apartments/houses then intruded as well as the making of Zebedee and then they decided to go live in Belize!! They emailed around May 2001 that they had found a plot of land and were going to become Citrus Farmers - with jobs like "thinning out our 500-700 trees and budding the remainder" as first priorities.

Possible House site Yvette and Zebedee Colin and Zebedee Then along came River - in early 2002

Yvette & Pluto in House foundations Colin & River surveying "Newbury Acres" Zebedee - little boy lost Zeb and "the house"

Later in April, 2003 lots more piccies of the boys etc... but I've only added a house related photo here:

Zeb the builder with Water tank beneath house behind. Colin just squeezes in at top right.

Looking down on the roof from behind the house Zeb on the ramp, Colin and River up top Curing the concrete with Zeb and Pluto

Masters of all they survey!! Second stage Centre 'umbrella' for main cabana Centre section, house and Zeb

Lorry arrives at Happy Moon with big poles for house Yvette, Zeb and the fire truck at Happy Moon May 2003 Get it as near as you can Unloading the poles

Zeb in truck with house behind As at 20/06/2003 First poles to form roof Chainsawing pine log

In these pictures you can see the first poles have been put on the front cabana that give some indication of the roof. That will be very interesting when they start putting the thatch on!

31st July, 2003 - More construction:

12th November, 2003 - Looking good!!:

May 2005 - they have been busy!! Firstly... I'm getting a bit worried about the kiddie-winks - they're obviously growing up "physically fit" (but there again... their beds...?? ) - but its the mental-side I'm starting to get worried about... I mean - Zeb using his toes in an attempt to count to 20 whilst obviously attacked by some insects or other...?? Meanwhile River has to eat his lunch off the floor....?? once the insects have gone!! Then there's the "security issue"... all well and good building in an orchard/forest - but a disaster if the trees fall on you... so they're probably right to cut them down before they fall on the inhabitants... and why is that dog guarding the wood - when there's wood all around him...?? Oh - alright!!..... It looks very close to paradise!!