Swimming

A Memory of Fazeley.

I grew up in Fazeley along with my little brother Glenn. Some of my best memories would be of the good summers we used to have when we would spend most of the school holidays swimming and fishing in the brook at Brook End. We would dam up the shallow brook and spend many hours in the now 5ft deep water,(due to our dams). Then we would build swings across the brooks and have hours of fun. In the main summer months you would see whole families having picnics along the banks of the brook, it was like a beach atmosphere. Sadly I walk the local brook nowadays and it is all overgrown and no children play in the waters any more, even though they are probably cleaner now than in my day. I always remember my mum telling us off because we would come home with dyed swimming shorts as sometimes the brook would be blue or red depending on what colour the cotton mill upstream was dying the cotton that day (as I said, the water is cleaner nowadays) but sadly kids today are wrapped up in cotton wool and seem to spend their childhood sitting in front of computers. I wouldn't swop my childhood for all the money in China. Plus I'm still a big kid at heart and loved my childhood in Fazeley. One of these days I will go for a swim in that brook, but would probably be reported to the police as no one ever goes into open water today.

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