Another Jolt of 1968

I’ve mentioned before how much talk there is ths year of 1968. It’s as if those pundits who were around then and remain today can hardly believe it is all of forty years ago. This morning there was an item on the Today programme about the Prague spring, followed by the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. For me this was a stark reminder of a traumatic few days I spent in Bridlington at the time when all this happened. I was 11 and had only recently joined the St John Ambulance Brigade - bit like the Scouts but with bandages.

As with most other such organisations, a highlight of the year was the summer camp. Initially, this had seemed like a good idea to me, and I remember being keen to go. On the day of departure we were required to meet at Chester Street bus station in the centre of Bradford. It could have been the early start, or more likely the fact that it was to be my first time away without the family, but there were a few tears were shed. Thankfully, this was done within the privacy of home.

Don’t remember a great deal else about the trip apart from going into Bridlington centre on the bus to the cinema. And then came that news. The Russians had invaded Czechoslovakia! There must have been eight or nine boys of various ages in our tent. Certainly I was one of the youngest. The eldest must have been in their late teens, and they immediately began speculating on the events that would surely follow: World War Three was imminent. The Americans would not tolerate such behaviour and Britain would have to support their allies. They would all be called up and everyone was doomed! For the first time in my life I was away from parental reassurance and if these older boys were saying these things then they must be right! I remember being petrified. I might even have blubbed. In public this time.

On my return home, the adults didn’t seem so bothered about the international crisis, perhaps because that generation had seen it all before. After a few days, my world returned to normal. Not quite the same for those in Czechoslovakia, I suspect.