I WOULD think most people would have their favourite year and one of mine was 1961.

It was one those years that you could write down on a piece of paper and turn it upside down and it would still show 1961.

I was 12 going on 13 and went to Patcham Senior School. In the February there was a total eclipse of the sun and provided we had a negative we could look at the eclipse in the playground.

That year I had a schoolboy crush the girl who went to Varndean and lived down Wilmington Way.

At the end of June Brighton said good bye to its trolley buses - it was a sad sight seeing them in the scrap yard near Lewes. Some of the trolleys were there longer than they were in service.

Pop songs were great that year - one of my favourites was the 14-year old Helen Shapiro who had two number one hit records. They were You Don’t Know and Walking Back To Happiness.

Cliff had more hits and his backing group The Shadows had a number one hit record with Kon-Tiki.

So as you can see 1961 was indeed a great year, whichever way you choose to write it.

Ian Steedman

St George’s Road

Worthing