A loaf tin used to create Portsmouth igloo's building blocks

He was born in Portsmouth in 1958 and went to Portsmouth Technical High School, Hilsea, before the family moved to Cumbria in 1977.

Alan has inherited photographs taken by his parents and wanted to share them with readers.

His maternal grandfather, George Cooper, owned a sports complex in Southsea, with tennis courts, a social club and roller skating rink, until it was compulsorily purchased by Portsmouth City Council and was supposed to be turned over for housing in the 1960s.

Alan says: ‘He was so disgusted at the council’s actions, he moved to Cumbria and bought a post office and general stores in what was then Westmorland.

‘He thought it was a backward step and had he realised the housing would never materialise, and the site is now a public park, he would have been livid!’

So he wonders if readers remember Wimbledon Park skating rink and the social club known as The Grosvenor Club?

Three of his pictures here show the street outside his home, 58 Sheffield Road, Fratton, during the bitter winter of 1962-63.

Alan adds: ‘My father was a keen woodworker, and quickly built my brother and I a sledge which we later used to help the milkman deliver the milk to our street!

‘Then as the snow persisted, our parents used a loaf tin to make snow bricks, and built us an igloo.

‘It was very popular with all the local children, and they came from streets away to play in it.’