I remember, as a kid, I couldn’t wait to go outside and play with my toys. As a lad I used to have toy soldiers, hundreds of them, and I would spend hours upon hours setting them up, row after row, infantry first then the men on horses (not even from the same battle) mortar men, men with flame throwers – I had it all.

The men would be spread all over the garden. Then the battle would begin, I would throw a small stone and knock down some men – they were now dead. My mate would then do the same, but mine were only injured as they ‘wobbled’ not a clean kill.

‘Cheat’, he would shout, as he drops a large stone, that was from my plane he told me. Boys being boys I would run through his army kicking some over (well most of them) Spitfire!! It was always a good laugh, not at the time I suppose, as it always ended as an argument about who won. One person who didn’t win was my mum who used to stand on them whilst hanging out the washing.

Designed in the 60s, Space Hoppers were mostly bright orange, blue or pink in colour and could be inflated by a bike pump. As young lads we used to have hours of fun on then, that’s when we played outside, no XBoxes or
Wii back then, just great outdoor fun. Bring them back.