Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Being a teenager when my Dad was serving in the RAF at Akrotiri. Happy school days at St Johns School, Episkopi, Youth club, Beach, Sports and girls.....what was there not to like!

As a five or six year old, picknicking in a nest of hay in a hayfield with my friends, the children of a local farmer, and my first taste of strawberries and cream - a very rare treat in the immediately post war years

As a teenager sitting on the grass at Fenners watching the Cambridge University cricket matches and eating - guess what? strawberries and cream.

And no I didnt suffer from hay fever and the smell of freshly cut hay or grass still makes me homesick.

As a young adult, whole evenings spent at "Arif's Magic Bar" , in Limassol , though those memories are more associated with Brandy Sours, rough red wine and endless courses of different types of kebab served with crisp salad including tomatoes picked from vines growing up the walls - did you ever get there Posh? And horse riding near the cliffs at Episkopi with the smell of sea and pines all around.
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Was at Akrotiri 70 - 73. Mainly ate at the Brittania Bar and Mahmouts in turkish part of Limassol. A full kebab was equivalent of £1.50p in the day. Plus of course free Kokinelli red wine....if parents were feeling flush they would splash out and by a botlle of St Panteleimon or Pandemonium as it was known. Dad always left packets of duty free cigarttes behind after meals as they were prized smokes apparently, he used to take one or two cigarettes out and accidently leave the packet on the table. As a teenager of course drink was not allowed but I regularly had Kokinelli, brandy sours and Keo beer. In small amounts of courss. Happy days.

Posh: I was 9 years ahead of you. I remember Kokinelli - there was a Turkish cafe at Evmodhimou Jetty where it was in a barrel on a shelf and customers just helped themselves to as much as they wanted free if they ate there.I also remember carrying a spare packet of duty free cigarettes as they were usually more popular than money.

johnerebus: I remember playing marbles in street and I still have the marbles to prove it, in a glass on a shelf here !

Loved your poem and you have hit the mark of a mid twentieth century childhood - space and freedom to roam. This thread has remindided me of a trip with fellow two Girl Guides cycling up the Gog Magog hills with sausages to cook over a fire for lunch: three early teen girls on our own and a then fairly unpopulated place, and the only concern our parents had was that we didn't start a fire!

Ragged Robin; I was at St John's 1960-62 So probably about the same time as you.
I remember the head had a grey Austin a60 or Cambridge not sure now which and of course there was Mr Holmes.
Finishing school at about 1 and then straight down to Happy Valley and on the beach. Those were definitely the days.

Nearly enough ofus to form a St Johns School reunion......wonder if there are anymore out there.

Best school I ever went to.....loved it. Fantastic memories of my teenage years!

Hi Guys,
Just joined the Forum. I was in Akrotiri 1965-1968. Attended Berengaria SM and I fondly remember the fabulous sporting activities between the Schools and indeed with the Forces. Loved the school cattle truck runs past the flamingos on the salt lake, I could go on !!

You are it appears compared to the rest of us POSH !

This is turning into a "Cyprus in the 60s" reunion!

I missed you by a year Trooper , but not at the School - I was working then (for the SBA Admin and Police).. We started work at 7 and finished at 1 (8 and 12 on Sats) then to Happy Valley and Tunnel Beach then a Siesta and everything started again in the comparative cool of the evening with a trip to Limassol and a stroll round the shops and the harbour. Very little air con then, so they worked with the climate -- much more civilised.

Personally in some ways "I so glad I am not young any more". I lived in some tragic times both in the UKand Cyprus but I would not want to face growing up again in today's heartless consumerist society.

Lovely memories of Buttons Bay with the pontoon moored offshore . Going to the NAAFI and buying bottles of ice cold KEAN and playing table tennis at the youth clup

Was at Berengaria sm 1965-1968. Many fond memories of sports at Happy Valley. Wonderful memories coming back.

There are a good many of us that either attended St Johns school or have strong association with happy days in Cyprus at a much younger age..., guess that is why we are here now.

They really were great times...school ended at 1:30, onto the bus and home just before 2pm....in the summer ran indoors, grabbed swimming gear and legged it back outside just in time to get the beach bus to Buttons Bay. Spend all the money we had at the beach, miss the bus back and ended up walking home. Youth club, football, scouts, horseshoe hike and being outdoors all the time. Those years started the Cyprus love affair which has lasted ever since.

You are absolutely right Poshindevon. Those were halcyon days which resulted in a love affair with the Island. It gave me a tolerant outlook to the shortcomings that exist even today. To have such unique memories of how Cyprus was for us in the 60s has sustained me in good and bad times.

munchy wrote:You are absolutely right Poshindevon. Those were halcyon days which resulted in a love affair with the Island. It gave me a tolerant outlook to the shortcomings that exist even today. To have such unique memories of how Cyprus was for us in the 60s has sustained me in good and bad times.

Halcyon days indeed! I feel so lucky to have spent my teenage years on the island, they were very happy times and like you that is how the love affair with this island started. The early 70s spent enjoying a place where people spend a lot of money to come on holiday to was incredible. We were very fortunate to return in the 80s and 90s when I was serving in the army. Both our children were born at RAF Akrotiri hospital in the 80s and they to have vivid memories of their time here especially in the mid 90s. They also love the place.

We love the whole island but for us the north has a special attraction, maybe because that whilst it is far from perfect and has its challenges, it does remind us of times spent on the island many years ago. It has also as you say made us much more tolerant and understanding that this iis not our mother country, it is our adopted home and therefore we must adapt accordingly.

Reading through this thread, it seems to me that we,and maybe particularly I, sound somewhat heartless and could be accused of "fiddling while Rome burned". Because those were tragic times for Turkish Cypriots, troubling for many decent GCs and others who just wanted to get on with normal lives, and difficult for to British Soldiers who - until the United Nations became involved -were forced into an unaccustomed "Peace Keeping Role " without proper training or authority, not to mention the deaths at the hands of terrorists of British soldiers and civilians.

There were a lot of problems, and was a lot of sadness, among the fun and it says something about the Island and its people that so many wanted to come back. For me, when the opportunity arose, there was never any question of which side of the Island , As Munchy says in message 21, experience of what happened in the past helps to cope with the, comparatively trivial, problems of living here today.

Perhaps danger and hardship sharpens enjoyment of good things: it seems many of us were also young children in the immediately post WW2 era of austerity with family memories of horror.

As I was here as a teenager from 1970 - 73 I have vivid memories of 1974 as it happened just a year after we had left, but still retained a strong love for Cyprus. The events of 1974 sparked my interest in the history of Cyprus, particularly from the 1950s onwards and now I will actively search out anything I can about those troubled times.

Yes the majority of decent greek and turkish cypriots would only want to live together as equals on their island which was their country. I will also agree that the 50s and 60s were difficult times for the British, fighting terrorists and also moving the island to independence. However; Britain as we have done so often persued a policy of divide and rule, letting the two communities battle it out and often employing turkish cypriots as police to act on our behalf. Even after independance there was the rumblings of EOKA and union with Greece ever present. Sadly as many of us know the constituitional agreements made to gain independance were after only a few short years being re- written and changed by the greek cypriot side. Where it went wrong was that we the British backed out of our agreement to act as a guarantor power and refused to get involved after the 1974 coup which was designed to finally align the island to Greece. We stood idly by as the hard line greek cypriots backed by Greece destroyed the island and persecuted the turkish cypriot community. Despite Turkey asking for Britain to join with them as a guarantor to restore the constitution and legitimate government, nothing was done and Turkey had to act to protect the turkish
cypriot community. This was not Britains finest hour. The world of course called it an invasion, I only know it as the peace operation. Since 1974, whilst there have been incidents over the years in the main the island has been at peace with neither side persecuting and killing the other.

Unfortunately the greek cypriot side has been far better at communicating there version of events over the years which has resulted in my opinion a distorted view of the historical facts.

However despite the problems the TRNC has survived and whilst it can present challenges to us non turkish cypriots it is still a lovely place to be. Long may it continue.

Well said Ragged Robin & Posh. Yes, over 40 years of relative peace is, in this day and age, an admirable success story. I just hope that the " great grab for financial riches" in all it's guises, will not upset the preverbial Applecart !!

munchy wrote:Well said Ragged Robin & Posh. Yes, over 40 years of relative peace is, in this day and age, an admirable success story. I just hope that the " great grab for financial riches" in all it's guises, will not upset the preverbial Applecart !!

Agree. We want what is best for the TRNC and at the end of the day it is for the Turkish Cypriot community to decide if the island should come together again. We to hope that any decision is not just based on the grab for whatever riches they think may be available. It must be on equal terms and with one eye on past history.

Agree with Posh and munchy I just hope the fact that reunion is no longer a matter of making up with the GCs but involves joining the EU - to my mind a poisoned chalice - will be taken into account, and lessons learned from what happened in Greece and the RoC.

Between us on this thread we could write a book about our experiences of Cyprus in the latter 20th Century: perhaps we should , not just for the Brits, but for the younger Cypriots (particularly Londralı ) who did not live through it and probably take as little notice of their parents and grandparents as youngsters anywhere !

Despite the fact that Cyprus, as a whole, has given some of us so much pleasure and heartache, there has been very little scope to express our accumulated experiences in a manner which benefits or , more importantly INTERESTS, the multi-cultural society which now exists here. An excellent point has been raised by Ragged Robin and we may now have the makings of a "good read". As things are developing, this may be the right time.

Ragged Robin you said: "Between us on this thread we could write a book about our experiences of Cyprus in the latter 20th Century: perhaps we
should."
A great idea and firstly a collaborative book would tell a different truth to those general untruths in the media and from the GCs. Secondly it would be good to start a writing group. As a life coach my coaching questions are , "When?" and Who wants to co-ordinate it?"

Judging by the postings, there seems to be a lot of us who have fallen in love with this island due to having spent a previous life here. Those life experiences at a much younger age have stayed with us and I think it is amazing that we have not forgotten those halcyon days which in some small way have shaped our thoughts and our futures. Without asking ages it also seems to me that those experiences cover possibly the 1950s - 1970s - so why not possibly put these thoughts in writing and recount those times, experiences and happy days. Maybe the starting point is just agreeing how many of us wish to contribute and how many words we each write.....to make it viable a a book.

I was here as a teenager in the early 70s, served in the forces here in the 80s and 90s and would happily share those times.

I am sure between us there will be those with the skills to coordinate and pull it together. If a book did come together I have a contact who could offer advice on how to get it to print. Also have a contact whomis a very skilled and talented graphic designer who has designed book covers etc.

Even if nothing happened just by contributing to this thread makes interesting reading.

One thing is for sure its interesting reading

At my age you stop worrying about your age and just dodder about on sticks mumbling about the faults of the younger generation

I could cover 1963 to 1965. I was here as a "Dependent of a member of the civilian component of the British Forces in Cyprus" according to my passport. Dad was an Engineer with the Air Min. and I got a job locally for the SBA eventually as Secretary to the Chief Police Officer, and in the "emergency" enrolled as a Special Constable. I worked closely with Cypriots of both communties and for a while lived "off base" I have my mothers Diary of that time and a Scrapbook kept by my father.(If I can find them) and some slides of the Turkish quarter of Famagusta when it was an enclave with all flags flying.

Great you have contacts Posh. As an ex English teacher I could probably help with editing grammar if that worries anyone.

Perhaps we should start a new thread in case anyone else is interested, and let this one get back on topic!

I for one look forward to reading your collective memories; a few months ago a very enjoyable serialisation of Evelyn Newman's memoir of the 1920's to '30's appeared in Cyprusscene; a similar batch of memories during the peaceful periods of an ex-serviceman (I seem to recall he was Military Police?) also appeared there. I am guessing that I am of a similar age, where it's nice to remember the happy times of earlier years!

Missing Posts on "Cyprus Remembered" ???