I recently joined a FB group for people born in the 50s. It has been a good experience and I thought I’d share some of my contributions here.

Grunty Pig begs to introduce himself.

Bought for me in the early 60s, during a family holiday in Mablethorpe, Grunty has lived with me ever since. He has survived many spring cleans by my mother and my wife who were both anxious to treat him as clutter. I have managed to rescue him on every occasion, thankfully.

Yes, he’s much repaired and a shadow of his former self. Originally he had a hat and a simple lever mechanism which meant he’d lift his hat whenever a coin was deposited.

Why’s he on this FB group? He comes from that period when plastic toys were beginning to take over from the metal ones, and I thought others on here might have similar items or even one of his cousins that, despite being made of brittle plastic, have somehow survived.

Despite his originally pink bow, Grunty has always been assumed to be male.

Like Emily and her saggy old cloth cat, he’s not much to look at, but I love him dearly.