A 93-YEAR-OLD man who wrote down his childhood memories during lockdown has raised hundreds of pounds to support residents in the care home where he lives.

Harold Oliver, a resident at The Laurels care home in Norfolk Road, Carlisle, has inspired those who have read his memoir of his childhood during the mid-1930s in the Yorkshire village of South Hiendley, near Wakefield.

Before lockdown he went out every day in his motorised wheelchair, visiting the cemetery ground and Chances Park or even getting the bus into the city centre.

"When lockdown came in I was brought to tears, and I thought I couldn't just sit here do nothing," said Harold, who moved to Carlisle after retiring from his job as a manager in the wholesale meat trade in 1986. "I was thinking back about my life and what it was like when I was a child and a teenager, compared to what it is like now with smart phones, smart TV and motorcars that talk to you."

Harold’s eight-page memoir Now and Then reflects on a time when the greengrocer made deliveries by horse and cart, back-to-back houses had outside toilets and children would go blackberry picking to sell to villagers to make jam or pies.

He recalls how most villages had two thriving pubs, a working men's club and two fish and chip shops where the nation's favourite dish cost just sixpence. He also remembers his father cooking another of his favourite meals of cow heel and shin beef on a Saturday night.

There were so few cars - no more than six - in his village that families would pay a driver £5 to be taken on holiday to Scarborough and brought back the following week.

Now and Then includes memories from when Harold was eight years old to when he joined the Army, aged 18. He enrolled shortly after Victory in Europe was announced and left England on New Year's Day 1946 for Tripoli, north Africa, where he served for almost three years before he was demobbed.

He met his wife in 1948 and they married a year later and had two daughters.

When it came to putting pen to paper, Harold said it took him two weeks to write. He spent the mornings thinking back to his childhood before jotting it down in an afternoon.

He recognised that due to restrictions the Residents' Fund - which helps to pay for entertainers, day trips and activities for the 21 residents - wasn't receiving many donations as no one was able to visit the home.

He decided he would share his memoir with local people in exchange for donations.

"We have had a terrific response," he said. "I haven't been out at all and it's all kept me going. Otherwise I would just sit and mope.

"It has given me a buzz when they are bringing letters to me to open and there's £10 or £20 in some of them.

"I would like to say thank you very much and I hope people have found it interesting. We are going back a long, long time.

"I'm so grateful that I can go out and enjoy myself normally, where as others can't.

"It doesn't take much to please them. One singer comes and sings all the Vera Lynn songs and they love it. It makes their day but it's all to pay for.

"The money will be there for when they can get an entertainer in. We might have a little party when lockdown finishes so we'll need a few bob for that."

As well as donations Harold has also been humbled by letters, drawings and messages of support he's received, including one from a 10-year-old girl who he inspired to raise £50 herself towards the fund.

Harold wanted to thank staff at the Laurels, where he has lived since 2014, for helping copy and distribute his memoir.

The Laurels manager Sharon Morrows said: “Harold is very active and busy. He likes to go out every day and the current restrictions have been quite difficult for him. This was something he came up with entirely himself and it's for him to be recognised for all his hard work.”