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The Rev Hartley Perrin, custos of Westmoreland and pastor of the St Peter’s Anglican Church, recalls that he was 13 when he received his first Polaroid instant camera for Christmas.

Perrin, who was living in Petersfield, Westmoreland, while attending The Manning’s School, said it was “perhaps my most memorable Christmas gift”.

“It was one of those cameras that gives you instant pictures, you didn’t have to get it processed,” Perrin told THE STAR. “You just take the shot and within seconds you pull it out and you have a picture. That was fascinating within its day and I recalled that quite well. One can imagine how fascinating it was to have instant photos when others had to wait for weeks to get a print. It was the dawn of technology.”

Perrin said back in those days, the film for his camera was not cheap and he was forced to learn how to manage the taking of pictures, even though many of his peers and others in his community would have wanted him to be more liberal in its use.

Along with his most memorable Christmas gift 52 years ago, Perrin said that despite growing up in a single-parent household, his mother being a nurse and his father visiting occasionally, he had some exciting times back in the 1960s.

“I certainly would look with great anticipation for Christmas because a couple of weeks before, we would be out walking and singing carols at the doors of persons in the neighbourhood,” he said. “As children and adults alike, we would start about 5 o’clock in the morning and we would be going from house to house singing carols, and those who could play instruments would do so as we sang.”

He also shared that as a child, he would look forward to gifts from relatives visiting from abroad during Christmas.

He also had fond memories of the community activities, including fairs and concerts, with plenty to eat and drink.