Sticky problem

A reader has been in touch about a poignant trip down memory lane.

“Our father bought Arthur’s Mee’s ‘Children’s Encyclopaedia’ for us children in 1938 when I was seven. It was one volume at a time as Dad could not afford to pay for all 10 at once.

“We were then under strict instructions on the routine for reading them – washing hands, placing the volumes on a flat, clean surface and being careful not to crumple or dirty the pages.

“I came to like reading the encyclopaedias and was eventually allowed to read them in bed, but one night I was immersed in the story of Joan of Arc when my grandfather came in to say goodnight and my father put the light out. I started to cry, my grandfather felt sorry for me and tossed a couple of Pontefract cakes onto my pillow.

“Still crying, I found one of the liquorice sweets, but the other had fallen onto the wet page of the book I had been reading. I then fell asleep.

“In the morning, I found the precious encyclopaedia on the floor by my bed and the pages containing the Joan of Arc story stuck together with the sweet between them.

“I did my best to unstick them without damage, but with little success. There was this terrible black mess on two pages.

“Of course, I told nobody and, fortunately for me, I was not found out. I never did tell my parents.

“The funny thing was that my sister recalled the same story but in her memory, it was she who got the Pontefract cake stuck in the precious book!

“I wonder who was right?”