MARBURY memories have stirred up more ghosts of the past from Guardian readers who spent a happy childhood at the park.

Peter Winnington grew up at Marbury Park when ICI workers lived in the former prisoner of war huts in the 1950s and 60s.

His dad Roy was steward at the former Marbury Hall, which was demolished in 1968.

He got in touch with the Guardian after we featured the story of Pauline Campbell and her family, who lived in the park until 1962.

“It brings back so many memories,” he said.

“I lived there until they closed the hall down and knew all the secret passages in there.

“My father was a steward at Marbury Hall at the time when the dances were on and while he was there I had the run of the place.

“Every stairway had another secret set of stairs down the side of it, you would press a button and the other set of stairs would appear.”

Relics of the Second World War were never far from the surface during Peter’s time at Marbury.

“When we were kids we ended up finding rifle bullets,” he said.

“Apparently during the war our troops used 303 rifles but the Americans had 301 rounds of bullets.

“When you put those bullets in our 303s it blew the barrel up so all these bullets that came were all dumped in Marbury Mere.

“Three or four years later all these boxes of bullets ended up being washed up by the boat house.

“We used to jump in in our stocking feet, get a handful of bullets out and run to a camp fire, put the bullets on and run back – they used to go off like fireworks.”

This was not the only risky adventure that Peter attempted at Marbury.

“There was a big swing at Marbury woods that was famous, it used to go across the stream,” he said.

“I also remember walking across ice from Marbury to the yacht house across the mere itself – it doesn’t do to think about it now because you could hear the cracking underneath.”

Friends of Anderton and Marbury (FoAM) has put together information about the history of the park which is available online at marburyhall.com.