It has been 143 years since William Child opened W A Child & Son in High Wycombe.

Later, it would become known as Child's Toys where hundreds of Wycombe youngsters bought their favourite toys.

And members in the BFP’s We Grew Up in Wycombe reminisced about the well-loved shop, with Victoria Clark saying: “The dolly hospital, my doll was always in there, I used to bend its arms, legs and head until they popped out.”

Paula Potts added: “Oh yes I worked there when I left school. Still good friends with Diane Child.

“They did have one in Castle Street as well but it started in Oxford Road. It’s at Hazlemere parade now.”

David Rouse said: “Remember it well and loved going there as a kid. My grandad used to come from “the smoke” and take me and my brother there”, while Sandra Watson wrote: “I always brought my girls toys there.”

Andy Davies commented: “[I] used to get my Airfix models there”, while Andrew Weedon said he “loved it” and Dicky Dee wrote: “Oh yes my favourite shop as a kid.”

Damian Plested Atkins said he “used to buy all my subbuteo stuff there as a kid”, and Jamie Brace remembered going to the shop as a child in the early 60s.

Paul Meakings commented: “It was in Oxford Road. Left-hand door led you into Airfix model kits, train accessories, Scalextric track and cars. Amazing toy shop in the 60s and 70s,” while Bridget Barnes added: “I remember it very well especially after it moved to Hazlemere Parade as I lived at Widmer End Farm and had two children who delighted in going there.

“I am 92 now and tell my great-grandchildren about how their grandad used to buy his models from there. There were also all the other shops to look into while I was shopping.”

Ruth Womack described it as an “Aladdin’s cave of lovely toys” and Andrew Weedon said: “Loved that shop, brought so many toys and models there. Had so much in stock – Dinky Corgi, model railways, Scalextric model kits, toy soldiers – everything you could want. Happy days.”

Vanda Bubear recalled “gazing in there longingly” as she went past on the bus, while Zahid Tanvir said he bought his first sonic control Lamborghini from the what he described as a “kids’ dream come true” shop.

When Mr Child originally opened his shop in Oxford Road in 1878, he sold bibles, books and sheet music, as well as some wooden toys.

The toy side of the business was soon to expand with the addition of imported toys from Germany in the early 1900s.

Diane Parker, Mr Child's granddaughter, told the BFP in 2003 that her father, William Albert, was to follow in his father’s footsteps.

He worked in the shop as a schoolboy and his enthusiasm for the business was passed on to his daughters Diane and her sister Judith, who enjoyed nothing more than going with their father during the school holidays in the Ford Thames large yellow van on his delivery round.

At the time, Diane said she had watched the advance of electronic toys on to the market over the years, but overall she believed not all that much had changed when it came to what toys children still wanted to buy.