It is, perhaps, a natural part of growing up to throw away the things of childhood. There comes a time when a young person no longer wants to be classed as a child and the objects of childhood are discarded and forgotten.
One of the happiest times of childhood is playing. Children play by themselves and they play with other children. The carefree experience of spending time messing about with toys, doing nothing in particular, is a memory of childhood that everyone has.
Children have always made playthings from whatever was lying around in their homes. A child's imagination can make a toy out of anything and this toy can be as effective as an expensive toy bought from a well-stocked city toy shop. But toys are transient and when childhood is over they become leftovers of personal history.
If we dig deep in our memories, we can all say what our favourite toy used to be. But where is it now? The chances are it was thrown into the rubbish bin when its usefulness was over and its owner moved on to something more grown-up.
The Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood in London is a wonderful place where children can see playthings of the past and grown-ups can say 'Ah, I remember! I used to have a toy just like that.' Nobody can keep the individual memories of childhood within the four walls of a museum, but the playthings that have fascinated children through the ages can be displayed for everyone to see and enjoy.
This is a museum with a unique fascination for everyone who walks through its doors. It is a place that appeals to everybody because all its visitors are either children now or have been in the past. You do not need any sort of special interest to enjoy the Museum of Childhood. You just need to be a human being somewhere between the ages of one and 100. It was Sir Roy Strong, director of London's Victoria and Albert Museum - often just called the V&A - who decided in 1974 that the Bethnal Green branch of the museum should devote itself entirely to childhood.