Tony McQue – DayTime Presenter

Playing in the snow and sledging up the hills with my family/friends. One of the few advantages of living in the back of beyond growing up was, when it snowed - IT REALLY SNOWED! After school or even better, if the snow was too bad to get to school - I used to love building snow forts with my family, friends and neighbours. I think at one point, we had built something that resembled a small family home in the street! As for the sledging.. Still to this day, more fun than any theme park I have ever been to. Coming home to a warm house and parents who were excited to hear about our tales of going fast down a hill or having such fun with friends is something I will always be grateful for. 

Building a gang hut with my friends. I was only 10 years old however, 2 of my friends and I managed to find some secluded woodland and built a pretty large gang hut against an old tree. The level of detail to this day still blows me away, it had a watertight roof and a food larder (of course!). We even built traps covered in branches/leaves in case some other jealous lads came to hassle us, it did happen in the end. We had such a laugh making the hut and playing in the outdoors where the time used to just vanish. The best part is both those friends remain 2 of my closest friends to this day. Walking past the woodland where the hut once existed brings a smile to my face. Looking back on these times does make me aware of my own kids screen time and encourage them to embrace the fun to be had outdoors with friends, this time really is precious. I also think my parents knew what they were doing when choosing to create a loving family home in a slightly rural area with liked minded people, something I never take for granted and will forever be grateful for. 

Childhood Christmases - perhaps all merged into one memory now. Being part of a fairly large Scottish/Italian family meant Christmas time was usually a catering and logistic challenge. My Gran who is still around aged 101 always rose to the challenge, making miles of spaghetti and feeding us all crammed round the table until we could not move. To this day, I still the question the need for a starter of soup, spaghetti, a full roast dinner, desert followed by cheese and biscuits if you could make it that far! It was the conversations and the banter round the table that hold special memories; people who are no longer with us and the innocence of childhood. As for the presents, Santa never disappointed me. I will never forget the excitement of waking up on Christmas morning and always having presents to open, I know I am very lucky in this respect. My favourite present ever? My hifi..

School - Probably an unusual choice.. I knew I was a bit different as a kid, I never got football and didn't enjoy taking part in it at all.. I loved conversation and music though; I still do funnily enough. If you didn't play football with the lads, you were seen as a geek. Thankfully at the school I was sent to, there was a teacher who totally got me and created something that would change my life. He had just found some budget and unearthed some technology at the school which would allow us to create a school radio station. I did everything I could to make it work and in the end, we had a station that broadcast across the 4 school canteens each lunchtime. I was lucky enough to form lasting friendships as well as being a mentor to others. Having someone believe in me and develop my passion felt incredible, my parents also fully supported my interest and still do to this day. It took me a few years and a couple of