The memory that is etched into my senses is the smell of burning coal winding its way up through the chimneys and into the sky

I can be walking down a street and my nose instinctively twitches as the familiar musky, earthy, sooty odour fills my head evoking those  memories of when I was a child.

I spent a lot of time in Yorkshire visiting my grandparents and during the cold season, every house burned coal to keep warm as the winters could be vicious.

It evokes a family oriented happy time, of sitting around the TV watching the old classics of the Two Ronnies and Morecambe & Wise amidst lots of laughter.

It is my favourite smell – it makes me smile every time.