These youngsters may look barely old enough to read and write but they were some of the mini Kent Messenger readers who signed up to the paper’s club back in the 1940s.

The Keg Megs started in 1928 and were originally run by Kousin Mac, alias Donald McNeil.

One woman remembers her mother, Lilian Hitchens, running the club in the 1940s from her home on the RAF base in West Malling.

Little Dorothy Hitchens with her hair in a bow – now Elizabeth Waters aged 64 – was one of the youngsters who went up on stage at a Keg Meg event to show off her work, along with her brother John.

Mrs Waters, who now lives in Billinghay near Lincoln, said: “My mother ran the Keg Megs from our home in 1947.

“It gave her something to do. I think she really enjoyed it.

“I don’t know how she actually came to start but she liked to do things in the community. We used to make little scrapbooks.”

Mrs Waters visited Kent 15 years ago to find out more about the Keg Megs, and later received some photos, after she appealed in the pages of the Kent Messenger.

She said: “I remember a lady called Jackie, who was involved in publicising the club, coming and doing an article on our family.”

Mrs Waters has also set up a group on the social networking site Facebook, called Keg Meg Club.

• As part of the Kent Messenger’s 150th anniversary celebrations this year, we plan to celebrate the part the Keg Megs played in the KM’s history by holding a reunion for former members.or email messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk>messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk

If you recognise yourself in any of these pictures or were a Keg Meg and would be interested in taking part, let us know by writing to: The Way We Were, 6 & 7 Middle Row, Maidstone, ME14 1TG,