I think Sackers lived in the School Hill end of Castletown. I never knew his real name or got to find out who he really was. I only remember him being about 19 or 20. He never seemed to progress beyond that age. Of course to us 6 or 7 year old kids, he was all but an old man. He was a kids dream, a sort of kid’s handyman, always on hand to fix wheel barrows, boogies or whatever. With a few bits of drift wood found on the beach, a length or two of old rope and an hour later or so, Sackers would have built us a raft. Sometimes I would sit on the bench at the bottom of Peggy’s Hill, and along would come Sackers. He would plonk himself down beside me, fish a small lump of wood from his pocket, flick out his pen knife and 15 minutes later I had a small carving of a boat.

Word had got out around the town that someone had got hold of an air gun. Now then I thought to myself, “A gun! That is what I need.” I told Sackers that I thought it would be good if I had a gun. “NO, I think not,” said Sackers. “Well a bow and arrow then,” I sulkily suggested.” Sackers tapped me on the shoulder and getting to his feet, he muttered. “I’ll find something for you!” A few minutes later, Sackers returned and handed me a box. “Go on then,” said Sackers, “open it up.” I sat there cradling my brand new water pistol. Yes, this was the bee’s knees. Blimey, I didn’t even need to be a good shot to hit the target. “OK” said Sackers, “let’s go and fill her up then.” Sackers returned a couple of minutes later, having filled my water pistol from Peggy’s toy shop where he had bought it. I began my sniping immediately. The bench at the bottom of Peggy’s Hill was the ideal place for a blind sniper to learn his trade. You could clearly hear all the passers by as they passed within a few feet of me, heading for the bridge over the harbour. My victims were mostly women, as they were the ones dragging their shopping from town to the Janet’s Corner housing estate. Sackers, obviously realizing his mistake, disappeared after the second blast of, “Tom Glassey, your Father will be getting a visit from me this evening!” Indeed by the time an hour had passed by, if all the women that had threatened me with a visit had turned up at our house, we were going to be in for a very busy evening, and a very full house. Later that day, myself and the gang met to discuss our options regarding my new weapon. We floated the idea of filling it with milk or even tomato sauce. These ideas never got time to get off the ground as by late afternoon, Sackers had found me and probably because he had been given earache by Lord knows how many folk in the town, had come to take his water pistol back into safe custody. Sackers was a good hearted old stick though, and of course he didn’t really have the heart to take back his gift which he knew had given me so much joy, so he had been back to Peggy’s shop and bought a cap gun. It was a very expensive day at the office for poor old Sackers on that day, especially for someone that was used to making everything himself. The cap gun just didn’t cut it for me though. It was a politician’s gun. It made a big bang, and a puff of smoke but nothing else. It didn’t actually shoot anyone or cause much a reaction from anybody. I know not where Sackers is today, however, he is probably carving small objects, building rafts, and supplying water pistols for his grand children, so that they too can play and shoot their way through a very happy childhood.