M1 anniversary prompts memories

Kate Woodiwiss was also a child in Nottinghamshire and “loved it” when the road arrived.

She said: “We lived at Huthwaite near junction 28.

“I can remember when they were building the motorway, me and my brothers and sisters used to walk across the fields and stand on the M1 bridge waving to passing traffic, singing ‘M1 bridge, M1 bridge’.”

But the new road was not great for everyone nearby.

Lizz Johnson recalled her family’s farmland was directly in the way of the route.

She said: “My uncle Jack’s farm in Selston was cut in half.

“He had a tunnel built to move his cows through to the other half of his land.”

Marking the 65-year anniversary since the road opened to traffic for the first time, a National Highways spokesperson said the road remained “a key artery”.

They said: “Sixty-five years on, the motorway continues to support the British economy and moves goods and people to places around the country.”