| This is my father, after his mother died he was brought up by his maternal grandmother until grandad married again when he was nine. He was a keen scouter for years in adulthood he was a Rover Scout and then went on to be a Scout Master. When he first left school he trained as aCabinet maker which left him with something he carried on through his entire life. He made toys for me when I was a child and for my children when they were small,the last toys he made were for Susans first child. He made musical boxes(one of which I still have) and prided himself on never making the same design twice. He could draw well freehand, something that my son Brian seems to have inherited. Before the war he began working for London Transport as a fitter, why he changed profesions I have no idea.He joined up in 1940 and must have gone to Burma in 1942 and did not return until 1946 when I was three. He resumed working at London Transport and was there until he was 60 when he retired early through ill health. When my mother died in 1955 he and I muddled along together. He gave me a lot more freedom than my mother would have and I did lead him "a bit of a dance" Brian and I lived with him until 1967, a bit cramped in a two up two down with himself,us and 3 children but we managed ok. We moved at that point to a council house in Slade Green and he used to come over on a Wednesday evening and at the weekends. All the time he was alive Friday night when he came was "goodies" night for the children as he always brought sweets,biscuits,crisps etc. which at the time with by then 4 children of our own plus Carolyn and Susan money did not always stretch to those things. He also always brought Saturdays dinner and a Sunday roast plus other things as well. We moved eventually to Orpington when we had had Kevin and he was 18 months old. In 1973 we got a phone call from Maureen saying dad had crawled down the road to her and he was sick, he had double pneumonia and pleurisy it turned out. We brought him to us and nursed him at home as after Mum,s death he hated hospitals. After a couple of months he went back to work and on the afternoon of the same day he came back saying that was it he could not do it any more and he was going to take early retirement and could he stay with us. He did, he sold his house and we turned our dining room into a bedsitter(oh oh cramped again). He had a wonderful relationship with the children especially with Kevin, probably because he was the youngest. When we decided to move up here he was not to happy but came with us. Here he got involved with the local childrens centre and spent a lot of time there teaching the children woodwork and drawing etc. In 1985 he came down to us one night saying he could not breath and he had,had a heart attack. After two days in ITU he was moved to a ward(mainly because he would not stay in bed) and after another week he came home. Brian and I wanted him to go into our room on the middle floor but he would have none of it. Neither would he let us go up and down with his meals,told me I was trying to make him a prisoner in his room and could not see we were trying to help him. He got real mad when I said he could not go to the childrens center until he had been to the hospital for his check up. On the Wednesday Brian and I had to go out and on our return the children told us that as soon as we had gone,he came down and said he was going out and nothing they said could stop him. He dropped dead the next morning with a massive heart attack. I worked it out that apart from the first 3 years of my life we had been together 39 years. I loved him tremendously and even after 15 years I miss him, although we are sure he "visits" not just here but the childrens homes a s well each of them have something he made and it always goes with them as they move homes. Just a few months more and he would have seen his first Greatgrandchild. |
