John Wilkinson Blaney
Born 31st Aug 1945 at the cottage hospital in Llwynypia, Rhondda valley South Wales.
My father Terrence Wilkinson Blaney was called up (or volunteered?) for the wartime forces – I was told that all allocated numbers that ended in a zero were diverted into the mines, known as “Bevan boys”. Many miners had joined the forces leaving a critical shortage of labour, so he ended up in Treorchy where he met and married my mum Gwladys Eaton.
After the war we moved to Paignton when I was about 2 years old. We lived in a semi-detached bungalow next to my grandmother Ada Mary Blaney (nee Kelly). My grandfather John Blaney had died previously so I never met him. He is buried in Wadebridge cemetery and grandmother in Exeter.
Father worked for Lloyds Bank and as was the custom then, mother did not work although she much wanted to. When I was 3 years old, I started at a Catholic pre-school in Paignton. We had lessons in the morning, had lunch and then settled down for a nap prior to being picked up by our parents in the afternoon.
When father was promoted, we moved to Moretonhampstead and at age 5, I went to the local village school, but it proved unsuitable so when I was 6, I went to Boarding School at Newton Abbott in 1951 and I had a Ration Book!
In 1955 we moved to Exeter where I went to St Leonards for a year before the 11 plus, which I passed and went to Hele’s School, (now the Technical College) which was opposite the Redvers Buller Statue in Queen Street.
Another promotion for father led us to Bideford in 1959, where we lived at St Jean in Old Barnstaple Road.
I managed to scrape through 5 O Levels (Maths, Physics, English Language, English Literature and Woodwork), then moved to the 6th form for A level Maths, Physics and English Literature.
I was never very academic, preferring sport and recreation, so after some heart searching, Dave Baker and I decided we wanted to see the world. We worked out that unless you were millionaires the only way was to join the Services or the Merchant Navy, which we both decided was the way to go.
I was accepted at Plymouth School of Navigation, spending a part-year of academic training. Having passed that I was accepted as a Navigation Officer Cadet for Port Line, which was then the commercial part of Cunard and I signed Indentures to last for 4 years. I received a letter and rail token to get me to London where I was to join the MV Port Wyndham for the voyage to Australia via Suez.
I then spent 18 months away from the UK travelling completely around the world via the Mediterranean, Suez, Indian Ocean, Australia (where I had my 18th birthday 1963) New Zealand, across the pacific to Panama, the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, East Coast of North America, Canada to the great Lakes and finally back across the Atlantic to London.
After a few months’ leave, and having removed the travel bug from my system, I resigned the commission and spent the summer working at Westward Ho! amusements to earn some money, and then to London to the Vocational Guidance Association. A most interesting experience: I was tested with many Preference questions to assess my Aptitudes, then interviewed and advised to either go into Architecture or the new emerging Micro Chip industry with a firm like Plessey.
As matters turned out I arrived home in Bideford on a Thursday night and on Friday whilst reading the Bideford Gazette, I noticed an advert for an Architectural Pupil, for a new firm opening in the town. I rang up and went to an interview on a Saturday morning and got the job! I was 19 years old (in 1964) and on my second job at the magnificent wage of £1 per week. I really enjoyed the training and progressed fairly rapidly.
I worked for a year or so and then left Bideford basically to increase my income, working for a time in Sidmouth at the Local Authority on their technical team. After about 6 months my old boss in Bideford asked me back, to which I agreed.
By the time I was 22, in 1967 I met and married a local girl Jennifer Lang, a farmer’s daughter and hairdresser in Bideford. I left employment, became self-employed when I was 25 and started my own business in Bideford in 1970.
That Architecture business continues today, with my son Simon in charge. Our other son, Jonathan, is an international lawyer based in Dubai. Emma, our eldest daughter, is living in St Croix, in the American Virgin Islands, and our youngest daughter Hannah is in the NHS at Barnstaple.
Emma has a son and daughter, Finlay 18 and Riley 15, Simon has twins Scarlet and Jack 11, Hannah has Tilly 7, and Jonathan has Culver 11, Huxley 8 and Edison 5, so we are kept busy with our grandchildren.
We live at Culver Lodge in Parkham where we have been since 1976; previously living at Longclose, Parkham when we were married.
Jenny and I now are awaiting the next chapter.
John Blaney 29.03.2024
