I was born on 17th September 1935 in Myrtle Gardens, Bideford, the eldest of the five children of Jack and Mary. I started school at Bideford Church Infants (alongside another old boy – Keith Braund) in September 1939, the week that W.W 2 broke out. No direct connection, I think!
After my years at both the Infants and Junior schools I started at the grammar school in 1946. I was in Grenville House and was neither a star pupil nor an outstanding athlete, however I was winner of the ‘880’ and hooker/captain of the first 15 in my final year.
Having thoroughly enjoyed my time there, I left school in January 1954 with a few ‘O’ levels and 3 ‘A’ levels, I got a job in the Inland Revenue, I almost immediately went to do my 2 years National Service as a radar mechanic and took up my post in the Inland Revenue in 1956.
Two incidents stand out in my memory:
One, when, as the only pupil doing ’A’ Level French in 1952, a midday French session on the radio in the hall (it was a substantial part of the course) was unable to take place because despite my encouragement the radio refused to work. Just as I was about to kick the offending object the Headmaster (Charles W Stephenson) came in and announced that ’The King is dead’. I resisted the temptation to say – so is the radio.
The second was when, during a rugby match away to West Buckland, the referee (one of their masters) threatened to send our scrum half off for hitting one of our opponents. As Captain I was convinced that the punch was justified because it had been thrown after the latest of many late tackles. I therefore advised the ref that I would take our whole team off if late tackles continued to go unpunished. I was very apprehensive that I might be in trouble, but to my relief it was only the result that was mentioned in assembly.
I married my wife Hilda in 1958, we have 2 children and 4 grandchildren. We have lived in Wellington, Taunton, Wembley, Kenton, Welshpool, Salford, Manchester, York and retired back to Bideford in 1997. I continued to work in the Inland Revenue until 1988 and got most satisfaction from being head of fraud investigation for a substantial part of NW England and the whole of Northern Ireland, this was during the troubles of 1978-1982. The atmosphere in the Province was extremely tense and as you can imagine my job didn’t win you any popularity poles anywhere.
I have continued to enjoy playing and latterly watching most sports particularly table tennis, rugby and golf. Over the years I have enjoyed and gained satisfaction from my membership of Rotary, Round Table, 41 Club, BGSOBA and especially the ‘class of 46’
