Dad was born in 1925 in Harpurhey, Manchester, England. He was the youngest of 5 children born to James Mark & Harriet Gould.
When Dad was about 8 years old the family travelled south from the Railway Works at Newton Heath to Wolverton Railway Works in Buckinghamshire.
After leaving school, Dad also worked at Wolverton Railway Works. This was just before W.W.II and, as he was in a reserved occupation, he did not “go to war”. He was, however, a member of the local Territorial Army.
Dad and Mum married in 1948 and, after a brief visit to family back in Manchester, they settled down to married life in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire where Mum drove a horse & cart around the town delivering bread and milk.
For many years’ they were unable to have children, and made many trips to specialists in London for investigations & treatment (to spare my Mums’ blushes I will not go into any more detail, other than to say infertility treatment has improved immensely since then). Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the treatment was not working so they decided to stop the treatments and move on with their lives when, in 1961, Mum fell pregnant (naturally, I believe). After 13 years’ of trying, they then produced three children over the next 7 years
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During this time, Dad left Wolverton Railway Works and began working as a Brass Finisher at the world renown Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell (which has now ceased production). One of my best memories is walking down to the Aston’s factory after my swimming lessons, knocking on the little green door and being allowed to wander through the factory to my Dad and waiting for him to finish work. I would then ride home on the crossbar of his bike. I also remember being taken to the local cinema for the annual parties for all children of the factory workers.
Sadly, in 1973, Dad contracted lung cancer (due to heavy smoking and inhaling the brass dust - not so many health & safety rules back then). In October 1974 he also contracted bronchitis and on 17 October 1974, my Dad passed away.
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