General Chat

We were living in Horrabridge, and I'm sure he was on there for the refit.
He came home one day with stitches and a bandage on his head - said a gun had hit him. I thought he had been shot :-0

The gun had literally hit him - someone moved the gun around and it whacked him on his forehead!!

I've PM'd you with his name.

Maggie my OH was on Eagle, do you know if your dad was on Eagle when she went for refit/recommission in Plymouth. To my memory about 1964. Oh was on there then, one of his jobs was to fix things on the highest aerial (the big drum shaped one) above the ship. He is terrified of heights. I went to the recommissioning service.

OH's father was a CPO in the Navy during WW2 ............ he wouldn't leave that position either, he loved being able to tell off the officers for their mistreatment of their binoculars :-)

He was responsible for maintaining optical equipment

Susan wiv,
No time (or running water) for purple hair. It was long, white, and in a scruffy bun :-D

With the omnipresent Woodbine hanging out of the side of her mouth.

What an entertaining thread.....best one for ages.

BC would have loved this....reminds me of her layed back attitude toward life.

I bet your Granny would have joined the purple hair brigade :-D

PH -Proud of his corpulence. When he died, he was (allegedly) the 'heaviest man in Hampshire', and they had to knock out his bedroom window, lower him down, and trundle him (in his coffin) to the church on a 'duck' - I think that's logs :-S

Ann, dad was in from about 1943 until 1966/67.
He was on The Eagle from about 63 to 65, then spent a couple of years at HMS Raleigh.

Oh Maggie Write a book do!! :-D :-D

What years was your Dad a CPO in the Fleet Air Arm? Earlier than my OH I guess? Can't remember his CPO dates in the FAA, but around 1959 to 1968.

Even the picture of G x 4 Grandfather puts a smile on my face.

I wonder why he opted for a side view.

:-D

True about being dysfunctional, PH.
We'd be sooo much more functional if we weren't caught!! :-D :-D :-D

And the award for..........

"Best Thread Of The Year"

Goes tooooooooooooooo............

*Drum Roll*



Maggie and her dysfunctional family!

:-D :-D :-D

Haven't laughed so much.
You should have it in book form :-D :-D :-D

I find it strange that I knew this lovely lady. I do remember wondering how she made ends meet when she was younger,.
From what dad said, they lived in a lovely house (better than the one she lived in when I knew her) in woods.
Dad had loads of 'pets'. Parrots, dogs, cats, 'tame' wild rats, a polecat (found as a baby), amongst many others, and the man gran tried to get the widow's pension from, (a commander, and friend of her dad) used to come round to visit.
Gran had high 'ideals'. Not only was the visiting man a commander, so was the man she married to get dad adopted. Dad could have joined the 'ordinary' ranks with no father's name on his birth certificate, but gran wanted him to be 'higher ranks' - and what better than to have a commander on your birth certificate!!

Unfortunately for her, Dad wasn't such a 'high flyer' - he wanted to prove his worth and worked his way up through the ranks.
He reached Chief Petty Officer quite quickly and had the opportunity to go up a grade. When he asked what the increase in pay would be, and was told 'nothing', his response (like mine would be) was: 'More responsibility and the same pay? No thanks'. So, he spent his 25 years in the Fleet Air Arm as a Chief Petty Officer.

It's weird, because, having found out what my gran did, I look at my dad in a different light. What happened to him and his sister when gran was in prison (4 months in 1936, 6 months in 1939), when they were 10 and 8, and 13 and 11?
Despite (or perhaps because of) his mum's and sister's misdemeanours, my dad was very 'straight down the line'. Everything had to be 'above board'.
He also had a 'learn from your mistakes, or remain ignorant' attitude, which I have passed on....

Oh, and gran's dad, who married his brother in law's sister - they split up, via a court, in 1920 - just after he'd spent 5 years in the Army.
She accused him of desertion - so perhaps things weren't going too well in 1915.....

Why are my ancestors such a boring lot. Ah well, I try to make up for it.

:-D :-D :-D :-D

It was just a "Stab in the Dark" !!!! :-0 :-0 :-0

Oh please...........I can't take any more!!!

:-D :-D :-D

Kitty, it's nice that Great Uncle Fred was still living at home :-)

Jemima, it was just a 'stab in the dark'. I looked her using both her real name, then the name of the bloke who's widow's pension she tried to get!!

She told me about their refusal to give her the widow's pension - she was very indignant..
At the time, I didn't realise he was older than her father, married with at least 5 children and grandchildren!! :-S

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Sooooo funny Maggie!

What a brilliant find, and very entertaining for us to read! :-) :-) :-)

I have just found my Great Uncle Fred........we were warned not to be alone with him as he was a bit "odd"

All of us children thought he was very funny, bursting into songs that the grown ups tutted about before shooing us out of earshot, making random animal noises and dancing wildly.

In 1939, he was living with his Mum and siblings....aged 22 and his occupation is "mental" :-0 :-0 :-0

Strange, but true.xx

Gertcha!
:-0

I don´t think I have laughed so much for ages, she sounds a brilliant woman, I wish I had your Gran :-D :-D :-D :-D