Memoirs of GD Fell
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- Title
- Preface
- The Early Years Carlisle
- The War Years
- Post War The Navy
- Beaumanor
- Cyprus
- Loughborough
- Kantara
- Shepshed
- Cheadle
- The Coup
- Repatriation
- A New Chapter
- Glossary
- Appendix A Direction Finding
- Appendix B Nick's Story
Page 39
When Margaret and the boys came out of the hospital, it was to the transport café and there we stayed until after the christening of the lads. They were named Stephen (after Margaret’s brother) Dixon, and Raymond (after my dead brother) Anthony. Margaret thought that my mother might be upset about the name of Raymond so we decided that Raymond Anthony would become known as Tony, and so he has remained ever since.
My parents, and Margaret’s parents, were able to come to Loughborough for the christening and our landlady, Flo, made an excellent cake consisting of two cribs with a baby, (made of cake) in each crib.
My Parents
Margaret's Parents
After the christening, we decided that we would have to look for other accommodation, as living in the transport café was not really the perfect environment to bring up two children, and we found some furnished rooms with an elderly couple with a shared kitchen. We didn’t really enjoy being there and, as they were charging us £2 a week, we started looking for some unfurnished rooms.
After a while we managed to find some unfurnished rooms, also with a shared kitchen, for which we were charged £1 per week. As you can imagine, after paying for the accommodation and the furniture which we were buying on the ‘Never Never’ (hire purchase), and food, there was very little left over for luxuries so, when I heard one night when I was on a night shift that a farm at Quorn was looking for potato pickers, I decided to try my luck, and after I’d finished my shift, went to the farm and for three or four days I was potato picking between shifts. The pay was £1 a day which was more (pro rata) than I was getting at Beaumanor. One of the perks of the job was that you were allowed to take home with you as many potatoes as you could carry. I was a strong lad in those days and managed to get a sack which fitted nicely on the handlebars of my bike. It was round about this time that I was persuaded by Fred Phillips, the branch secretary of the Civil Service Union, to join the organisation.