I was born on the 1st of March 1936, my parents were Arthur and Beatrice Lloyd who were married in 1926.
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| The wedding of Arthur and Beatrice Lloyd, 1926. |
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| Beatrice with Colin |
My memories really start when we moved to number 57 Raeburn Rd. Up to the start of the war we always used to go to Ramsgate for our holidays and mum told me that one year we were sitting by the paddling pool when mum went to get some ice cream, she told dad to watch me, he did but I fell into the pool! When mum came back she had to take me back to the digs and get clean clothes. I also remember getting sun burnt and getting covered in calamine lotion.
Dad joined the army in 1939 and was stationed near Nottingham and then to Derby.
For the first three years we decided to take in evacuees, the first couple were blind but I don't remember much about them. The next evacuee called Dennis, I had a tricycle and he used to ride on the bar at the back. Dad had an allotment in Kingsthorpe Grove and we used to cut through the field which is now Fairway to get to it. One day as we were going through I saw two parachutes coming down. Two tiger moths had collided, Dennis jumped onto the back and we went up to Bective School where one of them had crashed into the playground. We did stay in touch and after the war, Dennis used to come down on holidays.
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| Arthur Lloyd |
Before I start on my school days I would like to say something about my grandparents, mum's mum was Edith Horton and her dad was George Horton. George was born in 1878 and Edith was born in 1887. When World War 1 broke out George volunteered and joined the 7th battalion Northamptonshire Regiment and served in Flanders and France.
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| George and Edith Horton |
I was also page boy to both my uncle and mum's sister Gladys.
School days
I started at Raeburn Road primary; I didn't stay there long because I was bullied, not by other children but by a certain teacher. I then went to Notre Dame in Abington Street until I was eight. Whilst I was there I made friends with a girl whose parents owned Franklins Gardens Hotel and I often went down there with her. They had a monkey in the kitchen in a cage also there was a swimming pool and one day we went to have a look at it only to find there was a big toad in it!
I had to leave at the age of eight and I went to a private school in Kettering Road church rooms opposite St Mathews Church. Whilst I was there I had an accident whilst running down Wallace Road, I tripped and fell, when I got home my wellington was half full of blood, I had taken my kneecap off! It then turned sceptic and I was in a wheelchair for three months so mum used to push me to school and then come and fetch me home. I stayed at that school for about a year and then I went to Kingsthorpe Grove until I was eleven. I was nine years old when dad was demobbed.
Dad was a great supporter of rugby and every home game England played at Twickenham he would take me. We would leave early in the morning and he would take me to all the museums and the sites to see, including the tower of London, monuments, St Pauls, and the Houses of Parliament. Then we would go to the match. When that finished we would go back to London for tea and go to a show at night. I remember going to see Julie Andrews; she was only 13 and sang with her mum and dad, Ted and Barbara.
I had my first cycle at the age of nine and dad and I often went for a ride on Sunday mornings to visit friends who lived in Great Houghton and Sunday afternoon we would go for a walk up Harlestone Firs with mum's brother, Uncle Bill. I taught myself to swim and joined the swimming club. Swimming became a large part of my life. Each Sunday morning dad and I would go to The Mounts Baths at eight o'clock and meet my Uncle Ted along with my cousins Edward and Stafford. We would spend about an hour in the pool and then come home to a full English breakfast.
Now we come to 1947, the year when Britain was battered by one of the worst winters ever. I can't remember exactly when it started but we were still living in Raeburn Rd. Living opposite us was a blind couple called Mr and Mrs Freeman. The night before one blizzard, I went over and cleared all the snow away from their front. Next morning when I woke up you couldn't even see their front door. We couldn't get to school for about four weeks and the snow hung about until the end of March.
In April I started as a choir boy at Holy Trinity Church but I didn't stay there too long as it was too cold! Eventually I became a choirboy at All Saints in the town centre. The vicar was canon Trevor Lewis and our choir master was Mr. Richardson Jones. At Harvest Time all the apples, which were brought to the church, were shared out between the choirboys and the rest of the fruit went to the General Hospital for the children. At Christmas time we had three parties to go to. The first one was just for the choirboys. We had tea in the Co-op Restaurant in The Ridings before going on to the New Theatre to see the pantomime. The second was at the Masonic Club in Princes Street. We gave a carol concert and they put on a big tea for us. The final one was the Sunday school party; We were always invited to that. We also got paid for funerals, weddings and any high services, such as the Assize Service.
By September I had passed the eleven plus exam and started at the Technical High School in St. Georges Avenue, next to the Technical College. This is where I started to learn rugby which was something I really enjoyed.
At the same time we moved from Raeburn Rd to Vernon Terrace where mum and dad took over the off licence on the corner of Vernon Terrace and Stockley Street. Opposite was the Granby Arms and on the other corner was a grocery shop owned by Mr Scrivener.
Dad got a dog, Judy; she slept in a beer barrel in the yard. She was a good guard dog because when the men came to deliver the beer she would let them go down to the cellar and then stand at the top and not let them up again! It was the same for the dustmen, she would let them in and then pin them up against the back door. In the end they had to come to the shop and make sure the dog was inside. One day we had a salesman come into the shop, Judy was laying under the counter and mum told the man she wasn't interested but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so mum just said, “Judy”, she shot round the counter and the salesman ran off with his suitcase, up the street with the dog running after him. He never came back.
Christmas 1947 Mr Richardson Jones was ill so after church four of us decided to go to see him. There were four girls with us, after going into see him we came out and I said "come on lets go round to my house" When we got there I said “can I bring my friends in”? Afterwards mum said she didn't think it was going to stop with the eight of us going in.
1949 was a quiet year really. I spent a lot of time in the summer swimming down the Midsummer Meadow baths. I liked it there. The water was always warm because it came from the cooling towers. I also used to go to Cogenhoe Mill, to go swimming in the river. I also spent a lot of time over at Wicksteed Park ,on the cycle track. The roads were quite quiet back then. In the evenings I always helped mum clean the shop as dad was working as a part time barman. By the end of the year my voice had started to break, I stuck it out until after Christmas and then I left the choir.
I joined the sea cadets in March and became Bosun’s Mate as well as playing the bass drum in the band. I also started swimming for the cadets and I won the regional and the area finals in the backstroke heats. When it came to the all England races I came fourth. After taking part in the swimming I went straight to Portland for a fortnight at H M S Osprey, we went on board H M S Vanguard which was a battle ship, and H M S Indomitable which was an aircraft carrier.
When I came back from Portland we prepared to go to Market Harborough to the Festival of Boats, this was the first Inland Waterways show. On Friday night the motor boats left Weston mill for the show. We went in a 27 ft whaler and were hoping to row and sail it but we hit a snag! The oars were 12ft long and the bridges too low for us to sail! In the end we walked along the tow-path, towing it from Northampton to Blisworth and then rowing it from Blisworth to Norton, where we turned off onto the Leicester Arm to Foxton. Still towing it we turned right to Market Harborough, total distance 49 miles and 41 locks.
We had left Saturday morning and we passed the motor boats about nine o'clock at night and carried on until 2 am. We slept under a ground sheet that night. It was dry and clear and it was the night of a meteor storm and we lay there watching the shooting stars. We had to go through two tunnels and the only way we could do that was by paddling. We had a bugler in the front with a torch to warn any boat coming through but never met any. We arrived in Market Harborough about dinner time on Sunday. The rest of the day we spent towing the motor boats through the weed as it clogged their propellers up. There was a competition for the most adventurous journey and we shared it with a chap who came all the way from Kings Lynn. Whilst we were there the BBC news came down and filmed us going on board the festival queen’s boat. When we got home it was shown every day for a week, the breakdown worked out to be 49 miles and 41 locks. On the way back we were being towed by our chief petty officer's father when we went past a body in the canal. Apparently it was a tramp who they think mistook the weed for grass and walked into it he had been in the canal for a week. It was also that year we had the official opening of the headquarters by a rear admiral.
I started at Raeburn Road primary; I didn't stay there long because I was bullied, not by other children but by a certain teacher. I then went to Notre Dame in Abington Street until I was eight. Whilst I was there I made friends with a girl whose parents owned Franklins Gardens Hotel and I often went down there with her. They had a monkey in the kitchen in a cage also there was a swimming pool and one day we went to have a look at it only to find there was a big toad in it!
I had to leave at the age of eight and I went to a private school in Kettering Road church rooms opposite St Mathews Church. Whilst I was there I had an accident whilst running down Wallace Road, I tripped and fell, when I got home my wellington was half full of blood, I had taken my kneecap off! It then turned sceptic and I was in a wheelchair for three months so mum used to push me to school and then come and fetch me home. I stayed at that school for about a year and then I went to Kingsthorpe Grove until I was eleven. I was nine years old when dad was demobbed.
Dad was a great supporter of rugby and every home game England played at Twickenham he would take me. We would leave early in the morning and he would take me to all the museums and the sites to see, including the tower of London, monuments, St Pauls, and the Houses of Parliament. Then we would go to the match. When that finished we would go back to London for tea and go to a show at night. I remember going to see Julie Andrews; she was only 13 and sang with her mum and dad, Ted and Barbara.
I had my first cycle at the age of nine and dad and I often went for a ride on Sunday mornings to visit friends who lived in Great Houghton and Sunday afternoon we would go for a walk up Harlestone Firs with mum's brother, Uncle Bill. I taught myself to swim and joined the swimming club. Swimming became a large part of my life. Each Sunday morning dad and I would go to The Mounts Baths at eight o'clock and meet my Uncle Ted along with my cousins Edward and Stafford. We would spend about an hour in the pool and then come home to a full English breakfast.
Now we come to 1947, the year when Britain was battered by one of the worst winters ever. I can't remember exactly when it started but we were still living in Raeburn Rd. Living opposite us was a blind couple called Mr and Mrs Freeman. The night before one blizzard, I went over and cleared all the snow away from their front. Next morning when I woke up you couldn't even see their front door. We couldn't get to school for about four weeks and the snow hung about until the end of March.
In April I started as a choir boy at Holy Trinity Church but I didn't stay there too long as it was too cold! Eventually I became a choirboy at All Saints in the town centre. The vicar was canon Trevor Lewis and our choir master was Mr. Richardson Jones. At Harvest Time all the apples, which were brought to the church, were shared out between the choirboys and the rest of the fruit went to the General Hospital for the children. At Christmas time we had three parties to go to. The first one was just for the choirboys. We had tea in the Co-op Restaurant in The Ridings before going on to the New Theatre to see the pantomime. The second was at the Masonic Club in Princes Street. We gave a carol concert and they put on a big tea for us. The final one was the Sunday school party; We were always invited to that. We also got paid for funerals, weddings and any high services, such as the Assize Service.
By September I had passed the eleven plus exam and started at the Technical High School in St. Georges Avenue, next to the Technical College. This is where I started to learn rugby which was something I really enjoyed.
At the same time we moved from Raeburn Rd to Vernon Terrace where mum and dad took over the off licence on the corner of Vernon Terrace and Stockley Street. Opposite was the Granby Arms and on the other corner was a grocery shop owned by Mr Scrivener.
Dad got a dog, Judy; she slept in a beer barrel in the yard. She was a good guard dog because when the men came to deliver the beer she would let them go down to the cellar and then stand at the top and not let them up again! It was the same for the dustmen, she would let them in and then pin them up against the back door. In the end they had to come to the shop and make sure the dog was inside. One day we had a salesman come into the shop, Judy was laying under the counter and mum told the man she wasn't interested but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so mum just said, “Judy”, she shot round the counter and the salesman ran off with his suitcase, up the street with the dog running after him. He never came back.
Christmas 1947 Mr Richardson Jones was ill so after church four of us decided to go to see him. There were four girls with us, after going into see him we came out and I said "come on lets go round to my house" When we got there I said “can I bring my friends in”? Afterwards mum said she didn't think it was going to stop with the eight of us going in.
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I joined the sea cadets in March and became Bosun’s Mate as well as playing the bass drum in the band. I also started swimming for the cadets and I won the regional and the area finals in the backstroke heats. When it came to the all England races I came fourth. After taking part in the swimming I went straight to Portland for a fortnight at H M S Osprey, we went on board H M S Vanguard which was a battle ship, and H M S Indomitable which was an aircraft carrier.
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| HMS Vanguard |
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| HMS Indomitable |
When I came back from Portland we prepared to go to Market Harborough to the Festival of Boats, this was the first Inland Waterways show. On Friday night the motor boats left Weston mill for the show. We went in a 27 ft whaler and were hoping to row and sail it but we hit a snag! The oars were 12ft long and the bridges too low for us to sail! In the end we walked along the tow-path, towing it from Northampton to Blisworth and then rowing it from Blisworth to Norton, where we turned off onto the Leicester Arm to Foxton. Still towing it we turned right to Market Harborough, total distance 49 miles and 41 locks.
We had left Saturday morning and we passed the motor boats about nine o'clock at night and carried on until 2 am. We slept under a ground sheet that night. It was dry and clear and it was the night of a meteor storm and we lay there watching the shooting stars. We had to go through two tunnels and the only way we could do that was by paddling. We had a bugler in the front with a torch to warn any boat coming through but never met any. We arrived in Market Harborough about dinner time on Sunday. The rest of the day we spent towing the motor boats through the weed as it clogged their propellers up. There was a competition for the most adventurous journey and we shared it with a chap who came all the way from Kings Lynn. Whilst we were there the BBC news came down and filmed us going on board the festival queen’s boat. When we got home it was shown every day for a week, the breakdown worked out to be 49 miles and 41 locks. On the way back we were being towed by our chief petty officer's father when we went past a body in the canal. Apparently it was a tramp who they think mistook the weed for grass and walked into it he had been in the canal for a week. It was also that year we had the official opening of the headquarters by a rear admiral.
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