Homes - Lincoln

4, St Peter’s Avenue, Cherry Willingham, Lincoln.

We bought this house in January 1979 and sold it in December 1983. A former RAF Married Quarter, when we bought it (by sealed auction) it was empty and the garden consisted entirely of grass. As can be seen by the photograph, some improvements were made over the four years we lived there despite the fact that I spent about 20 months commuting to and from RAF Honington and 3 months at St Mawgan during the time we owned it.
















It had 4 bedrooms which meant that the children could have a bedroom each. Situated at the entrance to a cul-de-sac, it was very quietly situated. We did have a neighbour who kept an eye on the house and told us when out elder son climbed in through the front dormer bedroom window one day when he forgot his key. Neighbourhood Watch eh!

4, Finch Close, Birchwood, Lincoln.

A brand new two bedroomed RAF Married Quarter, we moved in here in mid 1968 and stayed there until we moved to Stilton. By November 1969, we had three children but decided against applying for a three bedroomed quarter because we were so happy where we were and didn’t want the hassle of another move.

This photograph was taken on a visit in 2006.

21 Canberra Square, Waddington, Lincoln

Our first real home together, we moved here in August 1967 and were here when both Andrew and Annette were born. We moved out when Annette was six weeks old, so that the house could be modernised. It was an old fashioned house, but homely nonetheless.










1967 - Front - Pop (Jack), Doreen & Andrew - Back

93, Rasen Lane, Lincoln.

We rented rooms here for about eight months. We had our own sitting room and bedroom and shared the kitchen and bathroom. We also had the use of a garage, all for the princely sum of £3-10-0 per week. The house was owned by a brother and sister and was situated just to the north of Lincoln Castle and Cathedral. The couple were very pleasant but I cannot say that we enjoyed it very much and spent virtually every weekend in Bradford.


























This photograph was taken in 2006.

FJW Turner - his life

This is the story of my Pop but it will be some time before I get it presented in the way I would like so I hope the reader will bear with me.

My Pop’s life story is divided into many chapters but essentially 3 parts:

Pre RAF: Chapters 01 - 16.
RAF: Chapters 17 - 32
Post RAF: Chapters 33 - 41

Chapter 1 - Fragments of Early Memories (67kb)
Chapter 2 - Thoughts on Early Childhood (36kb)
Chapter 3 - Life in Canterbury (Early days - Mostly School) (193kb)
Chapter 4 - Commentary on School Life (40kb)
Chapter 5 - Life in Canterbury (Later Days - Out of School) (390kb)
Chapter 6 - Life in Willesborough Lees - Grandfather Ward (119kb)
Chapter 7 - Personalities - Union Street (38kb)
Chapter 8 - Off to Egypt (81kb)
Chapter 9 - A Portrait of My Father (204kb)
Chapter 10 - Egypt and the First Year (86kb)
Chapter 11 - A Portrait of My Mother (190kb)
Chapter 12 - Egypt and the Second Year (206kb)
Chapter 13 - Egypt - General Memories (110kb)
Chapter 14 - Egypt and the Third Year 143kb)
Chapter 15 - Gibraltar and Home (445kb)
Chapter 16 - Odd Memories of Egypt and Gibraltar (74kb)
Chapter 17 - RAF Halton - 21st Entry (236kb)
Chapter 18 - RAF Northolt - 41(F) Squadron (161kb)
Chapter 19 - HMS Courageous (587kb)
Chapter 20 - Air Navigation School Andover (117kb)
Chapter 21 - Conversion Course - RAF Henlow (240kb)
Chapter 22 - 79(F) Squadron - Biggin Hill, France, Acklington, Pembrey, Fairwood Common. (375kb)
Chapter 23 - 125 Squadron - Fairwood Common & Colerne (179kb)
Chapter 24 - Betty Kathleen Ritchie (nee Turner) (103kb)
Chapter 25 - Sierra Leone (169kb)
Chapter 26 - The Gambia - Bathurst (125kb)
Chapter 27 - Journey in West Africa - 1943 (50kb)
Chapter 28 - The Gambia - Bathurst Again (51kb)
Chapter 29 - Home - September 1943 (83kb)
Chapter 30 - 16 Operational Training Unit (OTU) - Upper Heyford (61kb)
Chapter 31 - Husbands Bosworth (107kb)
Chapter 32 - Silverstone (78kb)
Chapter 33 - Life after the RAF (788kb)
Chapter 34 - The Miracle (122kb)
Chapter 35 - August 1963 - July 1979 (338kb)
Chapter 36 - Odd Memories of My Life after the RAF (58kb)
Chapter 37 - July 1979 - 1992 (204kb)
Chapter 38 - Days out and Holidays (76kb)
Chapter 39 - 1993 - 2000 (The Beginning of the End) (160kb)
Chapter 40 - A Lady of Courage - Our Final Year (150kb)

Chapter 41 - Miscellaneous Photographs

Family History

It is going to take a considerable time to organise this part of the site because I have a total of over 8,900 names in my Family Tree. I shall organise them by Name using links to .pdf files, with either Brief, Detailed or Full content.

The Brief page will consist of Names, Dates of Birth, Marriage and Death.

The Detailed page will include my notes including Census extracts and may have photographs embedded.

The Full page will include all References as In-line notes.

For interest I have produced my Ancestors file. This runs to 26 Generations on the HOUGHAM family but I cannot verify any of that although the HOUGHAM family has been very well researched. To view this please click here (270Kb).

Family Names

ALLEN - Brief (389Kb).

HILLS - Brief (428Kb).

TURNER - Brief (295Kb).

WAMPACH - Brief (92Kb) - Full (134Kb).

WARD - Brief (136Kb)

About Me

My name is John & I was born on 18 March 1941 in Camarthen General Infirmary. I had one brother, Michael, sadly no longer with us having died at the age of 44. I married Maria on 14 November 1964 and we have three Children and four Grandchildren.

Background:
Although born in Wales, I have no previous Welsh ancestry. My Pop’s family comes almost exclusively from Kent and my Mum, although born in Devon traces her ancestry back to Leicester, Kent, Luxembourg and Germany.
My school days were all spent in Yorkshire; Upper Wortley County Primary then St Michael’s College in Leeds followed by St Bede’s Grammar School in Bradford.
I left school in 1958 and joined the Royal Air Force as an Apprentice in the 89th Entry at RAF Halton and spent the next 37 years and 9 months serving Queen and Country with my last posting being 13 years at RAF St Mawgan, near Newquay in Cornwall. Since leaving the RAF, I worked at RNAS Culdrose in a variety of guises, finally retiring on 31 Aug 2007.
I played lots of sports including Hockey, representing Lincolnshire and and Combined Services. I played Golf with my lowest handicap being 7. Sadly due to shoulder injuries, I have only played about three times in four years.


The photograph above was taken in May 2005.

Homes - Cornwall

ROSEVEARE HOUSE, Gothers, Cornwall

We moved into Roseveare House during September 2007 and immediately felt at home. It is a total change from Redcap in that it is in the middle of the County with no neighbours closer than 100 yards; it is also situated on a Private Road with access only to a Residential Mobile Home Park. The road goes nowhere except to the Park so we have no passing traffic. Gothers is roughly mid way between St Dennis and Roche in the Clay Country of Cornwall.

We now believe that the original House was built around 1908 but the house in its current form was constructed in 2000/2001.

The house has a large Kitchen, a Lounge/Diner and a good sized Conservatory. Off the kitchen there is a “Boot” Room, which connects to the Double Garage. Also off the kitchen is a small Utility Room leading to the the Back Door.

The house has four double bedrooms, one of which is en-suite; there is a large bathroom on the first floor and a downstairs toilet. Lastly, and where I am now, is the office, which is extremely useful for me since it has enough room for the Computer, Filing Cabinet, Bookcase and Storage Cupboard.

Outside are gardens on three sides with a pathway down the other side with access to a rented field and the Septic Tank. There are two sheds, one of which has a power supply. At present there are two rented fields and we intend to carry on renting unless we can purchase them outright.

The view from the house reaches as far as the sea to the west and we can watch traffic on the A30 from afar. Fortunately, where the house is positioned, there is no problem looking at Clay Tips, apart from two to the south which are largely covered in foliage.

View taken from the field to the South of the house
















View from the North

REDCAP - 16 Henver Road, Newquay

Redcap was the family home from March 1984, when we stopped moving around the country with the Royal Air Force and, quite by accident, settled in Newquay. The house dates from 1935 and has five bedrooms including an extension into the roof space, which cannot be seen from the front. Situated on what used to be the main road into Newquay, the house is about a mile from the centre of town with the nearest beach about ¼ mile at Lusty Glaze.

Redcap photographed in 2006.

It is unclear where the name came from, but we like to think that it is because it is one of the very few houses in Newquay with a red tiled roof. There certainly do not seem to have been any Military Policeman (MP) living here, although we had a number of MPs enquire when we were open as a business. Some even stayed. One person, when I answered the door, said he had been an MP for a number of years; he left when I told him that I had been in the RAF for 38 years!

Over the years the house has been used as a Guest House and retains the fire certificate. The bedrooms all have wash basins but have not been updated to en-suite facilities. There are three WCs inside and a further one in the room at the back of the garage. This room along with the garage used to provide the proprietor with Summer accommodation and we used it for the children when they were at home during the summer months.

The gardens are small but, in the Summer months, are colourful due to Maria’s ability to produce hanging baskets and pots of various shapes and sizes. The pictures below, taken in July 2000, show the fruits of her endeavours in the back garden which is totally enclosed.







The front garden, which is virtually all Car Park, had room for five cars side by side with space for two more down the side of the house. It sometimes became reminiscent of “Butterflies” for anyone who remembers the trials and tribulations of Wendy Craig, Geoffrey Palmer etc.

34 Calshot Close, St Columb Minor, Newquay

A four bedroomed RAF Married Quarter which we moved into after selling up in Lincoln