About the contributor

I attended school in Trowbridge High School ( now John 'O Gaunt School) in Trowbridge, Wiltshire having been privately evacuated to a great uncle in Bratton, Wilts. I was there from 1939-43.
Subsequently, I trained as a teacher at Borough Road College in Isleworth, Middlesex, passing out in 1945. We spent most of that time in the Home Guard doing all sorts of things pertaining to the V1's and V2's.
The powers that be ignored my existence as a teacher until May 1946 when I was conscripted into the army where I remained until February 1948.During tis time I was in army selection testing new recruits, retaining some hopeful cooks for service in the sergeants' mess in the camp in Wrexham, North Wales. Also during this time, I met my future Welsh wife.