As you may
know, Derek had recently produced an amazing summary of the family history, with
some beautiful stories of his childhood memories. He asked for some memories of
our childhood at home on St. James’s Avenue. I had begun to write these, and
I’d like to share a few with you. I hope they give a flavour of the wonderful,
kind and hard working dad that he was.
Derek organised fantastic birthday parties; balloons on the door, games, the balloon net and a birthday tea. I remember seeing him dressed in an enormous red kangaroo outfit for my animal themed party. At the end of these parties, however, instead of the usual party bags with sweets and toys inside, each child stood on the stairs and had a Polaroid photo taken, which they took home with a piece of birthday cake wrapped in kitchen paper. There was some confusion at not receiving a party bag, but Derek knew the value of recording these precious moments.
The first car I remember was a silver Ford Cortina, a big car, perfect for cramming full of camping equipment and three small children and driving to France. We went camping all over France, the whole family squashed happily into one tent, Derek with a G & T each evening as the sun was setting.
Later, we had a very smart red Ford Sierra. This car was the victim of the (in)famous ‘Coca Cola’ incident when Tim, not realising the parcel shelf raised up at the same time as the boot door, placed a cup of Coke on the shelf during a service station stop. The boot was inevitably opened, the coke spilt and there were tears on all sides. And still ringing in my ears is Derek as he desperately wiped the seat down with a wet wipe saying "that's £4,000 off the car!!". The rest of the journey was probably in silence. He later traded up to a BMW though so I guess the value wasn't too diminished.
Arguing was inevitable in the back, where Tim and I each took to our sides of the car. Any rowing that went on too long would result in Derek’s hand coming round from the front of the car, and pinching the closest leg it could find whilst we protested "it wasn't me!!"
Many trips were made up to North Wales to see Nain. Whenever Claire allowed a break from her Madonna tapes, we would sing “she’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes”. We used to play guess the arrival time. If you guessed too late, Derek said “you have to wait outside the front door until your time came around”. If you guessed too early you would have to wait until that time the next day! Derek was nurturing our young minds even then.
When Derek ever got angry at the other cars on the road, he would use his favoured child-friendly expletive "blood and sand". He had a creative way of turning anger into humour. My personal favourite was when someone on the road crossed him, and he furiously yelled "indicate you prawn" to our delight! I still use the phrase when I drive today.
Such an intelligent, warm and creative man x
Derek organised fantastic birthday parties; balloons on the door, games, the balloon net and a birthday tea. I remember seeing him dressed in an enormous red kangaroo outfit for my animal themed party. At the end of these parties, however, instead of the usual party bags with sweets and toys inside, each child stood on the stairs and had a Polaroid photo taken, which they took home with a piece of birthday cake wrapped in kitchen paper. There was some confusion at not receiving a party bag, but Derek knew the value of recording these precious moments.
The first car I remember was a silver Ford Cortina, a big car, perfect for cramming full of camping equipment and three small children and driving to France. We went camping all over France, the whole family squashed happily into one tent, Derek with a G & T each evening as the sun was setting.
Later, we had a very smart red Ford Sierra. This car was the victim of the (in)famous ‘Coca Cola’ incident when Tim, not realising the parcel shelf raised up at the same time as the boot door, placed a cup of Coke on the shelf during a service station stop. The boot was inevitably opened, the coke spilt and there were tears on all sides. And still ringing in my ears is Derek as he desperately wiped the seat down with a wet wipe saying "that's £4,000 off the car!!". The rest of the journey was probably in silence. He later traded up to a BMW though so I guess the value wasn't too diminished.
Arguing was inevitable in the back, where Tim and I each took to our sides of the car. Any rowing that went on too long would result in Derek’s hand coming round from the front of the car, and pinching the closest leg it could find whilst we protested "it wasn't me!!"
Many trips were made up to North Wales to see Nain. Whenever Claire allowed a break from her Madonna tapes, we would sing “she’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes”. We used to play guess the arrival time. If you guessed too late, Derek said “you have to wait outside the front door until your time came around”. If you guessed too early you would have to wait until that time the next day! Derek was nurturing our young minds even then.
When Derek ever got angry at the other cars on the road, he would use his favoured child-friendly expletive "blood and sand". He had a creative way of turning anger into humour. My personal favourite was when someone on the road crossed him, and he furiously yelled "indicate you prawn" to our delight! I still use the phrase when I drive today.
Such an intelligent, warm and creative man x
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