Once upon a time, in the year of fried fish and chips…

Hello… well, like I mentioned before, my Grandad Les passed away suddenly at Christmas, and I wanted to write a bit about him, kind of like a small tribute, especially as it would have been his 90th birthday this week. He had been keeping quite well up until December when he’d gone into hospital feeling under the weather. They’d kept him in for some tests and to be monitored, but he was feeling loads better within a couple of days, and we all expected him to be home for Christmas, so it was a shock when it happened. Over Christmas, we spent ages looking through all the old photos we’ve got, and remembering all the funny things he used to say, which really helped! It seemed weird that he wasn’t there with us like usual though.

My favourite pic of Gampy when he was younger. He's 16 years old here, I love the shoes and trousers he's wearing. And look at his hair!

Me and my sis always called him ‘Gampy’, as apparently we couldn’t get to grips with saying Grandad or Grampy when we were little! Anyway, it stuck, and that’s what we always called him. My favourite times were when we used to talk about the war and the old days. I loved all the stories he had about his time in the army and about living in London. Gampy was born in London and lived in Camberwell with his Mum, sister & step-dad. His Dad died when he was 3 years old, from a WW1 shrapnel wound, so he only had very vague memories of him. At the start of the 2nd world war, aged 18, Gampy was called up to fight, and was posted to France with the 2/7th battalion of The Queen’s Royal Regiment.

Great coat! He was always telling us how good looking he was!

His unit was captured early on in the war, at a place called Abbeville in France, and he was reported as missing in action in May of 1940. For five months his family had no idea where he was, or whether he was still alive, until October of 1940, when they received another letter from the Infantry Records Office, informing them that he was a prisoner of war at Stalag XXA in Thorn, Poland. Thorn/Torun (pronounced Torn) was on the Polish corridor, created after the 1st World War, and colonised by Germans (with many Polish names having been altered accordingly). He remained a prisoner for the rest of the war, later moving to Stalag XXB at Marienburg, working mainly on farms, but also in dairy and sugar factories, digging graves, digging drains, labouring on roads, and working in quarries. He told me that whilst working at the dairy factories, helping to make cheese, the English soldiers would climb up to the top of these huge vats and take it in turns to urinate into the cheese. They would also urinate in the German soldiers’ helmets if they took them off and left them unattended! He said that when they were working on the roads, Polish girls used to sometimes pass by and throw them sandwiches if they were lucky.

Stalag XXB, '42, Gampy is in the middle, front row

I can remember he used to tell us a story about how one day, he and a few other soldiers had refused to use a particular piece of farm machinery for some reason, and as a punishment, they were all lined up against a wall at the camp, to be shot. However, a General came out and stopped it from happening at the last minute. He also told me that they managed to escape several times, but always got caught…one particular time, he escaped with his friend and they went to the cinema, but the guards caught up with them there and marched them back! He said there were some good times back then, but there were also a lot of bad times. He would tell me loads of stuff, but said there were some things he saw that he would never tell me. Gampy was finally liberated by the Americans, in September of 1944, flown back to Britain, and de-mobbed at Guildford, where he was issued with a de-mob suit which my Nan said looked bloody awful on him…she never liked that suit! After serving overseas for a period of 5 years and 29 days, he was entitled to 60 days leave, in addition to a release leave of 56 days.

Stalag XXB, 1944, Gampy is far left, back row

After the war, Gampy returned to civilian life in London, eventually moving to Somerset and marrying  my Nan in 1948. He worked as a bus driver and always used to tell us the story of when all the brakes failed on the bus he was driving. He was on his way down through the town centre, and found he couldn’t stop the bus, so he had no other option than to keep going. All the old women were tapping their coins on the windows and shouting to him that he’d passed their stops, but he couldnt do anything about it. Luckily, the road started to go up a slight hill at the bottom of town, and he finally came to a standstill and was able to let all the angry old women off the bus! He rang his boss who told him to take the bus back to the depot, but Gampy told him him he must be joking, and jacked it up and left it in the middle of town. I used to ask him to tell me the story all the time coz it was really funny the way he told it! After working on the busses, he was an MOD driving instructor for a long time, before going on to work for Westlands for 20 years until his retirement in 1982. He loved his job there, and always said it used to be “a bloody pleasure” going in to work of a morning! He also was a keen bowler, and had loads of bowling trophies in the front room. Me & my sis used to enjoy polishing them when we went round! We used to go and watch him play sometimes when we were little. In the 80′s, he and my Nan used to go on holidays to Europe with the Westlands retirement association which they really enjoyed, and he also liked doing a bit of gardening. When we were little he used to grow loads of runner beans in the garden, which we used to help pick for my Nan.

My Mum found these in my Nan's old purse. hahahhaaa!

My Nan and Grandad were together for 59 happy years, until my Nan passed away in 2007. Gampy moved into a flat in sheltered housing acommodation, which he loved, as it was so much easier for him than living in a big house on his own, and he stayed there until the end of his life. He loved being with other people, and made lots of friends there. He also loved watching telly and listening to music, and he was always up to date with politics and current affairs, more than I ever am. H always knew what was going on in the world. Every evening he would have a glass of whiskey and lemon, around 9pm, which he would thoroughly recommend, and he loved watching Christine Bleakley on the One Show every night!

Me & Gampy watching telly. I'm about one I think, so must be 30 years ago. Every time I had a birthday he used to ask me if I felt any different, & I used to tell him I felt like I was getting really old, especially when I turned 30, & he used to say 'you poor old bugger, how you gonna bloody feel when you're my age then!?'

We had lots of good times together, and although I didn’t get to see him as much when I moved to Sheffield, we still spoke on the phone a lot, and he would always make me laugh. He was always very encouraging of everything we wanted to do, and was always helping me out with my constant cash flow issues! He was also very proud of his great granddaughter, Millie. The last time I saw him was in August, and I just assumed I would see him again after Christmas on my next visit home. I will miss him very much, miss chatting on the phone, and miss hearing all the stories about the old days. Bye for now Gampy! xxxx

Gampy and me