Silwood House, Ambleside

Mum and Dad outside Silwood House in Compston Road, Ambleside. This must have been soon after they were married, when Mum was the caretaker of the Brethren Meeting Room in the same building. It is now Ambleside Baptist Church.

Our walk on 15th November 1983

We parked just off the main road to Eisenerz near the bridge (1)

Whilst we had lunch at the rest house (2) Dad said his hands were cold: he never finished his sandwiches and put them in his pocket for later. You can just make out the rest house in the last picture on the "Trip to Austria 1983" page.

Dad reached the top (3) around 15 minutes after everyone else. He stopped for a rest about half way.

I think it was near this point (4) where Dad fell on the icy path following his heart attack.
The ambulance could only reach the rest house (2) , a stretcher was carried from there. One of the men carrying the stretcher only had one arm and wore a strap around his neck attached to one handle.

The other Silwood

I have just noticed that on Mum's driving licence her address is Silwood, 327 Burnaby Road, Radford.

I don't recall her naming the house after the first place they lived in Ambleside after they were married - Silwood House.

(The name of the road is wrong on this document. The "n" is missing from Burnaby.)

Soldier's Release

Dad was "demobbed" in 1946, two days before his 26th birthday. He was a sergeant.




His CO highly recommended him in the short testimonial in his Soldier's Discharge Book.
Military conduct: Exemplary
Testimonial: An N.C.O. of the highest integrity. Honest and hard working. Always performed his duties with alacrity. Highly recommended for any post in similar capacity in civilian life.



Click for larger picture

He was in the reserves for some time after this. Here he is in his uniform on the lawn of what was then mum's home in Coventry. He's only wearing two stripes - I'm not sure why.

Reference

After the war Dad and Mum found it difficult to find somewhere to live. After Dad had been honest about his "Pentecostal" beliefs with the members of the Brethren Meeting in Ambleside they asked them to leave Silwood House. They briefly moved in with friends but the small cottage in Elterwater was overcrowded and they started to look for a job in another part of the country. This is the reference the manager of Lakeland Laundry gave to Dad. The date suggests that their official address had not been changed. I was born on 16th July 1949 and on that date they were already living at Rose Cottage in Elterwater.



The text is readable in this extract of the letter

My own dear husband

This is a photograph mum must have carried around with her.
It's obviously well thumbed and probably became creased in the bottom of her handbag. I think it was taken when we lived in Lincoln. Dad had written an article for "Redemption Tidings" and he was asked to get a professional photo to publish alongside his byline.


The back of the picture shows how special this man was to her .....
 

Earlier on the beach

They really liked the beach didn't they? I think this may have been Mablethorpe in about 1954.

Mum Alone

Mum never really recovered from Dad's sudden death. This picture was taken whist dad was still alive but shows the kind of distant look I would often catch during the further two years that she lived. 
 

Trip to Austria 1983

This is Dad at Sunday lunch on the day before he died. We were guests at the house of the minister of the Knittlefeld Church,  on the right is a guy called Mikolai from Keresley Church.   

Dad is standing in front of the Pfaffenstein, just outside Eisenerz. Later on that day Dad collapsed and died on the way down from a walk to the Frauenmauerhöhle, a cave on the side of the mountain.
 

On the Beach

This is a typical Mum and Dad picture from sometime in the late 70's or early 80's. I think Helena and me were there too. Probably taken at Folkstone, if so the Falklands war was on so it's 1982. 

25th Wedding Anniversary

I took this picture in 1973 in the garden at Sibton Close, Coventry. I was 12 years old and had just started using an old box Brownie camera I had found. I don't remember any great celebrations going on but somewhere there is another picture I took with Mum and Dad holding anniversary cards. 

Note on the Church at Much Park Street

The Assemblies of God movement was introduced into Coventry by a Mr. Miles who, in August 1933, pitched a tent in Albany Road for a three months 'revival' campaign. Meetings were later held in the Tabernacle, a rented hall in Cambridge Street. The sect had little following until a series of successful meetings at the Baths Hall and the Corn Exchange in 1935 increased membership from twelve to 300. The first regular meeting-hall, a brick building in Much Park Street, was opened in 1937 and is known as the Full Gospel Assembly.

From: British History Online
Source: The City of Coventry: Protestant nonconformity: Places of worship. A History of the County of Warwick: Volume VIII, W.B. Stephens (Editor) (1969).
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16042#n4
Date: 15/07/2004
© Copyright 2003 University of London & History of Parliament Trust

The wedding

The wedding was at Much Park Street Full Gospel Assembly in Coventry. March 20th 1948. Dad was 27 and mum 21. Grandad Newsholme was the Pastor of the church and he conducted the wedding. Mum's brother, Uncle Norman gave her away.
Uncle David was the best man. Aunty Grace and Aunty Edna were matrons of honour. I don't who were her bridesmaids. The two grandmas are behind their children respectively.
After the honeymoon (Anyone know where they went? Was it Scarborough?) Mum and Dad went to live in Silwood House in Ambleside, in a flat over the Brethren meeting hall. Mum was to be the caretaker of the meeting hall.

Schoolgirl

At about the time dad was joining the army mum would have been leaving school.

Yes - it is mum - definitely not Ruth.

Wartime diary

Here is a transcript of the diary Dad wrote in March 1945 while prisoner of war. He was taken captive at Arnhem in September 1944.

PoW letters.rtf

The PT Instructor

Dad joined the army in 1941 and became a PT instructor. So in this picture he was about 22 or 23.


I have applied to the Army records office for Dad's military record to get a clearer picture of where he served and in which regiment. There's a nine month backlog for these requests - so we'll have to wait.

I wonder where the rest of these men are now?


On the back of this picture are the
signatures of each member of the group.

String or sing

I think this is the earliest picture of Mum. I don't think she persevered with the violin. I remember her taking piano lessons at one stage but it was her voice that we'll always remember. Mum was always singing - I can remember her annoying me so much by singing the same song over and over again that I left the house and stormed down the street in protest. She was still singing the same song when I got home (about 5 minutes later)

Rocking

Aunty Ann says this is dad as a boy - despite the long fair hair I have to take her word for it. This must be about 1922

Passport photos

Dad and Mum or Deb and Alice as we never called them. These are their passpost photos. Taken in early 1949 when they planned to emigrate to the USA. Had they gone through with the process we could have been born in Sacramento, Calif. instead of England. In the end mum didn't want to leave her family in England. I remember them telling me that mum was expecting me at the time and they'd sold all their possessions - even the iron and ironing board.