Dot and Dieter

Aunt Dot has died
I had seen her only very rarely in recent years but I have very happy memories of Aunt Dot and Uncle Dieter from my childhood
I remember spending New Year with them in London and remember their visits to Beech House,Wem at Christmas time .
I can remember being up very early one Christmas Day (probably about 5 am!) looking longingly at the presents round the Christmas tree and being caught by Dieter and ordered back to bed!
They were both generous people with a great sense of humour and generally fun to be with, which is I guess what Aunts and Uncles are for!
I will miss them


the opicture above was taken ,I think at Victoria and Guy's wedding

Nicoll family photo

Mum discovered a picture of her dad Robert (Jnr) as a 4 year old  with his mum and dad  Robert & Bella and sisters Meg & May. Mum dates the picture at about 1894

The writing on the back is written by our Granny I think and says look at this when you want a laugh!

Dads funeral

It is nearly 5 years since dad died within minutes of arriving at the hospice in Shrewsbury.

 On 26th July he was cremated and his ashes scattered on the River Wye .The order of service featured a self portrait of dad in his studio

wedding photos

Photos of the wedding of mum and dad

120Yards hurdle medal

When I was a child there used to be quite a few of these around the house..This is the only one I have, dated in 1936 .It is a medal dad won at Gresham's school for the 120 yd hurdles when he came second.It is in its original box

Dad,s favourite sport was Rugby Union followed by cricket but I remember  he also enjoyed watching athletics especially running 

Crosland bible

I have never seen a Crosland family bible but this is the nearest thing too it, I suppose.
Helen sent it to me via dad about 15 years ago. Her Dad, Percy Crosland had been given it as a child at Oakes Baptist Church Sunday School ,Lindley, Huddersfield on Feb 25th 1900.It was then passed onto Helen on 16th Jan 1930.
Our great grandfather had attended Oakes Baptist chapel for a number of years and had obviously sent his sons Percy and Herbert to Sunday School

Graduation Day

Dad first went upto Oxford at in 1939 but left at the end of the summer term 1940 in order ro join the army.having served in various places including Burma he rejoined Balliol College Oxford in I think 1946 and graduated in 1949
Mum remembers it being a very hot day and she sat in the balcony to watch dad graduate BA in Modern Greats -Politics Philosophy and Economics- with a 2-1.She wasnt keen but mum felt she had to wear a hat anyway. Note dads mortar board.

It must have felt a great achievment to finish something he had started 9 years earlier and which had been interupted by war.

Below are some recent memories from Eric Lubbock one of dads great friends at Balliol who became a Liberal MP and then a member of the House of Lords, as Lord Avebury

Many thanks for sending me the extracts from your father's book, which brought back memories. His nickname was Master, mine was Dean, Pat Scally's was Warden, and Dave Robinsin had a similar title which I can't remember. Your mother was called 'Aunt' for reasons I also can't recall. I wonder if she could remind us?

The bright yellow flying jacket I bought in a second hand shop came in very useful in the bitterly cold winter of 1947.It was fill length, ankles to shoulders, with zips to get inside it.

I remember Tommy Balogh, mentioned by your father as being very scathing to students who didn't come up to his standards. There was a story that when a bad student came to him for a tutorial, finding nobody in the room, he started reading his essay, only to be stopped after a few sentences by a voice from the cupboard: "Go away you horrible little man, I never want to see you again". So your father was let off quite lightly. I also remember well and with respect Cyril, the head porter, and Curly Dryden, the bald landlord of The George in the village of Dorchester, visited in your father's MG on weekends.

It was shaming to read how anti-gay we were in those days, but as your father does say, we weren't racists. Seretse Khama, subsequently the first President of Botswana after independence, was a good friend of mine, and he invited me to their independence celebrations in the late 60's.

I also think now that it was a pity we spent so much time drinking. I've been teetotal since 1973, and also gave up cigarettes in 1976, and coffee, cake, biscuits and sugar in 1977, partly because I became a Buddhist. Maybe I learned a few things from life, some of them long after leaving Balliol.