Life

**Under construction** – Watch this space…

Some of the images below I have scanned from albums my Mum has, from photos borrowed from my Grandma or from slides I now possess that belonged to my Dad. Hopefully, as and when I can go through some further photos I’ll add to this page.

Meanwhile I will use the photos to illustrate the text and rely on my own memories, or how I saw things as the time. For photos taken before I was born things become more vague, so I’ll just go on what I have been told by others. Perhaps in time I’ll be able to add to any missing info.

Marriage: Raymond Fisher Nelson & Mavis Timson (his parents)

Aside from a few stories my Dad used to tell me, I know very little about his parents. Not even their dates of birth nor when these photos of their marriage were take or the location. I do know that my Grandad was called Raymond Fisher Nelson and my Grandma was called Mavis née Timson. R.F. Nelson was a fitter at either Desford or Braunstone aerodrome during World War 2

Marriage: Raymond Fisher Nelson & Mavis Timson (his parents)

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My parents when they first met in 1966.

My Mum out dancing.

Flashback... My Mum as a young girl in the early 50's.

On holiday in the late 60's with 300MOM

My Mum & Dad tying the knot in April 1969

Mum looking radiant.

One of my Mum's brothers hooks something onto her bouquet.

My Dad with his brother Alan.

My two Grandma's: Grandma Holyland on the left and Grandma Nelson.

A family shot. On the left my Dad's family featuring his two brothers Alan & Micheal. On the right my Mum's family showing some of her 8 brothers and one sister.

Leaving the church under some confetti.

This time a view where you can see my Mum.

Cutting the cake.

My parents with my Grandma Holyland (middle) and her sisters either side, on a visit from America.

Then along came, me, John.

46 Netherley Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Flash foward: 46 Netherley Road in August 2007.

Flash foward: Netherley Road, Hinckley, in August 2007.

Flash foward: Netherley Road, Hinckley, in August 2007.

The Nelson family on holiday

My Mum at her sister Yvonne's wedding, around 1974.

Mum in the living room at 46 Netherley Road, Hinckley.

Christmas 1975

Me John with my school friend Alistair Rathbone and "The Good Egg".

"The Good Egg"

Back garden at 11 Woodland Drive, Braunstone in around 1979.

Me, John with "Superfly".

11, Woodland Drive, Braunstone, Leicester around 1983.

View of Woodland Drive, Braunstone taken around 1983.

Valley Drive siege and murder.

An early photo of Superfly chatting on the CB.

Radio gear when it was moved into the back room at Woodland Drive.

My Dad probably playing "Froggy-went-a-courtin" on his guitar.

QSL cards.

Radio amateur antenna with me, John.

The main CB antenna en situ at Woodland Drive.

CB antenna damaged following gale force winds.

Me, John aged 18 manually turning one of the antennas.

The last photo of Superfly.

Cars

My Dad went through several interesting cars, and one van. I personally can only remember from the Ford Cortina Mk 1 onwards – but here are some photos to illustrate those he owned over the years…

1953 Ford Popular

The “Ford Pop” as he called it, was his first car after passing his test in 1963 at the age of 18. My Grandma (on my Mum’s side) once told me an amusing story about it. My Dad used to go and pick her up from work in it, and remembers sitting there with my Dad waiting at some traffic lights as smoke began to fill the interior. My only other memory is briefly seeing it with my Mum in a cine film my Dad took at Groby Pool, when they were out for a walk there.

The actual car dated from 1953 – the photo above was one I have doctored to show how it might have looked.

Renault Dauphine

The Renault Dauphine was a strange beastie – no idea what colour it was or how it looked, but this was the only non British car he ever owned. I don’t think he owned it for very long.

For some reason he kept the door key to this car and decades later, when his friend Nigel (Noggin) locked himself out of his Morris Ital, he managed to open the drivers door with it!

Vauxhall Viva HA 300MOM

After the Renault Dauphine, my Dad aquired his Fathers old car. A Vauxhall HA Viva. It is pictured here in the car park near where my Dad worked as a pattern maker (in Coventry I think) with the man himself at the wheel looking a bit like Bob Dylan (he was a big fan).

Just off the photo to the right can be seen his work colleagues souped up Ford Anglia.

Ford Cortina Mk 2

This is the phantom Ford Cortina Mk2 – in that I’m not sure whether my Dad owned one or not. From memory I remember him saying he owned one briefly at the same time as his Cortina Mk1 (see car below) – but he preferred the latter and got rid of the Mk2. Don’t know if it was a two door (like in the photo), but am pretty sure it was metalic blue. Again… a doctored photo.

1965 Ford Cortina Mk1 DCT886C

Ford Cortina Mk 1 at Stanhope/Swinford Avenue, Glen Parva.

Pictured in front of my Dad’s childhood home in Stanhope Avenue (later Swinford Avenue), Glen Parva is his Mk 1 Ford Cortina. This is the car I first remember him having, and have a vague memory of him colliding into a car in front of us with it once. The houses in the background were demolished in the late 1960’s. These days the site is occupied by some flats along Hillsborough Road, but back in the days when my Dad lived in the area his house was surrounded by fields until the Eyres Monsell estate was built in the mid 50’s. We were later to have a long association with this estate as my Mum’s parents lived at various places there over about 25 years.

Ford Cortina Mk1 with John

The trusty Cortina Mk 1 was used for family holidays when we often travelled to Skegness to stay in a caravan there. I believe the caravan was owned by my Dad’s Mum although I’m not sure. When I was very small we went on holiday yearly, in later years we didn’t go on holiday at all!

Ford Cortina outside 46 Netherley Road.

Here in front of Netherley Road in Hinckley, where we lived from when I was born in 1970 until 1977. In that year we moved first to stay with my maternal Grandparents on the Eyres Monsell in Leicester than later we moved a few miles away to Braunstone in January 1979. By this time the Cortina was long gone – I guess my Dad got rid of it in 1975 or 1976.

1967 Ford Zephyr 4

After the two Cortinas came a very large Ford Zephyr 4 in around 1976. I remember this car as being problematic, from breaking down occasionally on my Dad’s trip to work at Jones & Shipman in Leicester, to a flat we had while on holiday in Devon. Then my Dad changed the V4 engine himself – I vaguely remember him doing it with a tripod to lift it out – parked in front of Netherley Road. In those days half of the pavement was gravelled.

Ford Zephyr 4 (the actual car)

My Dad never took a photo of the Zephyr – but I came across this over exposed photo showing the front of the car parked outside Netherley Road, and taken from the living room window.

1971 Ford Capri Mk1 GT2000 GVB959J

By the time we moved to live with my Mum’s parents on the Eyres Monsell the Zephyr had gone (probably scrapped) and my Dad had bought himself a metalic blue 1971 Ford Capri GT2000. The only memories I have of this car were the vinyl covered seats, which would burn the back of my bare legs in sunny weather. Also remember my Dad bumped it when exiting the car park at Jones & Shipman – and the bad paint matching job he did around the nearside headlamp where he’d dented it.

This was quite a thirsty car, which he kept until about 1983/4 when he sold it for £250. I remember the buyer being very enthusiastic about it. Just a shame my Dad had to get rid as he could no longer afford to run it!

1973 Commer PB JNR813L

After the Capri came a total change in vehicle, an ex Scrambler transporter in the form of a 1973 Commer PB. It was in a bit of a state bodywork-wise when he bought it, but mechanically very sound. During the time he had it, he changed the steering wheel as when he accquired the van the previous owner seemed to have muscley arms from the titchy racing steering wheel he had fitted. My  Dad somehow came across a somewhat larger Ford Transit steering wheel which he managed to fit.

He also fitted new shock absorbers, which had been intended for the Capri – so the ride quality was very err… bouncy.

The van was manufactured when people were more honest, as the fuel tank had a rubber stopper. Soon some nasty person in the neighbourhood had started syphoning petrol from it during the night so in the end my Dad designed and fitted an attachment to the tank filler hole so he could fit a metal lockable filler cap.

Superfly mobile in the Commer PB

Later on, when he went on to the CB radio he equipped the van so he could go out mobile. This incuded quite a high antenna to replace a metal whip one he had which was attached via a magnet. The new antenna necessitated making a hole in the roof.

He also built a headset and crank switch out of various pieces of junk – the Commer had quite heavy steering (no power steering then) and holding a mic while trying to drive was quite dangerous. Remember too, that this was all before the laws came in forbidding the use of mobile phones while driving. Although I’m sure that a plod would have stopped him if he was yakking away into his mic while bouncing along.

The original reason for buying the van was for my Dad to offer services as a “man with a van” but in the end hardly an work materialised. Finally after the tax expired a Plod noticed the van parked outside of Woodland Drive and my Dad was fined for having no road tax. Which in the end led him to have it scrapped. I remember it being winched onto the back of a lorry to be taken away.

After the Commer’s demise, he never bought another vehicle. A year later he passed away.

…and, not a car but…

Puch Maxi

When younger my Dad was a bit of a biker, but in the early 80’s he bought something a little lighter than he rode when he was a teenager – a Puch Maxi. He used to ride this to work when we lived in Braunstone, and for a period set it up so it could carry his CB radio.

Later in the decade it had been left out in the rain and sadly deteriorated. I think there were a few things wrong with it – I never knew what, as I sold it on for spares in the early 90’s. Got a good price for it as well as the chap who bought it off me was struggling to find spare parts for his own Puch.