Dad the Milkman - and Hero!

After leaving Harris Lebus Dad became a milkman for United Dairies.
I don't remember exactly how long the job lasted but it was several years, I know this because all through my younger teenage period I went with him at weekends. Getting up at 5am to go out in all weathers was no fun at all but it had to be done if I wanted some pocket money!

It was during this time there was a huge influx of immigrants from the West Indies and many of them settled in Tottenham. I always remembered they would want gold top milk (the best, with cream on top). If I mistakenly left a red top I was in big trouble when they caught up with me!!

Christmas time they would always invite us in for a drink (mainly rum!) and, yes, I do remember Dad getting a bit tipsy one Christmas.

Anyway, it was as a milkman Dad also became a hero. One of the houses on  his route was on fire when he arrived there. He could hear there were people inside so he went in after them - saving two women and two children from probable death.

Below is the type of milk float he drove.
Believe it or not you could get your driving license in those days for driving one of these!
Thankfully, Dad didn't own a car and didn't want one so the roads were safe.

SPAGHETTI & BARBED WIRE

Since writing the article "Returning from War" in November, I've now come across a book which I knew had been written by one of the soldiers at the same P.O.W. camp as Dad.

Jen managed to get a copy on the internet for 1p!!
I must admit I felt a twinge of anger that she got it for 1p because I felt the price demonstrated a lack of respect for the guys who had suffered so much during those years.

Anyhow, here's a picture of the book cover.

 

As we now have a copy of the book it will be kept in a safe place so if anyone wants to read it they only have to ask.

Here's a flavour of the book, which starts off with John (Jack) Fox paying a visit to the camp after the war.

 

I visited the camp myself in 1992 and although the camp was still there, it was in an extremely dilapidated state. The surrounding countryside is quite magical so I sat for a while trying to imagine Dad there and what it must have been like for him, imprisoned, hungry and so far away from home.

The local village, Fonte Dell' Amore, is like stepping back in time so I assume it was exactly the same when Dad was there.

Dad at HARRIS LEBUS

I think it must have been shortly after his period as a bus conductor that Dad joined Harris Lebus, the furniture manufactorer. Dad was a warehouse-man based initially at the Tottenham depot. 
He was also a dab hand at French Polishing so maybe he did that too.

Harris Lebus was a furniture manufacturer and wholesaler based in the East End of London in Tabernacle Street with a factory in Tottenham. The firm supplied stores such as Maple & Co., mainly producing bedroom and dining cabinets.

The Harris Lebus Website

HistoryDuring the period of its finest output in the 1900s, the style of furniture is closely associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, identified by overhanging cornices, inset door panels and square to turned legs with pad feet in the manner of William Birch of High Wycombe. The off the peg hardware is unfussy and stylistically well designed. These pieces are highly sought after.
As with many larger firms their designers are kept anonymous. This prolific manufacturer had more to do with bringing the Arts and Crafts style to the masses than any other.
In later years Harris Lebus became a household name being the largest furniture manufacturer in the world.^[1]
During the Second World War the firm produced the Airspeed Horsa glider, the Mosquito multi role aircraft. The firm also undertook Top-secret operations, such as building replica Sherman tanks out of wood.^[3]
Following the war the firm became part of the government scheme to produce utility furniture bearing the CC41 mark and were central in providing cheaper manufacturing techniques to provide the country with lower cost furniture with which they could rebuild their homes, and in fact their design team invented and patented the technique of facing man-made boards with other woods.^[4]The Company also devised and perfected the means of assembling Furniture from preformed sections and completing the construction by curing resin glue lines, utilising 'Radio Frequency' electricity, or 'R.F.' There was no metal fixing required in the assembly at all.
After financial difficulty, caused by a period of poor management which was not Family, the firm finally closed in 1969; however some could say that the techniques developed at Lebus have caused the revolution in manufactured panels in home furnishing and flat pack that many of their counterparts use today.

I think it would have been 1952 that we all moved down to Woodley, I was 2 and Jen 6.
Harris Lebus had a warehouse there, it was sited on the old Woodley Aerodrome which had served as an RAF training school prior to, and during WW2. I believe it was there that the WW2 veteran Douglas Bader crashed his plane. Despite loosing both legs he went on to become an ace fighter pilot. Anyone interested should look up the old black & white film "Reach for the Sky" - circa 1956 - which tells his story with Kenneth Moore playing the lead role.

The hangers, previously used for aircraft made a perfect storage facility for the large wardrobes etc ready for dispatch to customers.

Unfortunately this is the only photo we have of Dad at the warehouse, although there are others taken in the grounds.
For me this was a truly enchanting period of my life. We lived in the Flying School, which was enormous, we even had a playroom big enough to skate inside!
I remember exploring the old outbuildings that were full of aircraft parts - I later regretted not being older because there were enough parts to build my own aeroplane!
As the airfield was our back garden, Dad & I would go mushroom picking at about 6am on Sunday mornings. They were then served up with eggs & bacon for Sunday breakfast.

I also remember taking one of the bedsheets and some string on one occasion........

I climbed to the top of one of the buildings then attached the string to the four corners of the sheet. The other end of the strings I tied round my waist and with no further thought jumped off the roof. Naturally I expected to parachute gently down.......
Hmmm, it was just like the old cartoons, I plummeted to the ground just as the sheet unfurled over my head!!
Ouch, big ouch, but I had discovered gravity, and how it works!! Thankfully, no broken bones.

 The Bedfords' circa 1955 In the "garden"

to be continued.......

On the Buses - Bedford Style!

I'm sure we've all had a good laugh at some time watching this TV series. It ran from 1969 - 1973 so the younger members of the family may have seen "snippets".
Well, for Dad it was a reality - albeit for a very short period.

After the war the government was tasked with finding jobs for all those soldiers returning from war and with no job to go to.
Dad was offered the job of bus conductor, which he gladly accepted as he had not had much formal education ( he left school at 14 with no qualifications).

First he had to be trained in the art!

I don't know how long the training lasted but he must have enjoyed being with his fellow trainees!

 

Of course he had to be kitted out too..............

 

With Mum providing the finishing touches, he was ready to go.

Given all the professional photos taken at the time I think he was the "pin up" boy for an advertising campaign. Maybe for London Transport or possibly the government. Either way, London Transport Museum at Brooklands now have a set of the photos in one of their displays.

 

So, with a kiss goodbye at the gate of 35 Higham Road, Tottenham (Jen & my first home)

it's off to work.

Bob Bedford - Clippie

Looking good so far...... 

Hmmm, I think I know how this works!!

What I forgot to mention, and I suspect so did Dad, was that he had a seriously fiery temper which was great before the war when he was going to become a professional boxer, but not so good for dealing with the public.

All I know is a certain passenger was very rude to Dad and found himself on the floor before he knew what had happened. This was about 6 months ( I'm guessing, but it wasn't long) into Dad's career and ended it rather abruptly!!

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Any more fares please!

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The Bedford & King Grand Parents

 

Robert George Bedford                     Lilian Francis (nee Bradford) 

1888 - 1969                                                1895 - 1964 

       Bertie King              Ethel Margaret (nee Sleat)

1887 -1964                              1889 - 1974

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (Spurs)

My Grandad - RWG Bedford was an original supporter of Spurs, back when they played on Tottenham Marshes!

Here's a potted history, courtesy of Wikipedia -

The club was formed in 1882, as Hotspur F.C., and played in the Southern League from 1896 until 1908, when they were elected into the Football League Second Division. Before this promotion Tottenham had won the FA Cup in 1901, making them the only non-League club to (or likely to) do so since the formation of the Football League.

Since then, Tottenham have won the FA Cup a further seven times, the Football League twice, the Football League Cup four times, the UEFA Cup twice and also the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The Cup Winners' Cup victory in 1963 made Tottenham the first English team to win a UEFA competition. In 1960–61 they became the first team to complete The Double in the 20th century.

Tottenham played their first matches at Tottenham Marshes on the available public pitches and remained there for six years. It was at this ground that Spurs first played archrivals Arsenal (then known as Royal Arsenal), leading 2–1 until the match got called off due to poor light after the away team arrived late.^[5] There were occasions on which fights would break out on the marshes in dispute of the teams that were allowed to use the best pitches. Crowd sizes were regularly increasing and a new site was becoming needed to accommodate these supporters.

In 1898 the club moved from the marshes to Northumberland Park and charged an admission fee of 3d (£0.0125). They only remained at this ground for a year as in April 1899, 14,000 fans turned up to watch Spurs play Woolwich Arsenal. The ground was no longer able to cope with the larger crowds and Spurs were forced to move to a new larger site 100 yards down the road, to the current ground.

The White Hart Lane ground was originally a disused nursery owned by the brewery Charringtons and located behind a public house on Tottenham High Road (the actual White Hart Lane road lies a few hundred yards north of the main entrance). The landlord spotted the increased income he could enjoy if Tottenham played their matches behind his pub and in 1899 the club moved in. They brought with them the stand they used at Northumberland Park which gave shelter to 2,500 fans. Notts County were the first visitors to 'the Lane' in a friendly watched by 5,000 people and provided in £115 in receipts; Spurs won 4–1. QPR became the first competitive visitors to the ground and 11,000 people saw them lose 1–0 to Tottenham.

Since 1910, Tottenham have displayed a bronze cast of a cockerel made by a former player.

In 1905 Tottenham raised enough money to buy the freehold to the land and became permanent owners of the ground. As the club grew new stands were added. A new main stand was added in 1909, the East stand was also covered this year and extended further two years later. The profits from the 1921 FA Cup win were used to build a covered terrace at the Paxton Road end and the Park Lane end was built at a cost of over £3,000 some two years later. This increased the ground's capacity to around 58,000 with room for 40,000 under cover. The East Stand (Worcester Avenue) stand was finished in 1934 and this increased capacity to around 80,000 spectators but cost £60,000

Both Grandad's sons - RW Bedford and WJ Bedford carried on the tradition. Here are a few photo's:

 

Off on an away game!

 

Notice the "rattle"! A supporters "noise maker" back in the day.

Clearly a match against Southampton (Saints) 

Myself - son of "Bob" Bedford and Andy - son of "Bill" Bedford are 3rd generation Spurs supporters along with many of our cousins in the King Family.

I wonder if the tradition will continue ............

Dad (Robert William Bedford) the Pugalist!

In his latter teenage years Dad was a boxer, albeit an amateur. He boxed under the name of  "Boy'o William" and was about to become professional when war broke out which put an end to his aspirations. (Though I think secretly Mum had a bit to say about it too!)

He used to go to fairgrounds and earn a few shillings by "staying a round" with the fairground boxer!!

He also tried to get me to follow in his footsteps, training me at an early age.

 

I joined the Harris Lebus Boxing Club when I was 14, with Dad as my coach and subsequently I did win the Tottenham Grammar  School boxing championship, but the novelty soon waned after a couple of heavy defeats!! 

I think that saddened Dad but Mum was delighted.

Jenny Jenkins (nee BEDFORD) Genealogy Report.

Link to Jenny Jenkins (nee BEDFORD) Genealogy Report

The Bedfords - A genealogy Report by Colin Finch.

 Link to The Bedfords - A Genealogy Report by Colin Finch

Returning From War

Dad and his friend Ted on a POW evacuation train.

Actual newsreel footage from which this photo was taken can be found by clicking this link:
My Dropbox Newsreel Footage

Welcome to our family blog site.
It was only after going through some old photos of our mum and dad when they were young,  we came across one of my dad in his army uniform.  This got us to thinking how little we knew of his army career.  Dad didn’t talk about it very much but from the little information we  did gather I knew he had been a prisoner of war.
So we decided to do some digging to leave a commemorative web page to mum and dad (Robert William Bedford and Winnie May Bedford (nee King) so that our children and their children would have a record of their grandparents ( & great grandparents).

So where do we begin?  

Dad signed up for the army in 1934 at Mill Hill.

We don't know why he chose this particular path.
Dad was posted to Aldershot Command Royal Army Medical Corp unit and passed an
examination in August 1934.

It remains a mystery what the exam covered but we suspect medical training.  Dad then passed a further exam in November of the same year in English, Army and Empire, map reading and maths.
Strange combination but it's there in black and white

Dad then underwent a course of instruction and passed with flying colours in
Anatomy, Physiology, First Aid, Medical and surgical nursing and Ward Management
and Hygiene to qualify as a Nursing Orderly First Class in July 1935.

Dad's time in the R.A.M.C. commenced............

The period from 1935 - 1940.

The time between 1935 to 1940 is a little murky as we do not actually know what

year dad met mum but what we do know is it was at a dance. They both loved
dancing but dad was a real dab hand at it and had partners for all the different
dances - much to mum's annoyance!

We're not sure if it was love at first sight but on 21st October 1940 dad and mum got married. 

Now this of course should have been a joyous and romantic occasion but it was

not to be!  The sirens went off in good old London Town so Mum & Dad along with other
families headed for the air raid shelter.  All night the bombs dropped around
them so a lovely 'hugged up', (well it might have been ''huddled up') night was
not to be and Dad and Mum ascended from the shelter the next morning with their
marriage unconsummated!

As if that wasn't bad enough the worst happened and Dad
got called up that very day to go to war..........

The period from 1940 - 1943.

Dad was sent out to join the 7th Armoured Division (known as the Desert Rats).

Communication was practically if not totally non existent until mum received a
telegram to say Private Robert William Bedford was missing believed dead.

Mum was in shock, so much so her hair started to turn white at such an early age.

How long after receipt of the telegram we are not sure but just one week before
she was due to draw her Widows Pension she received a letter from dad telling

her that he had been captured and interned in a Pow camp in Salmona Italy

Campo 78......the shock completed the hair transition to white.

 Dad and Ted, We think this photo must have been before becoming prisoners of war as they are too well dressed for prisoners!! (new information proved the photo was taken at Campo 78)

Another of Dad and Ted in Campo78. Seems they made friends with the Guard dog!!

Dad was captured at Fort Mechili by Rommel's troops

 Italian tanks with Fort Mechili in the background

Dad was captured and taken to Tripoli and then from there to Campua.

Later he was removed to Salmona near Rome surrounded by high walls and mountains.

 

 P.O.W. Huts at Campo 78

 Life was definitely far from a bed of roses in Campo 78.  The Red Cross parcels

were not  getting through so the POW's, including Dad, were very short on food.  I remember
dad telling me that some prisoners, including himself, killed cats if they could catch them
and were even reduced to stewing paper and grass on numerous occasions!

Camp internment was an horrific experience for everyone unfortunate enough to
have been captured. When Dad refused to give up his wedding ring the guards broke his fingers with a rifle butt to remove it.

One good thing was to come from this, Dad and Ted Baldock became his lifelong friends.  

They agreed that if they came through the war and hads sons they would name them after each other. Ted kept his part of the bargain and named his son Robert. However, Dad got overruled when Graham was born so he was not named Edward. Sad really, Edward Bedford would have had a ring to it!!

They and several others got involved in constructing their very own football pitch as a way of keeping busy.

Dads War Medals.

Like everyone who served in WW2, Dad received some medals for his efforts.

The 1939 - 1945 Star

The Africa Star

The George Medal

Returning from War.

When Italy surrendered Dad and Ted were among the first to come home due to

their being in the R.A.M.C. protected personnel and had charge of the
repatriated wounded ex prisoners.

The main picture ( at the beginning of this blog) shows the train at Lisbon and

women of the British colony there giving out packs of cigarettes to the
soldiers.  The ex prisoners, including dad and Ted, were transferred to a hospital
ship homeward bound......the date was April 1943.

Dad's sister Lilly

This is the only picture I have of Dad's sister Lilly, who was killed at the age of 23 during a bombing raid.

.....and finally,

Thanks to Jenny for contributing the majority of the words & material for this blog, 

Graham holds a small amount of memorabilia from this time, including Dad's medals, service pay book and certificates. 

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May we never forget the sacrifices made by our war heroes!

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