Conningsby, Lincolnshire circa 1974 (accurately dated by the bell bottoms)! This is my Dad at the tender age of 30 building our first real family home. Quite an achievement considering his background was completely unrelated to the building trade. I remember it well, it was state of the art modern bungalow with a fashionably cool sunken tile bath, purple and green walls as well as shag pile carpets to boot.
A few years later, he built me a doll's house which I still treasure. The walls are painted with the same colours as our bungalow. The floor in the kitchen is made up of the linoluem tiles that were in our real kitchen. Such great attention to detail.
With a career in the Royal Air Force, we left the house he built in 1980 and my parents have since moved too many times to count. But I still have fond memories of the vegetable garden, shelling beans on the back doorstep and my parents working 2 jobs each to make ends meet. As I get older I have nothing but admiration for them both for their resourcefulness and creativity, especially when we were little.
Our family don't do compliments very well. We're much more likely to insult or poke fun at each other but the bottom line is I'm very proud of my Dad. He's really quite a remarkable person. Completely self-taught, he seems able to turn his hand to just about anything...maybe his grandchildren will be the same?
We love you Grandad.
