John Taylorson (OBE)
John Taylorson OBE (1931-2018) was born in the East End of London with his twin David, to parents John and Edith. He had two older siblings, Olive and Tom. John left Forest School in Snaresbrook in 1947 to do a course at Westminster Hotel and Catering College in London. John...
John Varley
John Varley (1938-2018) was born on 17 January in Liverpool, one of three children. After growing up in Toxteth, he joined the Merchant Navy – serving as a steward on large passenger ships. After leaving the Merchant Navy he joined the nearby Ford car production factory where he would remain...
John Williams
John Grenville Williams (1936 – 2020) was born to Sam and Dorothy in Bedwas, Caerphilly, on the 30th of October 1936. He had a sister, Audrey and a brother, David. Aged 11, he went to a Technical Grammar school and then to New Tredegar Technical College. He represented both at...
Jon Roads
Jonathan Roads (1943 – 2017)was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire on the 26 October. He studied at Seale Hayne Agricultural College in Devon and then had a number of business ventures, including Aquaid, a WaterAid franchise, and Road Hogs, a pig staffing recruitment agency. He enjoyed gardening, growing his own fruit...
Joseph ‘Joe’ Staples
‘Joe’ Joseph Staples (1941 – 2019) was born in Leamington Spa to Joseph and Edith. He had a twin sister, Josie, and a younger sister, Jill. By his early twenties, Joe was serving in the Army with the Queen’s Life Guard and was chosen to be one of the horsemen...
Joseph (Joe) Lucas Jones
Joe was born on the 1st. July 1940, in Islington, the youngest of Gladys and Charles ten children. Charles, Pa, worked as a fish porter in the mornings and in the theatre at night with Ma. Joe, like most of his family, worked in the theatre. He started work at...
Joseph (Joey) Thomas McKeown
Joseph Thomas McKeown, or Joey as he was known to all, was born in the little village of Aghalee, Northern Ireland, on 6th February 1934. He had just turned 87 when he died unexpectedly on 19th February 2021. He was still living in the same weaver’s cottage where he was...
Joshua Bains
Joshua Bains (1989-2018) was born in Northampton to Lyn and Dave. He attended the Campion School. Josh was an adventurous and mischievous boy who became a generous, smart and personable family man. A good salesman and enthusiastic sportsman. He died tragically young, leaving partner, Rebecca, and two children, Cyrus and...
Josie Anne Stuart-Smith
Josie Anne Stuart-Smith (1932 – 2021) was born to Horace and Phyllis Stuart in Leicester on 10th June 1932. She had three brothers Ralph, Trevor and Tony. Josie went to Nottingham University to study agriculture and horticulture where she met Mervyn Smith. They married on 16th July 1954 at the...
Joyce ‘Joy’ Parsonson
Joyce ‘Joy’ Ellen Parsonson (1933-2019) was born Joyce Ellen Southgate in Leyton to Jim and Alice. She was very talented at sport, and was offered a sports scholarship. Joy married Don in 1951. They were married for 60 years and had two daughters, Chris and Lin. They lived in Leyton...
Joyce Holroyd
Joyce Holroyd (1937 – 2020) was born on 14th September 1937. She grew up in Luddenden Foot, West Yorkshire with her mother, Mary, and her younger brother Kevin. At school, Joyce excelled at sport. After leaving she took a secretarial course. She played tenor horn in local bands, where she...
Joyce Pemberton
Joyce Pemberton (1929 – 2019) was born in Derby, on the 14th November, 1929 to Joseph and Hannah Brayshaw. They moved to Blackpool when Joyce was around three. She had an older sister, Joan. Joyce went to Revo junior school in Blackpool and then to Tyldesley Secondary School until she...
Joyce Woodhead
Joyce Woodhead (1930 – 2019) was born in Lower Cumberworth, West Yorkshire, on December 6th 1930, the youngest of the five surviving children of Edgar and Alice Peace. After leaving school she began working at Firth’s Mill at Shelley Bank Bottom, where she met and fell in love with Dennis,...
Judith (Judy) Mary Jones
Judy was born in York, to Dorothy and Reg Clitheroe, younger sister to John and older sister to Gill. She attended Shipton Street Primary School followed by Queen Anne Grammar School, and was a keen girl guide. Following in her father’s footsteps, she joined Rowntree’s in 1968, working in the...
Judith Elizabeth Hanna
Judith Elizabeth Hanna (1954 – 2021) was born in Nowra, New South Wales, Australia to Jack Hanna and Valmai St Clair, the eldest sister to John, Peter, Julian, Zena and Roslyn. Judith was schooled in various places including New Guinea, due to her father’s postings as a naval aviator. She...
Judith Margaret Lamle
Judith Margaret Lamle (1947 – 2024) was born on 14th January 1947 to Gwen and Ken Roebuck, the eldest sister to Peter and Sue. Growing up in Kitchenroyd, Judith went to Scissett Church of England and Penistone Grammar schools and then to Huddersfield School of Art followed by Leeds College...
Judith Saner
Judith Saner (1949 – 2015) was born Judith Haynes in Didcot on 17 June, the youngest of three children. She studied English Literature at UCL and then worked at the Greater London Council. Judith enjoyed gardening, supporting Arsenal, and knitting. She married husband Cengiz and they had two daughters, Emine...
June Winters
June Elizabeth Winters (1932 – 2019) was born in Islington on 3rd November 1932 to Elizabeth Wood and Edward Archer. She had two brothers, John and Ted. In later life she wrote a memoir of her early years with illustrations and poetry. Evacuated three times during the war – June...
Junior Aitken
Junior Aitken was born on 18th October 1942, to Isa and Tucker, in Newmains, Lanarkshire, where he lived for 29 years. He had five older brothers and a younger sister. He went to Newmains School until the age of 15, when he left to work in a garage. Junior spent...
Katherine Daly
Katherine Daly (1928-2018) was born and brought up in Irlam, her parents’ only daughter. She left school at 14 and worked as a secretary and as a PA for a hairdressing salon business. She later worked for the Girl Guides Equipment Depot in Broadheath. She met and courted Stan on...
Kathleen (Kathy) McGowan
Kathleen (Kathy) McGowan (1942 – 2022) was born on 6th April 1942 to Daniel and Elizabeth O’Neill in Kilkenny, Southern Ireland. Leaving school at fourteen, Kathy joined her sister Maura in Huddersfield to look for work. Her first job was at the Co-op laundry and then she secured a job...
Kathleen (Katie) Hogan
Kathleen Hogan (1944 – 2023), known as Katie, was born in Bristol, the third child of Bill and Ivy Bond, a sister to John, Hazel and Ryan. After the family moved to Dublin in 1948, Katie attended the Diocesan Girls School. Katie worked as an Accounts Clerk for Norwich Union...
Keith Antony Harris
Keith Antony Harris (1953 – 2020) was born on 19th October 1953. He grew up just outside Lancaster with his parents Larry and Barbara, workers at the local mill. After primary school in Halton he attended Lancaster Grammar School taking ‘A’ levels a year early. He did a year at...
Keith Smith
(Douglas) Keith Smith (1949 – 2022) was born on 21st April 1949 in Thorne, near Doncaster, the only child of Cynthia and Ted Smith. Having won a scholarship to art college, Keith specialised in Exhibition Design. His first job was as a window display designer working at Owen, Owen the...
