Peter William Hardisty
Peter William Hardisty (1931 – 2021) was born in Leeds on 29th June to William and Jessie Hardisty, a younger brother to Molly. Peter joined the Green Howards, where for seven years he spent time serving in Malaya and in the UK he was stationed on Salisbury Plain. Peter married...
Peter Wisbey
Peter Richard Wisbey (1950 – 2020) was born on 21st May 1950 to Lilian and Harry. He had two sisters, Sue and Jayne. They grew up in Wood Green. Pete passed the 11 plus and went to the Stationers’ grammar school. He later moved to the London Nautical School. He...
Philip Sears
Philip Sears (1946–2019) was born in Birmingham to Herbert and Irene. He had an older brother, David. They moved to Leatherhead when Philip was still young. He went to Kingston Grammar School, where he captained the school swimming team. Philip was a talented musician, guitar player and singer. He performed...
Phyllis Mansfield
Phyllis Dorothy Mansfield (1922-2018) Phyll was born Phyllis Dorothy Rice in North London to Alexander and Florence Rice. She had a brother, Alec and a sister, Iris. During WW2 Phyll joined the Communist Party where she met her future husband, Geoffrey Mansfield, for whom she worked as election agent. Their...
Phyllis McDonald
Phyllis Evelyn McDonald (1929 – 2020) was born in East London on 20th August 1929, the youngest daughter of Edward and Elsie Gunn. She had two elder siblings, Renee and Bob. At the age of 11 she entered West Ham Municipal Secondary School, which became Stratford Grammar School in 1945....
Phyllis Parry
Phyllis Parry (1926 – 2020) was born in Leeds on 17th August 1926, the only child of Percy and Florence Diamond. When Phyllis was two, her family moved to London where she lived with her mum and three maiden aunts. She attended Camden School for Girls and during the war,...
Prudence (Pru) Mary Stephanie Winder
Pru was born in Cudworth near Barnsley, one of four children. Her siblings were Mick, Sue and Hilary. Their father worked for the Coal Board and their mother was a teacher. Pru attended the local convent school followed by Notre Dame Catholic Girls Grammar school in Leeds. In 1964, after...
Ralph Martin
Ralph Trevor Martin (1947-2017) was born in St Albans to Blanche Kirkman and Reginald Martin. He had a sister, Josie. As a young man Ralph was very practical. He even built his own hovercraft and wired a friend’s house. He taught woodwork for a year, after which he had several...
Ralph Southard
Ralph Earnest Southard (1927-2019) was born into the family of Hilda and Frank Southard, a younger brother to Frank. It was a close family with many relatives living nearby. Ralph was raised in Southampton and remembered the German bombers over Southampton during the war. At the age of fourteen, Ralph...
Ray Beresford
Ray Beresford (1933 – 2019) was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire to Elsie and Albert. He had two older siblings, Eugene and Madge and Johnny Walker, an orphan taken in by Ray’s parents, became a lifelong friend, more like a brother. After a short apprenticeship as an electrician, Ray worked...
Raymond (Ray) John Kite
Raymond John Kite, Ray (1943 – 2023) was born in Oxfordshire on 3rd June 1943 to Kath and Joseph, an older brother to Jeff. Ray went to Kidbrooke Green Juniors and then Eltham Green Comprehensive schools. At sixteen Ray started work for Trafalgar Engineering in Rotherhithe before working for Peak...
Raymond Edwin Wilsdon
Ray was born in East Oxford to Alice and Frank Wilsdon on 25th June 1921, ten minutes ahead of his twin brother Cyril. The twins had an older brother, Kenneth and a younger sister, Nancy. They all attended Southfield Grammar School. Their father died suddenly when they Ray was 10,...
Raymond Lyon
Raymond John Lyon (1933 – 2019) was born on 19th July 1933, to Vera and John. His early years were spent growing up in Croydon, with his younger sister Yvonne. He was evacuated to Brighton and then to Wales during the war. He was required to work hard on a...
Raymond Ward
Raymond Alexander Ward (1924-2018) Ray was born in Lewisham, the only son of George Sopp. He later changed his name to Ward. He got a scholarship to Beckenham Grammar but left school at 16 and became a clerk. During the war he was assigned to teaching radar. After a successful...
Reg Lawson
Reg Lawson (1936 – 2019) was born on 17th August 1936, to Jenny and Arthur. He had two older sisters, Barbara and Dorothy. Arthur died when Reg was only a few years old, and Jenny brought the children up on her own for a number of years. At school, Reg...
Reginald Beckington
Reginald Gordon Joseph Beckington (1928-2018) was born in Risca, Wales, to Thomas and Winifred and had three siblings John, Lillian and Winnie. His father died when he was very young. He did his National Service in the Navy and then ran the NAAFI in Port Said. Reg returned home and...
Richard (Dick) Patrick William Steele
Richard Patrick William Steele, Dick (1945 – 2024) was born to Eileen and William Steele on 12th September 1945 in Welwyn Garden City, a younger brother to Anna. Living in Brockett Close and then Beehive Green, Richard attended Templewood School. Achieving his childhood ambition of learning to fly airplanes, Dick...
Richard Godwin
Richard Ian Godwin, Richard, was born on 6th November 1968 and grew up in the quiet Oxfordshire parish of Ducklington where his father Ian was a builder and his mother Anne worked in the village shop. He and his younger brother Peter attended local schools. Richard joined his father in...
Richard John Maltby
Richard John Maltby (1964 – 2020) was born on 2nd December 1964. He grew up in York with his mum Pat, dad Brian and sister Sarah. Richard trained as a stonemason. His work took him around the UK and at the age of 19 he moved to Cornwall and joined...
Richard Walter Lawrence (Laurie)
Richard Walter Lawrence, Laurie (1933 – 2023) was born in Kenton, Harrow on 28th March 1933, a younger brother to Michael and Sylvia. Laurie’s mother died in an air raid in World War 2 when he was ten. Their father died eight years later after Laurie had joined the Royal...
Rita Lucas
Rita Joyce Lucas (1926 – 2019) was born in Portsmouth to Evalina and James Williams. She had an older brother Norman, and an older sister Marion. At the start of the war, Rita was evacuated to Winchester. When her family relocated to Shinfield near Reading, Rita joined them leaving school...
Rita May Woodham
Rita May Woodham (1933 – 2021) was born on 3rd February 1933 in Slough and lived there all her life. Her parents were William and Winifred Edwards, and she had an older sister, Jean. She went to James Elliman School, after which she worked for Eton Rural District Council. Rita...
Rita Smith
Rita Ann Smith (1944–2019) was born in Kingston to Mary and Ernest. She grew up with sister Ina and brother Jim, in Godstone and went to school in Oxted. Rita married Alan in 1965. Maria was born a couple of years later, and Carl a couple of years after that....
Robert ‘Bob’ Gaskell
Robert ‘Bob’ Gaskell was born in Pontefract on 30th September 1943, to Joseph and Minnie. He grew up there with his siblings, Eric, Rita and Peter. Their mother died when Bob was seven years old. At the age of 15 he went to work at the Prince of Wales Colliery,...
