FRED CROMPTON Obituary
On
August 14, 2012, died peacefully at St. Catherine's Hospice aged 88
years. The dearly beloved husband of Joyce, much loved dad of Brian,
dear father-in-law of Andrea, and a devoted grandad of Sara. Brother of
Hilda, Jean and Dennis. Loved and remembered always.
*
I've
written before of our 'fractured childhood', caused through
circumstances to my mother and father who had no control over the events
that befell them through those Depression years. Dad was doing well
building houses, the plans for which my mother drew up. Though Fred and I
went in search of those plans at various places, we were unsuccessful.
They existed in one place we visited, the storage department of Preston
County Council, but for one reason or another we were not able to obtain
copies.
In the midst of their success, Florence, the mother I
never knew, died of cancer in 1930, twelve months and a few days after I
was born.
So of my early years at Cottam with my Mum and Dad,
sisters Jean and Hilda and brother Fred I have no remembrance, save for
odd pictures in my mind of things told me of those days. That they were
happy days I have no doubt, and when Dad and I were alone together a few
times I'd ask him quietly, ‘What was my mother like, Dad?’ I so
desperately wanted something to give me a picture of her that I could
hold on to. Her photograph wasn't enough; one I have shows her seated in
the open on a grey kind of day. Poor Dad, he just couldn’t get anything
out except, ‘She was a lovely woman and companion, a great cook and
mother…’, and tears would fill his eyes and he just couldn’t go on. Soon
after that I stopped asking; I could see it caused him too much pain.
When
I moved from the infant section in the Shepherd Street Mission
Children’s Home to the boy's wing, the first boy to greet me was this
big boy with a warm smile and face to match. ‘Hello Dennis, I'm your
brother Fred. Remember me?’ I didn't, but I liked him and felt really
glad that he was my brother in amongst all those other boys who were
strangers to me. He went on to tell me we had two sisters, Hilda and
Jean, in the girl's wing, and that our Dad would be in to see us when he
could. This was all news to me and I was somewhat bewildered by it, and
also by other things I'd been told had happened in the family a few
years before. So, from sometime in 1932 until 1936 I was alone in
Shepherd Street Mission Children's Home, until I found out I had a
family.
My big brother Fred kept an eye on me, and I felt good
about that. Then a few weeks after I turned seven, Fred told me quietly
that we'd soon be leaving the home and going to our home. His quiet
excitement was infectious and I began to feel like a person in my own
right, not just one of a whole bunch of boys. We had a Dad who came to
see us from time to time, just for an hour or two when his work
permitted and he was going to take us to live with him and we'd be a
family again. Fred did much to make sense of all of this for me. Then,
our time at Longridge, after we left the Children’s Home in 1936, were
happy days for us as a family. Though war was brewing in Europe, we
lived in peace and for a short while enjoyed a time of good food, a
happy home and healthy living together. We had about ten years together
before separation again.
Came 1939 and Fred joined the Home Guard. His photograph in uniform of that time shows a young boyish figure.
 |
| aged 18 years, in Home Guard Uniform |
I
began to worry that he might have to leave us and go to war as he
wasn't called up until 1942. Then, he was sent to join HMS Raleigh, a
shore bound Royal Navy station near Portsmouth, I think. My emotions
were in turmoil as I thought of scenes I'd seen of war in some magazines
Dad had of WWI, and I dreaded my big brother having to face any of
that. He didn't seem too concerned about things; he enjoyed the Royal
Navy, the camaraderie and adventure of it all, and came safely through
the war to start life again in Preston.
He began to spend more and
more time in dancing at the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool, where his blue
eyes and dancing feet took him straight to a certain Joyce Hargreaves.
They danced a lot there, and I was quite chuffed at him having this
delightful young lady to go out with. They married of course, and they
married in Blackpool and have had a happy time together ever since with
their only son Brian, who is now married to Andrea with their daughter
Sara to keep them on their toes. Like me, Fred had a gentle and
sensitive nature, which, I like to believe, came from our dear mother.
So
this was Fred my brother, I hope some of the qualities that were his
have rubbed off on me. I shall miss him more than I can say.
Dennis Crompton © 2012
(first published www.denniscrompton.wordpress.com 2013)
