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Children:
Alan Linda Amy Tim
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Right: with Grannie (Susan Kate), 1936. This must have been the visit when I chucked my penny in the river.
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I started school in Lee-on-the-Solent in 1937 Attended various other schools in Fareham, Douglas IOM (1), Lee (again), Netheravon (2) and Portsmouth.
(3) Portsmouth Southern Grammar School 1944-1950
(4) Royal Aircraft Establishment Technical College Farnborough 1950-1955
(5) Worked for Folland Aircraft Hamble 1955-1960
(6) Married Ann White in Hamble Church in 1958
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At Follands we used the computer at Southampton University for some of our performance calculations. See photo on right! With this experience I applied for a job as a programmer with IBM at Hursley (near Winchester), and this must have been a good interview as I got it. I was with them from December 1960 to October 1990 in various technical and managerial jobs, until I was offered and accepted one of their last early retirement packages. I have now been busily retired for over 20 years.
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I have always been keen on various sports, mostly table tennis and badminton, and tennis in the summer. On one memorable winter evening I had a table tennis match for Follands, followed by a badminton match for Hamble, both in Southampton, and then went home to Paulsgrove.
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I was given a 6-month assignment to Poughkeepsie, NY in 1962. We went over on the SS France, an experience less enjoyable than we had hoped ( I was seasick and missed the table tennis competition). It was particularly traumatic during the Cuban Missile crisis; I recall a loudspeaker announcement saying that in the event of a nuclear attack, if we were given half an hour’s warning we should try to get home to our families, but if less, there was the nuclear bunker down in the basement.
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The best assignment in 1969-70 was to Kingston, NY - we rented a house in Saugerties, NY. The three older kids went to school/kindergarten/nursery there, and had American accents when we eventually returned to Southampton. We had a good year ten-pin bowling too - we teamed up with a French couple, called ourselves the Transatlantics, and came second in the league I think. The renowned Woodstock festival took place just a few miles from our house while we were there. (You’re right, we didn’t go!)
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1. What I remember most clearly about Douglas at that time was all the big sea-front hotels with barbed wire fences around, and inmates wearing suits with coloured patches This is where aliens were interned in the early years of the war.
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2. I passed the 11-plus while at Netheravon school, and would have gone to Bishop Wordsworth’s in Salisbury had we not then moved back to Portsmouth.
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3. Due to the school having been evacuated (and bombed) my first term at Portsmouth Southern Grammar was in huts in Brockenhurst. We were billeted in a guest house at Milford on Sea. Then the school took over the buildings of the Highland Road School in Portsmouth where I spent the rest of my schooldays. I walked to school while we lived in Eastney, but biked after we moved to Paulsgrove.
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4. This was actually a mistake. I was mad keen on atomic energy and sat the MoS Apprenticeship exam hoping to get to Harwell. Did brilliantly in the written exam but made a total hash of the interview, so ended being offered a place at Farnborough instead. Luckily I found planes reasonably interesting.
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5. Another accident. My first choice after leaving Farnborough with my new aircraft engineering degree was a short service technical commission in the RAF - but another messed up interview spoiled that idea! Further interviews with Fairey, De Havilland, Gloster and Folland led to my choosing the Hamble job as being commutable from our home in Paulsgrove. For a while I used my motor bike but later went by train.
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6. Ann caught my eye as we passed at Hamble Halt station, where she was getting on the train to go to work in Eastleigh Library, while I was getting off to work at Folland Aircraft at Hamble. We later really met at Hamble Badminton Club.
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Children of Dave and Ann Jacobs:
Alan born 5 October 1960 at Hamble Linda born 5 May 1963 in Bitterne, Southampton Amy born 22 February 1965 im Bitterne Timothy born 29 April 1967 in Bitterne
All our children were born at home, under the guidance of a midwife, assisted by Ann’s Mum Joan. Unheard of these days.
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How I pass my time:
Mondays; I wash up after breakfast. ( I do this every day, the one job I was allowed to take from Ann after I retired). During the summer we play Pitch & Putt at Riverside 18-hole course - a remarkably good one - with a group of us from the badminton sessions at Bitterne. Afternoons, Ann goes tenpin bowling while I sometimes do some vacuuming. Tuesdays: Nothing fixed, although IBM retirees monthly trips are usually on a Tuesday during the summer. Wednesdays: In the morning I play badminton with the Over-50’s at Bitterne leisure centre, while Ann usually visits an old friend. Thursdays: Nothing fixed, although lately I have been playing P & P with a friend in the mornings. Fridays: We both play badminton at Bitterne in the mornings. Saturdays: Nothing fixed Sundays: We usually go to a local car boot sale in the mornings, unless its raining. Much of my collection of Map Jigsaws have been found this way, plus a couple of golf clubs.. Sometimes we’ll go for a country walk and pub lunch, although this has got less frequent lately. Every day: I usually spend a little time on a online quiz site called http://www.funtrivia.com/ I belong to a group called ‘Retired and Loving It’, if any of you would care to see what it’s like. I spend many hours online, on Family or Local History. I used to belong to Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery and did a lot of research for them. I’ve written some 30 articles for their Newsletter, and have a web site containing the results of much of this work. http://fosoc.net/ Take a look, some of the stories are quite interesting (all right, fairly. Well, slightly - some of them). Some days: We like to go to local theatres, mostly musicals which are my favourite, although Ann likes straight plays too. We like to see G & S by local amateur groups, always delightful. Oh yes, we take holidays (too frequently according to Ann, not enough is what I say). So far this year we have been to Malta, Istanbul, Madeira, and some weekends in this country. In October 2011 we have planned a last big trip to Canada and the USA which will take all month. Oh yes, we have for many years gone on Christmas Market trips which have taken us all over Europe, and this December we go to Luxembourg. We don’t buy anything, just enjoy the places - and the gluewein.
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