John  Acton’s Life Story Part 3

Epilogue – 1938 to 2015

Despite appeasement efforts by Neville Chamberlain, a war to stop Hitler’s grandiose expansion plans and vile treatment of Jewish and other minorities seemed inevitable. Nevertheless I was stunned when War against Germany was actually declared on Sunday 3^rd September 1939. Standing with my Dad under the cherry tree at the gate to Elm Lodge, I said, “How can grown men be so stupid? It’s MAD.” My Dad agreed, sadly.

   An immediate response from brother Ken and two or more of his friends in their local Amateur Radio  Club, was to quit their jobs and join the Armed Services as radio operators.

   I was still working in the Custom House in London. I had taken my second E.O. exam earlier but was below the successful line. However, with the onset of war the intake was extended and thus I scraped by (once again) to take up an Executive Officer job in Customs on 19.12.1939. My Dad was also upgraded to temporary HEO.

   I met another new young EO in the Custom House called Alan Mason, with a home in Leigh-on-Sea. We soon became firm friends. We usually had lunch together and enjoyed short walks round the City and also the banks of the Thames at low tide. When he enlisted in the Army  some time in !940 (I believe), we both agreed to keep in touch throughout  the War, and so we did.

   Meanwhile, I continued with commuting to the Office, piano lessons and tennis at the Brentwood Club section  of the Essex Cricket Club. I met a lot of friendly youngsters there, including girls. One girl in particular I dated, but the relationship fizzled out after a while. I remember once sheltering in a wide ditch at the tennis club in September 1940, while overhead we saw Spitfires and Messerschmitts shooting at one another in furious dog-fights. A battling pair of fighters came down very low, possibly 200 or so feet above us. We could hear the rattle of machine gun-fire with spent cartridges falling to the ground. It was an awesome close-up of a  critical stage in what became known as the Battle  of Britain.

   While playing tennis in 1940 I fell awkwardly and badly injured my left knee. It was an injury that was never  properly diagnosed until six months later by a West End Osteopath, Dr Wareing. The inner ligament had jerked out of place. In a dramatic session after massage with olive oil, Dr Wareing gave a sudden wrench on my knee. There was an audible click as the ligament was pushed back into its correct slot. For the first time since my fall, I could bend my left leg properly. I was instructed to take off the bandage and massage daily with olive oil. I was still doing this when I was called up into the RAF on 25.6.41 to train as a Wireless Mechanic.

                               Brother Ken and myself

    Following kitting out with uniform at a small aerodrome, Stapleford Tawney in Essex, I was due to be posted up North to Padgate for initial training. I had one Sunday free in Essex and decided to take a bus into Romford. There I discovered a Methodist Church with a morning service just beginning. I went in. The hymns were familiar and reminded me of Manor Park. The sermon was based on Luke’s story of  Simon, a Pharisee, who invited Jesus to a dinner at his  house, but neglected to give him the customary greetings reserved for more honoured guests. A fallen woman was also there, weeping and wetting Jesus’ feet with her tears. She used her hair to dry them and then anointed them with expensive perfume. Jesus compared her welcome with that of Simon and rebuked him saying, among other things, “You gave me no kiss.” Then the Minister challenged us on our treatment of Jesus. Might a day come when Jesus might say to us, “You gave me no kiss.” I must apologise for this somewhat crude summary of the story, but it had a big impact on me. From then on I attempted to find out more about this Jesus. whom I had neglected for so long.

   I had a tough two weeks at Padgate (near Warrington) square-bashing in my new boots. It was tough on my feet and my weak left knee which swelled a little. I used my private bottle of  olive oil for massage   every night and just avoided having to go sick. We had to march through Warrington carrying our heavy kit-bags before catching a train to London. A few days in billets in Portman Square and then transfer to civilian billets close to Battersea Polytechnic for technical training. This was heaven after Padgate. The course was amazingly comprehensive, including metal working, soldering, theoretical magnetism and electricity and radio reception and transmission. We had free time most evenings and Sunday. I was able to get some social contacts at a local chapel which ran a Junior Church on Sunday mornings. After tests in which I did well, I with four or five others were selected for teacher training.  We were eventually given the rank of Temporary Wireless Mechanic Corporal and posted to Cranwell to complete our training on the specialised equipment used in RAF aircraft and ground Wireless stations.

  I was soon given my own class-room teaching about wireless receivers as used in the RAF. It was a real privilege to be at Cranwell. We worked  hard six days a week but most of Sunday was usually free. They had a music society which met weekly, gramophone recitals one week and live music the next. They also had a decent grand piano ! Corporal Peter Sallis (later famous for  acting as Cleg in the ‘Last of the Summer Wine’) was secretary.   I soon got to know this witty character. I was often invited to play piano solos  and also to be an accompanist for the many amateur musicians in the ranks of the RAF. One such was Cpl Ronald Huddy, a skilled violinist. We were able to practise for hours together on V and P Sonatas by Beethoven, Mozart etc. I had never previously enjoyed such exciting music. We sometimes missed our Sunday lunch so as to get in a little more practice. We became close friends and kept in touch until well after the War. We also had professional musicians visit to entertain us and I got to know pianist Denis Matthews through this. I was faced with accompanying all manner of singers and instrument players. So many that my weak sight-reading began to improve ready for my Diploma attempt after the War ended. I am ashamed to mention that in addition to these musical delights, we also had use of an indoor swimming pool.

   Brother Ken in the Army had progressed to Sergeant. In June 1942 he became engaged to Mary Haynes of Honiton. On 3rd  December of the same year he, married  her in the local Honiton C of E Church. I was very privileged to be his Best Man. Mary’s mother, Mrs Haynes, was a widow and very charming. She got on well with my Mum  and Dad. Ken and Mary were well suited and obviously deeply in love. So we were all delighted, even though it was only a short break from the stress of War for Ken. 

                      Ken’s marriage to Mary Haynes at Honiton, Devon

   Back at Cranwell during 1943 Ron Huddy and I kept busy  playing V and P sonatas plus my solos and accompaniments at the Music Society. Ron and I were also invited a couple of times to give concerts at the Sleaford Music Society. At the swimming pool  I learned to dive off the swinging trapeze and swim two continuous lengths under water.

   In November 11943 I had to go sick with Impetigo. This  may well have upset one of a number of overseas postings I had which never took place..

   On 19.2.1944 I began a series of postings to active service aerodromes that led to Selsey, South of Chichester, where I witnessed the first of Hitler’s ‘Doodle-Bugs’ to arrive. We were preparing to take part in Eisenhower’s Tactical Air Force. My immediate job was to equip a 30cwt van with wireless mechanic tools. Then use them ( with a couple of staff)  to maintain and repair wireless equipment in Spitfires and Hurricanes. These planes were adapted to carry cameras to help in reconnaissance and photograph D Day landings. [This all happened while, unbeknown to me, brother Ken was with the allied invading army on D Day plus three.] We were all inoculated ready for overseas service when there was a sudden check.

   An inspection from a high ranking Officer one day, highly praised our well prepared mobile workshops, signals, instruments, fitters, engineering, etc. Then he said, “These vans  are just what I need at  ---------- (some place in France). I must have them urgently.” We were all devastated. We had lost our vans, but we were disbanded and sent off to various places.

Happy group of fellow mechanics at Blackbushe Aerodrome

[ I am on the left of the top row. Third from the left is Ken (Basher) Howe, one of my chums who was later posted to Japan and wrote to me from Hiroshima. He died quite a few years ago. I remained in touch with his family.]

  I went off to Blackbushe in Surrey, Ruislip in London and then to Bletchley where I worked eight hour shifts maintaining the giant transmitters and receivers  of this important communication hub for the war effort. We had no idea of the secret decoding work being done in various huts on the site. But we  presumed there must be a number of people involved in deciphering the teleprinted tapes. On the night shift, as Corporal with just two or three men, I was in sole charge of keeping the transmitters,  receivers and teleprinters working.

    [I earned a Bletchley badge for my short service. But I was dismayed to see only the Mansion remaining with all the extensions to house the giant transmitting valves, and other signals gear completely gone, when I visited a few years ago.]

   Brother Ken was demobbed on 17.12.1945 after the arduous and heroic invasion of France. He told me he had at least two drivers shot alongside him while travelling. He also nearly lost his life from asphyxiation in the back of his signals van. Fortunately he was pulled out and revived just in time. When I saw him he looked really fit. He said he had survived with three narrow squeaks. He was rejoicing to be safely home with Mary and their baby daughter Maureen, my niece, born on 15.4.1944.

   My service at Bletchley ended  in June 1946. I was finally demobbed on 22.6.1946. In my five years in the RAF I had been given five or six overseas postings and three embarkation leaves, but I never left England. Two postings failed because of my going sick with infections (Impetigo and Scabies). The others failed due to the ‘exigencies of war’ or plain administrative inefficiency. I was really embarrassed and annoyed when my third embarkation leave came to naught. But now I was FREE with 56 days of glorious leave before going back to my waiting job in Customs and Excise.

   Back home in my Demob Suit (courtesy of the RAF),  I sent off for the LRAM  Performer’s Prospectus. After a short break I started piano practice in earnest - nothing less than four or more hours a day would be needed to master and memorise the forty minutes performer’s programme by December, even though I had been working on some  pieces such as the Beethoven Appassionata for years. At home I now had an old Ibach  Boudoir Grand that I bought locally for £75 in April 1945. It made a huge difference to my ability to master difficult finger work. I renewed lessons with Miss Hill. Nearer the time of the examination she arranged three or four venues where I could get concert playing experience. One was at the Kingsway Hall in London where the Minister, Rev. Donald Soper,(well-known for his open-air debates on Tower Hill) also played a clever comic piano piece.

   My mother came with me to the Royal Academy of Music for the performance exam on 19.12.46. It was bitterly cold and when I started on the Bach prelude, I fumbled and begged to be allowed to warm my hands at the open fire. The two elderly  examiners were sympathetic and agreed. After that all went reasonably well. The next day I sat for the paperwork tests. After Christmas I heard that I had passed on practical performance but was a mark or two short on one of the theory papers. I had two more chances of sitting the paperwork tests within a year  and pass all three to gain the coveted diploma. I was reminded of my struggles to pass the EO exam.

   Office work continued happily now at City Gate House, Finsbury Square. I met up with Alan Mason who suggested a short hiking Youth Hostel holiday in the Peak District. He had also promised such a holiday to his sister when the war was over. He asked me, “Would that be all right with you? If so I will organise it.”  (I dimly remembered my school friend Grave asking me a somewhat similar question.) I gratefully accepted his kind offer. So it was on 25.3.1947 that I first met Doreen Mason with her brother at St Pancras Station in time to catch the 8.55 a.m. train to Sheffield. She was quiet, pretty and natural. I was impressed.

   During the journey I explained that I was preparing for my second attempt on the LRAM paperwork, and needed to work on a four part harmony exercise. They kindly kept quiet but probably thought me odd. At one point Doreen offered me a pear. I felt I should accept it and started to eat it . Then I was horrified to find  later that they were sharing the only other pear  they  had. This incident became a family joke.

   Our five days went very well thanks to Alan’s careful planning. The Peak scenery was great. We went across Mam Tor in mist and clambered down steep slopes carefully holding hands  for safety (Alan’s instructions). One or two evenings in a  hostel, I ventured to play some of my classic piano pieces. By the third day I had completely lost my heart to Doreen. She was highly intelligent like her brother, natural and beautiful. I dared not say anything to Alan, who had told me Doreen ought to go on to University. When we got home, I now had two aims.  The first was to get to know Doreen better and the second was to keep up my music theory studies,

   In September 1946 I had bought my first car, a 1933 sports SS9 two-seater for £200. It was a very poor bargain and often broke down. Reasonable second hand cars were difficult to find at that time. I had joined Ken’s old Hockey Club and was using the car to go to various hockey matches in Essex, sometimes giving lifts to other players.

   So it was in this car that I first drove down to 39 Marguerite Drive, Leigh-on-Sea to see Doreen. Alan was surprised but accepted my interest. I had a very warm welcome from Doreen’s parents. The car did not behave well. The engine tended to stall, probably with a choked carburettor. It was very embarrassing. On one occasion, not the first, I was fiddling with it for hours. I took Doreen out in the car on local trips. On 19^th April 1947  I noted, ‘Visited Southend Pier with Doreen.’

  I discovered that she worked in a Bank of England office in Finsbury Circus, which was not far from my Customs  office in Citygate House, Finsbury Square. We planned to meet secretly in the lunch hour and perhaps have a quick snack in a nearby café. This was great fun and worked well for a few times. My office people never found out, but two or three of Doreen’s office colleagues spotted us and I had to be  formally introduced.

   Visits to Leigh-on- Sea continued. Doreen  took me to her  Baptist Church at the top of her road for the Sunday morning service. The Minister was the Rev. John Pritchard, who gave eloquent penetrating sermons in the style of the Manor Park Methodist preacher of my early teen years. Doreen and I had serious talks about what we believed. Her faith had been helped by her involvement in the local Girls Crusaders Union group. She said I needed to commit my life to Jesus before she could consider deepening our relationship.

   I recalled that early sermon from the Romford Methodist  preacher about Jesus saying to Simon, “You gave me no kiss.” Apart from odd occasions, I had neglected Him in favour of progress at work or in piano music. Now I was striving and praying for God to help me believe in the reality of Jesus, and not just because I wanted to win the love of Doreen. I told her   that I appreciated what she had said. I was trying hard to gain a faith like hers. On 26^th April I took her to see a play in London called “Candida”. That same evening I played (by invitation) at a second concert in the Kingsway Hall ( Dohnanyi, Leo Livens and Chopin). I think my Dad separately crept in to hear my performance, so as not to intrude on me and my girl.

   On a couple of restless nights in late April or May, I had  strange experiences of an inner voice  saying to me that “Jesus is real. Jesus is real.” Nothing will ever shake me from this certainty or the need to do something about it.

   On 3^rd May 1947 I was a contestant at the Wanstead Open Chopin competition. I won it playing the last movement of the Third Chopin Sonata in B Minor, the most difficult Chopin I had ever mastered The competition was closely contested and the top two contestants each had to play a repeat section. I was declared the winner by a very small margin. I came out of the hall elated, started my car and drove all the way to Marguerite Drive where I had been invited to stop the night. Alan was taking part that evening in a local Musical called  Rose Marie. The next day, Sunday, I took Doreen for a drive after lunch. I told her of my desire to commit my life to Jesus and would she marry me. She expressed her delight but cautiously said she needed a little more time to consider it.

   On another Sunday I sought an interview with John Pritchard and he led me in a prayer of commitment. Doreen supported me and I was deeply moved. On Sunday 18^th May 1947 Doreen promised to marry me. At her Mum’s suggestion, I went to see her Dad in the front parlour and formally asked his permission to marry his daughter. He shyly agreed - I think he was as  embarrassed as I was. So we were now engaged. I had to think about getting Doreen a suitable ring and working out a wedding date. It was also Alan’s birthday but I don’t think he was around. When I did see him , strangely enough I remember it was at Liverpool Street Station. He rushed over and gave me a wonderful brotherly greeting. “I am so glad you are now part of our family. If there is anything I can do for you, just ask me,” he said. Then came meetings with Doreen’s elder brother Charlie and his wife Dorothy and most importantly of all, my Mum and Dad. It took a few days to choose and buy the engagement ring. I see from my diary that the 28^th  May was treated as our official engagement day with Doreen wearing the ring. 

                               Photo taken by Ken's wife Mary

 It was probably just before Doreen came for a weekend at Elm Lodge. My Mum immediately embraced her in welcome with my Dad a little less demonstrative. There were also congratulations coming in from Ken and Mary at Honiton, Devon. Mary was expecting her second child. Peter John Acton duly arrived on  20^th June 1947.

  Our wedding plans moved swiftly ahead .  I sold my car for a low price. I knew I could not afford a car  and marriage at this stage  We fixed the date of  20^th September 1947 for our wedding at the Leigh Road Baptist Church.

                   Wedding Day photo taken by Uncle Eddie Bonner

Wedding group of family and friends in the garden at Leigh Road Baptist Church

   But where we should live remained a tricky problem. My Dad and Mum generously solved it for us by offering to let us use two or three rooms at Elm Lodge. We had the West top bedroom and attic, with the little staircase leading down to a small store room at the back of the house. In this back room we installed a gas cooker and a small ceramic sink with only a pail for a drain. I provided the running water by running from our back door to Mum’s kitchen with a jug. Dad worked it all out and we thought it was heavenly. Of course I still had my grand piano in the front room under our bedroom.

   Doreen resigned from the Bank of England two or three weeks in advance of the wedding and my mother helped her with getting needed household items. We sent off lots of invitations and received many gifts. We also booked our honeymoon, two weeks at a modest hotel in Ambleside in the Lake District. It all happened so quickly, the wedding, friends and family photos, reception, speeches (including that of Best Man Ken), cards and presents, one night in a London Hotel and rail journey to Ambleside. The late September weather was unusually fine. We ranged freely over the glorious  countryside with  its hills and lakes.

            Bliss - exploring the Lake District on our Honeymoon

 We thanked God morning and evening for His gracious  goodness to us. It was a taste of Heaven even if we were a little hungry at times due to food rationing.

   Then we came home to Elm Lodge and another warm welcome. My Mum cooked us a couple of meals. Then she said, “It’s up to you now to get all your own meals.” Doreen was not very experienced in cooking, but she quickly acquired a smll library of recipes and cook books. When I came home from work, I would see her com e staggering out of our kitchen with a load of books before bringing in the meal. I enjoyed my office work but going home to Doreen every evening was such a huge delight. Could life get any better ? We found it could.

   Crusaders,

   Because of Doreen’s GCU contacts, I had a visit one evening from J.M.Vellacott, the leader of the local boys’ Crusader Class. He badly wanted a pianist to play the hymns and choruses in the Sunday afternoon class at Brentwood School, leaving him free to give the lessons, etc. He was charming and I readily agreed. Little did I know then that Crusaders would become one of the special things I should do for the Lord. I stayed for  some 38 years at Brentwood Crusaders, eventually becoming the senior  Leader of the Class.

                   Brentwood Crusaders Whitsun Camp at Danbury 1972

   I wish I could safely remember all the names  although the faces are familiar. Top row from the left I think there is Keith Ison (now an OBE) followed by naughty Paul Wickens holding a bucket over someone. Next to that someone to the left I think is Rowan Callick (now an OBE) and left again is Philip Bender. Also in that row are Alan Hayman (missionary and TV producer) and wearing glasses, David Ison (now Dean of St Paul’s). In the third line down, second from left is my  a stalwart Scottish co-leader, Alan Campbell, then  Kenneth Horsnell, a friend of mine who acted as ‘Padre’ for this camp.                     

   I am still in touch with some of my fellow leaders and old boys to-day. I look up with awe at a number who have achieved  and continue to achieve so much in their service for the Lord.

   CSCU – Customs  Branch

   I must go back now to my early day of marriage. At work I enquired whether there was a Christian Union. I discovered that pre-War there had been a Customs  branch  of the Civil Service Christian Union. Doreen had a Christian friend working in Customs,, Margaret Wilkinson.  She and two or three others agreed to help if I could restart the CSCU  Customs branch. After contact with central CSCU, I wrote formally to our Head Office seeking the necessary permission to start and to put up a Notice. This was speedily given and we started a half an hour weekly lunch-time meeting in the nearby Billingsgate Mission Hall that had been established for the fish porters and market traders. It was agreed that I should be secretary and invite speakers one week, while members themselves would undertake a Bible study alternate weeks. Later we also had a weekly prayer meeting. These meetings continued, sometimes at different venues and were still being held when I retired at the end of 1980.

   Start of our own family

   A visit by Doreen to our local doctor on 28.11.47 confirmed that she was pregnant. I felt sure it would be a boy.  We praised the Lord for His goodness to us. We had been visiting the local Churches and finally settled on Brentwood Baptist Church, where we were made very welcome.

   For my Birthday on 12^th December 1947, Doreen gave me a Schofield Bible which I found interesting. Following Christmas festivities at Elm Lodge, we received an invitation to Doreen’s  brother Alan’s  wedding to Kip Redman  at Leeds on 12.3.48. I was honoured to be his Best Man. Kip’s father was a Methodist Minister and there were other Methodist Clerics  there: at least two of them commenced  their speech by saying, “Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking ….” which caused some amusement.

   Coming home from work on 8^th May 1948 I saw Doreen waiting for me at the door waving a letter. I saw it was from the Royal Academy of Music. I rapidly opened it to find that I had finally passed the LRAM  paperwork by a very small  margin. As I kissed her thankfully, I realised I had just scraped through on my last chance to gain the Performer’s  Diploma. My Mum was so pleased. If I had been much younger, I am sure my Dad would have given me another £1 for persistence.

On First July 1948 baby Thomas Alan Acton arrived. He weighed 8lb and 11 oz which meant a difficult time for dear Doreen. They came home to Elm Lodge  on 14.7.48. Doreen had various baby management books and we wrestled with strictly disciplined feeding time schedules as against  ‘feeding on demand’. The latter finally won.

               Thomas (about two years) and I outside Elm Cottage

We enjoyed a brief visit from Ken and Mary and Doreen’s Mum during this period. My Mum loved giving Thomas a 4 o’clock cuddle no matter what schedule he was on.

   I must now begin to finish this detailed history with just a few dates :-

1.12.48  Doreen, I and Thomas moved to Elm Cottage (Dad’s gift). Shortly after this Dad and Mum moved to Aventine on the Hammer Tower estate. After a few months they moved first to St Osyth  and then to central Clacton, 41 Hung Road.

8.8.49 Doreen and I were baptised by full  immersion ,at Brentwood Baptist Church. Later we did spells as deacons, etc., and held a weekly home Bible Study group.

2.1.50 I was promoted to HEO in Customs

27.7.50 Alice Mary Acton (our second child) was born

14.5.52 Building plans for a four bedroom detached house and garage in Holmwood Avenue, Shenfield were approved (My design redrawn by an architect for the Council)). We named it ‘Limpsfield’ as the Avenue had not yet been assigned numbers. We loved it when people asked us whether we had a connection with Limpsfield, Surrey. We would answer, “No. It is the name of a hymn tune - We have heard a glorious sound, Jesus saves.”

17.6.52 Jonathan Ralph Acton (our third child) was born.

2.1.53 Completion of building on our plot 50  by 200 feet of ploughed field. We moved in shortly afterwards.

23.2.54 Billy Graham started his London campaign. I went and was impressed by the evident blessing. I later became a Counsellor at all the subsequent BG missions that I could reach and duly followed up converts I had counselled.

25.7.55 Sarah Jane Acton (our forth child) was born.

22.6.68 James Richard Benjamin Acton (our fifth child) arrived by design as did the others and not by chance.

Family Growth

As you can see, we have been blessed with five children who are happily married (one civil contract) and each couple has given us one or more grandchildren (eight to date). Some grandchildren have already married and given us six great grandchildren to date. Sadly Doreen and I have both lost our parents and siblings. But we keep in touch with the Acton, Bates and Mason families and occasionally get together. Way back we had lovely family holidays with the children.

Customs career.

I proceeded up the executive promotion ladder ,SEO,CEO and then Senior Inspector (SCEO equivalent). I stayed in London all this time despite being made the first Customs Staff Inspector; and later the departmental grade of Senior Inspector. Each time Head Office intervened after a while to keep me available in general personnel work. I think that God was behind this, as running the Brentwood Crusader Class and also keeping my family home and children’s schooling stable was a great privilege. Towards the end of my service I was rewarded with two invitations for Doreen and myself to Buckingham Palace Garden Parties. I retired at 60, December 1980. To my very great surprise I was awarded an OBE early the following year..

Retirement

During my 38 years service in Crusaders, I had very little spare time, as we were both active in Church and also ran a weekly Bible study home group. Doreen was very busy bringing up five children. I overdid my activities at one time and had to try and cut them down. Pressure eased a little as the children started University. Doreen was finally able to start her academic  studies with the Open University, where she obtained a BA 2:1.

   The adult children began getting degrees. Our first son Thomas had a specially distinctive career by achieving an Oxford Doctorate, with his rejected first thesis being published as “Gypsy Politics and Social Change”. My former superior in Customs who became Sir Angus Fraser, later told me that he found Thomas’ book ‘Life-changing.’ Greenwich University finally  created a special Chair for Thomas and made him Professor of Romani Studies. He was made a FRSA and awarded a very well deserved OBE in  2009 for his work in education, particularly securing education for Gypsy and Traveller children in schools. As Emeritus Professor , Greenwich University, Senior Research Fellow IDRICS Bucks New University and Visiting Professor Corvinus University, Budapest, Thomas is still very active at home and abroad seeking to help these Romani minority groups of people. Thomas is married to Belinda, a nurse from Hong Kong. They have three children and six grandchildren to date.

   Our other children and some of the grandchildren have also achieved a very great deal. First daughter Alice has an amazing number of qualifications ranging from B.Sc (Honours) in Physics and Mathematics and  Post Graduate Certificate in Education ( Sussex University) to supplementary  courses on Teacher Effectiveness, Special Needs, British Council work, Information Technology for Special Needs Diploma (Keele University) - and this is not a complete list. She has done several teaching jobs ending as Deputy Principal of Burton Hill School (Malmesbury)  for 8-19 years students with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. She does a lot of voluntary work and help at Malmesbury Abbey Church, ‘Through the Roof’ Charity, Food Bank ,etc. She is a talented creative artist in drawing, painting, patchwork, etc.  She is well supported by Michael Langtree, her second husband. They have two daughters.                           

   Second son Jonathan went to Reading University and gained a BA (Hons) in History and  Archaeology and later, a MA qualification from Brookes in Historical and Art Historical Studies. He has had various jobs including some paid and unpaid voluntary work in Oxford Museums. He used to love going on various archaeological digs.. He  helps at his local Baptist Church along with his wife Sam. She is from Malaysia and of Chinese extraction. She is a highly skilled Agency  Nurse.  They have one daughter Jennifer who is a Doctor of Opthalmology and mentioned below, where I refer to getting Macular Degeneration in my Nineties.

   Second daughter Sarah tried various jobs and then qualified as a Psychiatric Nurse. She helps with Sunday School work at our local Brentwood Baptist Church.  She is married to Paul Beniston, who retired from his Chartered Accountant job to undertake missionary trips to Calcutta with Sarah. The Indian climate upset Sarah’s health so they settled back after a while in Doddinghurst. They have one son.            

   Third son James gained a 2;1 in Mathematics at Warwick University and then a M Phil in Statistics at Liverpool University. He is currently employed by HM Revenue and Customs as an Analyst. In the last three years he moved from a London flat to a chalet bungalow in the road behind ours, positioned so that the ends of our gardens adjoin. Thus he is able to keep an eye on my wife and self in our nineties. Also he is a very great help to us with our computer problems. His partner, Dr Elsa Damien, is French and a language expert. They are bringing up their lovely four year old son to be bi-lingual.

Piano teaching career (1982 to 2011)

Following my Civil Service retirement, I spent roughly a year on DIY improvements to the house and garden. My piano playing had necessarily been of a low-key nature in my working years. I had done very little teaching or performing. Here was a chance to begin to enjoy more exploration of the classics for myself, and begin modest home piano teaching to children and adults. To my delight I found teaching piano one to one delightful. I met some lovely children and adults and pupils shot up to 20+ a week. Grandson Timothy achieve grade eight at 15 and the three Taylor girls from Church achieved two grade eights and a grade seven. At one time I was running Junior and Senior workshops which were much enjoyed by me and my pupils. I also composed short pieces which I would print out dedicated specially for each pupil. I called them Whimsies. Timothy loved his personal Whimsy and memorised it at a very early stage.  Later on I began giving home  piano recitals of the classics in aid of the British Red Cross.

   Children’s and Teenage Novels .

   Shortly after taking over the Senior Leadership of the Brentwood Crusader Class from  Mr Lindsay German, I encouraged senior sixth-formers to help lead opening sessions of the Sunday afternoon class. One such was David Ison who spoke well and introduced a novel feature, a short extract from the adventures of ‘Super-Cru’, a character he had invented - fiction  but with a Christian bias. The children loved it and brought their friends, eager to hear the next instalment. Maybe  a controversial item, but we made a clear distinction between Super-Cru and the solid Bible teaching and hymn and chorus singing which occupied 90% or more of the class time.

    In five or six weeks David had to leave to go to University. What was I to do? After prayer I quickly invented another character, ‘Jack Banks’, a thirteen year old son of missionary parents. He is sent to England to a boarding school. He is shy and endures various trials until Christian friends and teachers lead him to make the great ‘Discovery’. I had to write a new episode for each week and semi-memorise it, so as to keep my eyes on the boys.  To my relief they kept on bringing their friends and the class grew from about 25 to 50+ boys every Sunday afternoon. We won the national Crusader recruiting shield for the year. Then I wrote ‘Jack Banks on Trial’, a sequel to the first Jack Banks story.                          

   For my teenage piano students, I wrote ‘Martin Ashworth Fourteen’ using musical forms (particularly first movement sonata form) to guide the narrative, with an appendix to show how I had done this plus brief notes on musical form. I wrote a sequel ‘Martin Ashworth Fourteen Plus in normal format. I also wrote two more junior novels ‘Ben Bugden Thirteen’ and ‘The King’s Son’. The latter is allegorical in nature and is set many hundred of years ago in a Middle Eastern country. It has a reference to God but no specific Christian bias which the other five novels have. I wrote it so that I could give it to foreign pupils (Indian, Saudi etc piano pupils) without giving offence.

I also hoped that it might be useful in showing the futility of wars based upon a history of distrust. between tribes.

   I typed these stories and copied the pages at home. Then  published them in a loose-leaf format with my own ISBN numbers. I also printed them  in my ‘pianist-storyteller.blogspot.com’ blog. Later my youngest son James helped me get them into Kindle Ebooks and finally into glossy paperbacks by Create Space. They are available from Amazon where I have been given an Author’s Page.                                                    

   Doreen and I were privileged to be invited to David Ison’s installation as Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral on25th May 2012. At the very end of the long ceremony, David himself, as a good pastor, was at the door saying a word to the remaining few who were leaving. I had not seen  him for thirty years, although we had kept in touch with Christmas letters. He recognised me with a start. After a few words, he said he was chuffed that his ‘Super Cru’ stories had led to my novel writing..

    Current activity

   My piano teaching ended abruptly on 6^th May 2011 after I had  given a public two hours recital of classical music with a half-hour tea break at Valence  House Museum. It was to celebrate the restoration of a 1828 grand piano and also became my ‘Swan-song’.

   Family, friends, my two brilliant Sri Lankan senior pupils and members of the public crowded the very narrow audience space. It was successful in that I was being asked if I could come again some time  But my right eye had developed Macular Degeneration and I had to politely refuse. I was 90 and in a few days, my left eye also developed MD. I could no longer read small print or music. So I could not continue teaching the five or six pupils I still had. I was  fortunate that both my eyes have settled into a dry age related MD condition, with only a very slow deteriorating  starting. Strangely we have a grand-daughter Jennifer, a Doctor of Opthalmology, who has been researching MD here and in America. She has given me some useful advice. So now I am writing these memoirs on an extra large computer screen provided by  my expert and tender-hearted son James, who also gave me a Kindle Reader.
   Before I close I must apologise to the very many notable unmentioned. Christian leaders, friends, young people boys and girls who did so much for me. By rights they all should  have had an individual mention in this account. I must confess that the strain of research and  eye weakness at 94/95  plus laziness is my only excuse. Readers may  be interested to know that Renown Pictures Ltd have issued a remastered DVD of the 1937 film “Talking Feet”. Eldest son Thomas gave it to me two or three years ago. It was a huge surprise. I believe it is still available to buy. Also the Renown Film Club tell me that it is occasionally  shown on their Talking Pictures TV Channel 81’
   At 93 and 95  Doreen and I have been happily married for 68 years and rejoice in our large family and many friends. Above all  we cherish the gracious love of our heavenly Father and Jesus, who revealed Himself to us as we have walked together on our own Emmaus Road, as prophesied in our wedding sermon by the  Rev. John Pritchard.
                                  

                                      John G Acton                                  

   

              Still together - with Leila our sixth Grea-grandchild in 2014