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John  Reid-Henry eMail:  john@JOHNR-H.DEMON.CO.UK    Map: Newcastle upon Tyne - UK Tour: North of England-5 Counties Eldon Square Geordie Homeland Museum of Antiquities

 

 

Born, 1922 in Stoke Newington in London. Went to Melbourne at the age of two where his father had a small holding. His parents marriage broke up and John returned to England at the age of six. Lived with his grandmother and aunt and his two sisters in Hove until he entered a merchant navy training college on the Thames. On leaving there he joined the P&O Company as a cadet and completed one voyage to Australia and Port Moresby in Papua, New Guinea. On return to England he was called up to the Royal Navy ten days before war was declared and served in a destroyer during the first 18 months of the war during the Battle of Britain in Portsmouth and the Norway campaign etc. Then trained as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm and did much of his training in Kingston, Ontario. After more training in Britain he was appointed to a front line squadron and flew from aircraft carriers for a while. At the end of his operational flying he was sent for training as an air gunnery officer in which capacity he finished the war and was demobilised.

In 1945 he went to Nyasaland as a junior tea planter and stuck that for two years before joining a friend in his pest control business. In 1949 he married a girl who was a nurse and had been born in the country but spent much of her life in Edinburgh. His daughter, Penny, was born in 1953 and when she began to need schooling the family returned to England where he secured a job with Rentokil, the pest control company. His first appointment with them was in Glasgow where his son, Charles, was born. After four years the family was moved to Newcastle upon Tyne where he has lived since 1962. His daughter and son fled the nest and his wife died in 1992 so he has lived by himself since then.

Newcastle upon Tyne (note,- no hyphens) is a big city on the North East of England. The natives of the city are known as Geordies. Newcastle has some of the finest shops and accessible shopping area in Britain, some would say Europe. Penny likes to do her shopping there, she says the shops are better than hers down in Greater London. There is a ferry service between Newcastle and Scandinavia and many Norwegians and Swedes come across for their Christmas shopping.

Newcastle is easy to get out of and Northumbria is the least densely populated part of England. The Yorkshire Moors and the Cheviot hills are all within an hour or two`s run in the car and in those places one can walk for miles without meeting anyone but plenty of sheep, deer, badgers, adders and even red squirrels.

JOHN REID-HENRY

 

 

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