Living in Kingswear

My mother Mary Dart was brought up in Kingswear, where she lived with her mum, dad, and brother Edward until she married my dad Les Witty who was in the Army at the time. She had to move away as Dad was posted to Germany in 1953. I was born in 1955 and came to Kingswear when I was about 18 months old to stay with my grandad and uncle. Many years passed and I came to live in Kingswear at the age of 12 years old. We had a flat on top of shops overlooking the River Dart, there were quite a few shops. People were always friendly. As years went by my dad became the caretaker of Kingswear cemetery and we moved into the lodge, by this time I had left school and had got a job in Dartmouth Potteries then later moved on to hotal work. I left Kingswear when I was 17. I went back 11 years ago to scatter my mum's ashes, it was a shock to see how the cemetery had become overgrown and the lovely lodge was being left to rot. We went to the village, although it has not changed it did not have the same feel about it, all the cheery faces have gone.