My Brampton Childhood

A Memory of Brampton.

We moved to Brampton in August 1949 when my father (an RAF officer) was posted there from RAF Wharton nr Lytham St Annes. My sister was three weeks old - and my mum only just recovering from a difficult birth after also just having had her thumbnail removed.
It was not a very good start as shortly afterwards my father became ill with stomach cancer.
I attended Brampton Village school where Mr Stapleton was the Head teacher. My dad used to take me to school and my mum would walk to meet me in the afternoon with my sister in the pram. I suffered bad ear ache and recall one time crying all the way home before the doctor - called Dr Jolly - coming to visit me & put drops in my ear which I hated.
My dad gradually became weaker and eventually died on February 27th 1952 in Ely hospital. His funeral was conducted with full military honours - photos of which I have of the procession into St Mary Magdalene church, where he is buried.
Years later - in 1998, when my mother died, we discovered a wonderful collection of memorabilia mainly of our parents' incredible love story during & after the war, and my sister and I knew our parents had to be together, so we set about asking permission from the RAF to have mum's ashes interred in dad's grave. This was granted and they now rest together in the burial ground of St Mary Magdalene church which we visit annually.
We also had a nostalgic guided tour of Brampton RAF camp where our father had at one stage been CO. How life changed for us as within three months we had to vacate our quarters and my mum bought a beautiful thatched cottage in nearby Ellington. This was originally called Grove Cottage in Grove Lane. When we tried to research this it took another twist of fate to discover that although the cottage retained its original name, the lane was recalled Malting Lane. There began another interesting sequel to our story......

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