Coate Water And Jill Miles.

A Memory of Swindon.

I have very fond memories of Swindon and Coate Water in particular. I was born and brought up in Barking in Essex but my father had an old army pal, Jack Miles, who lived in Swindon ( Wells Street I think) and we would go and visit Jack and his wife Zoe and their daughter Jill on numerous occasions, normally staying for the weekend. I can remember one particular outing to Coate Water and being mesmerised by the 7 metre high diving board. I didn't even know what a metre was in those day, it must have been one of the first metric measurements on public display ever. Jack and Zoe were lovely people but unfortunately Jack died a very young man, 43 years old as I recall. My parents maintained their friendship with Zoe, who remarried, right up until her death which was in the mid eighties I believe. I last saw Jill at my own fathers funeral in 1994 but lost contact soon after. If anybody is still in touch with Jill please tell her that I would love to be in touch again. I remember the Miles family lived next door to a policeman who had two sons. happy days indeed.