Winifred and Donald Gowing
Page Three
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
To the right of the page I have drawn up the relevant miniature family tree. In the case of a subject marrying more than once, only the marriage relevant to our family is shown.
It seems every one had a horse in the old days. This picture of a young Leonard Dedman was taken in Franklin Avenue Cheshunt.
Two months later was Keith's turn, marrying Tricia Ann Slater, also at Hoddesdon Registry Office. They moved on to "Brett House" on Cheshunt High Street, a fairly modern site of houses and flats replacing some very old buildings, (The Horse and Groom, The ship and The White House Hotel which Keith is pretty sure used to stand exactly where his flat was built,) plus one or two shops and houses.1972 was a busy year and the clear out continued, almost immediately on January 29th Audrey Ann married Leonard Dedman at the Registry Office in Hoddesdon. Len had been married before so they were not given a choice. Audrey Ann moved into his house at 93 Dewhurst Road Cheshunt. Leonard was known to the family many years prior to his involvement with Audrey Ann solely due to the fact that his garden backed on to the garden at 12 Briar Close! No time was wasted in building a gate between the two gardens and Audrey was a constant visitor for many years to come. Of course the reverse was also true and Win was a regular visitor to Audrey and Len.
Keith and Tricia moved on from Brett house in November 1981, to a new house on the Rosedale estate, 27 Elderbek Close. The Rosedale Estate took its name from the Rosedale Nursery that stood on the site, The Rosedale and one or two other nurseries filled an area stretching from Goffs Lane on the south side, to Longfield lane in the north.
Of course it was not very long before grandchildren appeared, and again Winifred May was in her element. First along was Kevin Mark Dedman, born January 8th 1973 at St Margaret's Hospital Epping. This one little child seemed to open the flood gates because soon, there were grandchildren everywhere. Karl Fraser was born in May 21st 1973 to Keith and Tricia, and Neal was born on June 7th 1973, to Sandie and Robert. Next up was Kerry Wayne born 19th November 1974, brother to Kevin Mark. Then we had a breather before Sandie produced another son, he was born on March 5th 1976, and Tricia produced Stuart Keith on the 1st June 1976.
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Kevin and Kerry Dedman |
Neal Denty |
Karl Gowing |
Stuart Gowing |
The first seven grandchildren, all boys, taken circa. 1985 Back row. Kevin, Carl, Neal. Front row, Kerry, with David on his lap, Stuart.
This must have been a very happy time for both Winifred and Donald, all three young families were regular visitors to 12 Briar Close, and the house was the central point of all activities for all the families. Christmas was a very busy time needless to say, and for the two remaining "children" at 12 Briar Close: Colin and Tina, there was at last room to spread out. Meanwhile, Colin had left school in 197l, with mediocre exam results, unsure of what he wanted to do for a living. He ended up working for the Enfield Co-op (the same society Donald Jack worked for) this was in fact an extension of the Saturday job he had started two years previously, delivering orders Friday evening and Saturday morning on a grocers bicycle to the local area. During the school holidays extra hours were worked filling shelves in the little counter service shop.
In 1980 Colin married Janet Ann Parsons in St Johns Church, Enfield. They had a honeymoon at Lake Como Italy, which was a wedding present from Janet's uncle Harry (Ingham) and then it was down to Bournemouth to start a new job working with brother -in -law Peter (Linstead) at a Coopers BMW .
1980 was also the year Donald Jack took early retirement. There were a lot of changes going on in the cooperative movement, responding to the great strides being taken by companies like J Sainsbury and Asda building giant out of town superstores the like of which had never been seen in this country before. The smaller Societies had to merge together to form larger Societies thereby increasing their buying power and reducing duplication and overheads, the Dairy that was a part of his life disappeared almost overnight. Inactivity not being one of his strong points Donald jack resumed working in 1982 when he took the post of a part time Warden at an old peoples Diners Club in the Beaumont Centre in Cheshunt. He was responsible for securing the supply of food and materials and making sure the place was kept clean, tidy and properly maintained. This little job kept him amused for a while but there was an undercurrent of internal wrangling that that gradually wore him down and, because he did not need the job, he left them to their own devices.
Once again a short period of inactivity was too much, and at the request of a small shop owner from Harlow he put on his working clothes again. The man owned several small shops all very close to one another and all was not well. Dishonesty was rife and Donald Jack was given the role of a one man Security Department. The job went well and Donald Jack was given the opportunity to uncover some of the activities that were going on, he was paid well for his efforts and again retired gracefully.
In 1984, on the 1st March (St. David's Day) David Andrew Leslie Gowing was born in the Rosie Maternity Hospital, Cambridge. He was the first child of Colin and Janet Gowing, and took his third Christian name from the grandfather he would never know, Leslie Arthur Parsons, Janet's father, who had died the previous year.
1984 also saw the visit of Bee and Curly Collins from Australia, They had a very hectic schedule trying to get around the country to see all their relatives in a short space of time. After a break of nearly thirty years it must have been a happy time for the families to be reunited, however briefly. They left England with the promise of a reciprocal visit by Win and Don which they fulfilled in 1986.
It was whilst they were in Australia that Colin and Janet's second child Jennifer Lisa Victoria was born, the granddaughter Winifred May had long waited for had finally arrived, and she was on the other side of the world!
Winifred May, with the newly born Jennifer Lisa Victoria Gowing, 1986
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
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Win and Don Pages The Early Days. One, Two, Four
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