John Turner's Stories: Chapter 16

1966 - 1973

Home Life in Lincoln

93, Rasen Lane

21, Canberra Square

4, Finch Close, Birchwood

Once we had got over the shock of meeting again, Maria and I had our first Christmas together. It all went by in a blur but during this period we needed to find somewhere to live in or around Lincoln as I had been posted back to Waddington. As it happened our friends Brian and Chris FOSTER were about to move out of a hiring in Lincoln and we were offered that. To avoid a lot of searching, we took it at the cost of £3 10s. a week, including a garage. This was 93, Rasen Lane, which was a corner terraced house near the castle in Lincoln. It was owned by a brother and sister and was anything but perfect for a newly married couple trying to get to know one another. We had our own lounge and bedroom but the bathroom and kitchen were shared. Maria hated it because she spent so much time in the one room whilst I was at work. On Friday nights, I would come home from work to find the cases packed ready for a weekend in Bradford. Maria went to see the doctor early in March 1966 and she was advised to, either get a job, or have a baby. No sooner suggested than she was pregnant.

This particular time could have had a major difference to our future life because we did consider buying our own house. We had friends who lived in a lovely three bedroomed bungalow in Bracebridge Heath, just about a mile from Waddington. It had cost them £3,500. When Maria became pregnant, we decided not to buy but use our savings to support our child. We could only wonder what might have happened had we taken the house buying option.

1966 - Filey
John & Maria TURNER

In July 1966 we had a week’s leave and stayed in a caravan at Primrose Valley, Filey on the East Yorkshire coast. It was good to be away from work together so that we could enjoy one another’s company with no outside influences. The only trouble was that Maria’s Dad was ill. We had taken him into hospital before we left to go on holiday.

To qualify to live in Married Quarters, we had to ‘earn’ enough points to reach the top of the waiting list and because of my rank, time served, and time served overseas unaccompanied, I had the grand total of about 40 points until a change in the rules came along in about August 1966. The changes made included earning 10 points per month for unaccompanied tours instead of 1 point. As a result, I now found myself with 148 points and at the top of the waiting list. We were then able to move from Rasen Lane to 21, Canberra Square, Waddington. We were much happier there and Maria loved this little house despite the fact that she spent a considerable part of the first six months being sick and surviving on tomato soup - ah, the joys of pregnancy.

January 1967
Waddington
Maria & Andrew

Andrew John TURNER was born on 23^rd January 1967 at the RAF Hospital, Nocton Hall, Lincolnshire. He weighed in at 7lb. 9oz. and it was a difficult natural birth for Maria. She didn’t know much about anything for the first four days, but finally came to and began to enjoy motherhood. She came home after about a week and the real work began. Maria’s brother Paul, brought her Mum down to stay for a while. This really helped as I was back at work - no paternal leave in those days. After about two weeks, we drove to the Blyth Services at the end of the Doncaster by-pass, which was about half way to Bradford. Paul met us there and took Maria’s Mum the rest of the way home.

1967 - Leeds - 4 Generations
John, Elsie & Jack TURNER
with Andrew

Andrew did give us, particularly Maria, some cause for concern when he suffered a convulsion. I believe that he had three altogether, but grew out of them without any permanent ill effects.

We didn’t go on holiday that year so spent our spare time in Bradford, showing off our pride and joy. In October 1967, I was once again sent on detachment to Malta for another live bombing exercise, and Maria was pregnant again.

1968
Brian & Jennifer KENNEDY
with Annette

Maria gave birth to our daughter, Annette Marie TURNER, on 13^th June 1968; she weighed in at 7lb. 8oz. and arrived in a comparative hurry. I took Maria into RAF Nocton Hall hospital and then drove to Bradford with Andrew. By the time I got there, Annette had been born. Maria’s Mum once again came back to help. The photograph shown was taken at Oakroyd on the day of her Christening. Maria’s brother Brian and his girlfriend, Jennifer SAMPSON, were Annette’s Godparents.

1968 - Whitby
Andrew & John TURNER

When Annette was about six weeks old, we were told that our lovely little house was to be renovated and we were going to have to move to the new quarters that had been built at Birchwood estate, about four miles from Waddington. We were not pleased at this, but it had to be done and Michael was especially helpful with the cleaning and polishing that needed to be done. Despite now having two children, we were only entitled to a two bedroomed house and so it was that we moved into 4, Finch Close, which became our home for the next 5 years.

That year in September we went on holiday to Whitby with Maria’s Mum and some of the very cutest photographs of Andrew resulted, one of which is featured on the right.

1969 - Thornton Cemetery
Nicholas & Maria TURNER

On 24^th November 1969 Nicholas Anthony TURNER was born. He weighed in at 9lb. 3oz. which was an enormous size for someone of Maria’s stature. Shortly after his birth Maria weighed 6st. 3lb (39.5kg.). She was warned by a doctor that if she had any more children they could be even larger and her life may be at risk. This gave us a problem in that the Catholic Church did not allow any form of mechanical or medical contraceptive methods to be used. We spoke to one local Catholic Priest who said that, in his opinion, whatever was right for us should be the way we proceeded. With that in mind, Maria went on the Birth Control Pill, which eased both of our minds. The stance taken by the Catholic Church with regard to birth control was one of the reasons why we both decided, some years later, to stop practicing our faith.

Life went along quite happily now and even though we had three children, at one stage all under three years of age, we stayed in our little two bedroomed house despite being qualified to have three bedrooms.

1970 - Whitby
Nicholas, Maria, Annette & Andrew TURNER

We managed to have a week’s holiday each year from 1970, but the holidays were pretty much on a minimum budget. Nevertheless the children enjoyed being at the seaside, building sandcastles. I became particularly adept at building boats out of sand. On occasion, because of the time of the year and the weather, we were the only people on the beach as illustrated by the photograph taken at Whitby.

1971 - Clumber Park
Andrew, Maria, Nicholas & Annette TURNER

In addition to our annual holiday we spent many happy days out in the local area. One of our favourite places was Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. In those days there were no parking restrictions or fees. As a result, we found one or two places where we could hide the car completely amongst Rhododendrons. Why would we want to hide the car you may ask? Well the children loved to explore under the bushes, which left the two of us alone to amuse ourselves!! The photograph taken at the side of the lake in Clumber Park shows our young family and one point of particular significance about this photograph is the cape that Annette is wearing. When I wasn’t at work, I would help by taking a number of children to school in our car, which, at the time in question was our Black Ford Consul. One day I had a car full in the back and Annette was in the front with me on the bench seat and, of course, no seat belts. With Annette jumping around, I set off and, as I went round a corner Annette fell sideways, hit the door handle and disappeared out of the door. One of her feet caught between the door and the car body and she was consequently being dragged along the road as I braked sharply to a halt. As she had fallen out, the cape that she was wearing flew up over her head, thus protecting it. In the end, she had some skin missing from her bottom but fortunately no permanent damage.

Sport

In 1966 I was selected to go on tour with the RAF Hockey team to Gibraltar, thus widening my geographical knowledge and reminding me that my Grandfather, Frederick William TURNER, had stopped there on his way back from Egypt in 1930. He had to be taken off the ship because of illness.

Roy O’HARA, John TURNER, Wg. Cdr HOWARD,

Monty BURTON, Bernard MODLEY

Liam O’BYRNE, Cess BURDEN

In May 1967, Waddington became the first Service team to win the RAF Digby six-a-side Hockey tournament. We beat Boston 2-1 in the final after extra time, having already beaten the previous year’s holders, Woodhall Spa in the semi final. This tournament had been played for nearly 20 years so it was with great pride that we took possession of the trophy.

25^th March 1968 - Vine Lane

AVM DURKIN & John TURNER

On 25^th March 1968, I gained my RAF Colours for Hockey when I played against the Royal Navy at Vine Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, the RAF’s home ground. We won 5-2 and I scored 2 goals. We also beat the Army and I scored again so the RAF retained the Inter-Service Championship. We also went on tour to Ireland, which may not have been the most sensible place to go, given the political situation, however we had a great time, playing in Belfast, Dublin and Carlow. Whilst in Dublin some of us went on a tour of the Guinness factory; I just couldn’t make myself drink it at the tasting session.

In 1969, we took the decision that I should stop playing hockey for the RAF. Maria had a right to expect me to spend more time helping with the family. Between Christmas and Easter, when the Inter Service Championships were held, RAF matches were played on virtually every Saturday, as well as some Sundays. In addition, Oxford, Cambridge and London Universities played on a Wednesday so life for a hockey player was hectic and, when I did play, I spent virtually no time at home on weekends. Nearly all matches were played within the Greater London area and even a Home match was a round trip of 300 miles.

Although I did not play for the RAF, I continued to play for Waddington, Strike Command and Lincoln Imps so Maria still spent a lot of time on her own or at the side of the pitch. As an aside, that year the RAF Team toured to New York. Talk about missing the boat!!!

1969 - RAF Henlow

John TURNER receiving RAF Cup

In 1969 Waddington won the RAF Senior Cup much to my delight. Crikey, I have just looked at the length of my shorts in the presentation photo!! The following year we should have had a really good chance as well but in one of the early rounds we had to play Finningley on the same day as the Combined Services trial. Three of us were requested to attend the trial but under the circumstances I decided not to go. Brian FOSTER desperately wanted to attend and said yes, but Joe AHMAD, who at the time was playing for England, said that he would stay and play for Waddington. Pressure was applied to Joe threatening his England place. With the 1972 Munich Olympics only two years away, he decided that he would have to go to the trials; he subsequently played for Great Britain in Munich. I rang the RAF Hockey Secretary, requesting that they change the date of the Station Cup match; he refused. I rang the Officer in charge of Hockey at Finningley and offered him any other date covering a two week period, but he said that they could only play on that one day. I was furious but we had to play with a depleted team and were beaten 2-1 or something similar. When I rang the RAF Hockey Secretary with the result he said that he was surprised at the result. I was suitably quiet, refusing to say what my thoughts were. It was also during this period that I played my one and only game for Lincolnshire. I had a choice to make because playing both County and Command matches was not compatible. I chose Command because they effectively paid my wages.

In 1971 I once again played for the RAF at hockey and, as a result was asked to go on a 10 day tour of Holland and Germany with a Combined Services team. I believe that the only reason I was asked was because of commitments of so many of the regular players, however I still felt honoured to be asked. I was, however, asked to get a little more fit and, as a result of that comment, I finally stopped smoking. There were about 15 of us players in the party, split evenly between the three services and I played in nearly all the games because various players got injured and I stayed fit. As may be imagined, this ten-day tour involved much travelling, eating and drinking in addition to the hockey and I managed to get through all of it without the need of a cigarette and decided that I would never smoke again. I haven’t but the urge to have a cigarette in certain circumstances stayed with me for years. In fact I distinctly remember after a match at Wildenrath in 1975, thinking that I could just do with one. As a result of this tour, I was awarded my Combined Services Colours on 13^th October 1971 and did actually play in the England Divisional Championships at Trent Bridge cricket ground the following year.

Also on the sporting front I played football, cricket and badminton for the Armament Section in the Station Commander’s Cup. Hockey was not a sport included in that competition.

Cars

1966 - Flamborough

Maria TURNER & Ford Popular WKY683

This period was one in which I had a succession of cars and a lot of trouble with some of them. We started the period with the Blue Ford Popular but for some reason decided that it was not good enough for us, especially with a family. Whilst we were up in Bradford, we went looking and found a lovely Green Hillman Super Minx. The problem was that it was slightly damaged on one rear wing and we weren’t happy about that so we kept on looking. In Keighley we found another Super Minx, this time yellow and seemingly in good running order. I think that we paid £315 for it but got £120 for the Popular. What a disastrous decision that was. In the course of a year or so, almost everything on the car failed; windows, doors, door locks and lots more. I cannot remember why but I was travelling from Bradford to Lincoln alone one day when the engine threw a Big End and the engine jammed; this whilst doing 60 mph on the Doncaster By-pass. I got the car back to Lincoln on the back of an AA truck and then had the problem of finding £124 to fix the engine. After that, things still went wrong and in the end, I sold it as scrap for £15. This car is the only one that I have owned that I do not know the registration number of. Nor do I have a photograph. In fact photographs of all these cars are in short supply. My brother, by now at RAF Oakington found me a White Mk. II Ford Consul, quickly followed by a Black version of the same car. Finally Michael came up with a Red Mk. 3 Zephyr 4, which served us extremely well until we were posted to Germany. I have shown a photograph of the grill taken at Clumber Park with a rather sleepy Nick. The last photograph, nothing to do with cars, was also taken at Clumber Park at the the same time and it shows Annette in a favourite pose with Auntie Betty and rates as one of Annette’s favourite photos ever.