I started my first non-academic job with Plessey Electronics, based at Roke Manor, near Romsey, starting October 1965. Initially I lived in digs at 45 Winchester Road, with Mr and Mrs Knight[71], but later taking a flat at the Belbins (just outside Romsey). I remained there until December 1968, when I returned to Yorkshire (via Christmas/New Year at Coleford).
Family: About the time I moved to Romsey, Rosalie left Coleford to start a Maths degree course at London University. The rest of the family remained in Coleford.
Holidays: After starting work, most of my holidays were spent at Coleford, just relaxing and dog-walking, until one year Mum “told me” to have a proper holiday – to take Rosalie[72] and do a 2-week car-tour. We set off down the Welsh valleys, up the Welsh coast to the Lake District, and then over to Yorkshire for the second week, where we stayed with Janet Ingleson’s parents, Janet having been one of Rosalie’s friends at Aireborough Grammar School. Rosalie and I went of course to the Cragg for morning service, and got a good welcome; chatting afterwards, we found that Katie Clark had booked that week off work for a guide camp, which had been cancelled due to illness, so she joined Janet, her boyfriend (they later married) Arthur Winfield, and Rosalie and I for a few outings … from which much followed later. Having made that contact then, Katie and I corresponded, and in 1968 she came down to Romsey for a weekend break – we joined the Romsey Amateurs on a coach trip to London, to see a professional production of “Ring round the Moon” (a play we had recently done ourselves at Romsey).
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