INSPIRED by ‘a very full life’ Redditch man Roger Henry Lippett has written a book on his life which began living on the Batchley Estate. He went on to serve in the Royal Navy and wants to share his story.
He was born on January 30 1939 on the council estate, with his dad’s name Henry, being given to him as his middle name.
Here he sheds light on his life family and friends as a social record of sorts that may be of interest to his children, grandchildren and the people of Redditch.
Although he said he had never achieved great wealth or fame he felt his life had moments worth recounting.
In his words: “I now live in the beautiful city of Plymouth in Devon but I will always be a Batchley boy.
“Far have I traveled, and much have I seen and this is my story, serialised in the Redditch Standard.”
Part 8
Serving in the Royal Navy, we always looked forward to going on long leave.
Whilst under training we had two weeks at Christmas and Easter and four weeks in the summer and quite often I would have one or two of my friends stay with me.
On one occasion I had Andy and an old friend from Fisgard days, Keith Bonning, staying with me.
One evening after a few drinks, we went to the Hippodrome theatre in Birmingham to see a big singing star of the age, Marion Ryan.
We were in uniform of course. She was on stage performing when she suddenly stopped and looked towards where we were sitting and said: “Oh, we’ve got the Navy here tonight. Come on stage with me boys.”
So up we went and stood each side of her as she belted out her latest record with my mate peering down her cleavage and the audience cheering. They continued to cheer as she gave us all a kiss and wished us luck as we left the stage.
When we got back home with lipstick on our faces, my dad asked who the kisses were from and found it hard to believe that we had been on stage with one of his favourite stars.
On another occasion we decided for some reason that we would have a night out at Stratford-upon-Avon and we had a right merry time but then we hadn’t given any thought as to how we would get home. But, three sheets to the wind, we managed to get someone to give three merry Navy boys a lift to Redditch.
We piled into the back of the car and, by that time, all we wanted to do was fall asleep. But the man just kept asking: ‘Which way now?’ We didn’t know or didn’t really care by that time and just looked up long enough to reply: ‘Oh, just on down this road.’.
Then later I opened my eyes to see we were outside my home at 20, Ash Tree Road. Goodness knows how we got there – it’s a mystery to this day but we did. We staggered up to the front door and my dad let us in and herded us upstairs to bed.
Yes, we had some good times but, although we enjoyed drinking, we were in uniform and, although we got happy and merry, we were never drunk and disorderly.
We always set out with intention of having fun not to get drunk.
Naval ports such as Guzz (Plymouth), Pompey (Portsmouth) and Chatham were always policed by RN patrols and, if they did encounter drunken or disorderly behaviour, the offender would be bundled into the patrol wagon and escorted back to his ship where he would be put on report and face charges the next day.
The consequences might be stoppage of shore leave, stoppage of pay or, if the charge was serious enough, being demoted in rank.
I was able to see my girlfriend Rose more often now I had my own transport and was there most weekends and often stayed overnight.
Rose’s mum continued to spoil me and I got on well with Rose’s sister Roberta and brother George.
Rose’s dad accepted me and we would share cigarettes as smoking was not frowned upon or considered anti-social as it is now.
Her dad was a very heavy smoker though and smoked several packets of 20-a-day.
His lifestyle of smoking and heavy sugar consumption plus a poor diet lacking in fruit and vegetables, probably helped bring about his early death in his 50s.
I once watched in disbelief as he shovelled about eight spoonfuls of sugar into a cup of tea and then poured in a stream of saccharine’s.
