Inspired by ‘a very full life’ Redditch man Roger Henry Lippett has written his life story which began living on the Batchley Estate.
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 travelled, and much have I seen and this is my story, serialised in the Redditch Standard.”
Part 4
Serving in the Navy, something we all looked forward to was the arrival of the mail as the post was the only method we had of keeping in touch with our families.
There was no such thing as a mobile phone; they just hadn’t been invented. In fact very few homes had a phone, only very rich people and the doctor.
Mum and dad would write to me and send me the local paper at the time, the Redditch Indicator.
My dear auntie Vi not only wrote to me but also sometimes would send me a parcel which was very exciting as it always contained goodies such as a homemade cake, sweets, chocolate and a five shilling (25 pence) postal order. This was a welcome amount of pocket money in 1954.
When going home on leave, special trains were laid on as there were so many of us.
I still wore my uniform around Redditch because it was commonplace for the armed forces to be seen in their uniforms and I was very proud of mine and my new status.
On my first leave I was still too young to go in pubs but the cinema and coffee bars were very popular at the time and also there was sometimes a teenagers’ dance in the venue which is now the Palace Theatre.
One regret I do have, is that I didn’t keep in touch with my old school friends and the kids I used to play with in the road.
I can’t think why. Perhaps I was living in a different world now, a more responsible grown up world. Also I had a new group of friends who had shared my experiences of the hard life which we endured in basic training.
I did keep in touch with the girl who lived opposite, Pat Irving, and the girl who lived three doors down the road from us, Anne Roper.
Anne and I were quite close and I would take her to the pictures and I would put my arm around her which seemed very daring and exciting at the time and on the way home we would hold hands.
Sometimes we might go on a charabanc trip to Stratford or other places.
It was all very innocent. She was the girl next door.
Eventually at the end of four terms it was time to leave HMS Fisgard in Cornwall as our basic training was complete. I was now to join HMS Caledonia at the other end of the country at Rosyth in Scotland to specialise in my training as an Engine Room Artificer.
On my final home leave from HMS Fisgard I had to get up very early in the morning to catch the train to Edinburgh from Birmingham New Street Station.
I got dressed into my uniform and slipped away while it was still quite dark. I don’t ever remember there being much of a fuss being made at my coming and going.
Anne had said she would come to see me off at the station and so she came with me on the bus to Birmingham and saw me off on the train to start a new chapter of my life at HMS Caledonia.
I waved goodbye to Anne and so began my journey to Scotland.
