| New Member - Leyland born |
| anacortesdamp | Hello:
My name is Frank Damp. I'm from the family that used to have the ironmongery on Towngate (now a carpet shop) and the petrol station at the junction of Canberra Road and Turpin Green. I'm married to Eileen (Nixon) whose family used to run a greengrocery on Hough Lane across from the gasworks.
We live in a smallish seaside town on the NW coast of the State of Washington called Anacortes. It's a bit like Grange-over-Sands, but not as old. We emigrated from England in 1968 and I retired from 28 years with Boeing in Sept 98.
We love it here - a very scenic part of the world. We're about 50 miles south of the US/Canada border and about 85 miles north of Seattle.
We'd love to hear from old school friends and other Leylanders.
My sister, Jean, is still in Leyland and brother Colin lives in Plymouth. Parents are gone (on both sides).
We're both ex-Balshaw's, and Eileen did one year at the Sec. Mdn. before it was called anything else.
Frank Damp
Anacortes, WA, USA
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| Martin | Hello Frank
We were discussing your shop in another folder on here. Your place sounds pretty good, it's probably a better site then Leyland is at the moment.
Welcome to the forum
Martin
In The Pink  |
| rocketmanjohn | Hello Frank,
Your sister Jean was the nurse who delivered my first born son, Geoff. That was in 1963. She and I were the youngest kids at Fox Lane Junior School many years earlier. I still have a photo.
Is your cousin Michael still around ? We all used to build model planes in our Balshaws days, I remember your 'Dedutante' with an AM 10. I think I remember you building a 'Liberator' as well. It was me that broke your Taifun 'Rasant'.
Now you have to remember who I am.
Rocketmanjohn
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| LDunlop76 | quote:
Your sister Jean was the nurse who delivered my first born son, Geoff. Rocketmanjohn
Small world, isn't it? I don't know why, but the reconnection of former friends via this site as revealed by the above post really cheered my heart. Three cheers for Martin in getting it all off the ground! 
Edited by - LDunlop76 on 28 May 2002 18:32:22 |
| Martin | 
Martin
In The Pink
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| anacortesdamp | quote:
Is your cousin Michael still around ? We all used to build model planes in our Balshaws days, I remember your 'Dedutante' with an AM 10. I think I remember you building a 'Liberator' as well. It was me that broke your Taifun 'Rasant'.
Now you have to remember who I am.
Rocketmanjohn
Hi, John:
I must admit I cheated and looked up your profile. Once the name was there, I could remember you.
Michael is still around, though we don't keep in touch very often. He lives in Huddersfield. He went to the Motors after school and became a metallurgist. He and his second wife are big into horse-related things.
I don't do any model airplane stuff any more, but now I'm retired, I've been thinking about getting back to it. The multi-engine model Michael and I built was a Douglas A-26 Invader (only two engines). It was a pretty hot ship, though, as we used AM35s and it was originally designed for 1.5cc power.
What brought you to the USA and NASA? I worked for a couple of different contractors at NASA Langley for three years after the Boeing lay-offs in 1971 then came back to Boeing until I took early retirement.
Regards,
Frank
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| rocketmanjohn | Frank,
My family and me came to the U.S. in 1981, just for a couple of years until things picked up in England. I had been working at BAC and things got awfully tight- no work. The Space Shuttle was having problems getting off the ground [literally] and about 82 British engineers came to New Orleans over a period of 3 or 4 years. The work was great and we decided to stay. The rest is history, we're still here. Most of the Brits have moved on, but there's still about 15 of us. My kids are married and have their own children, if I'd known grand children were this much fun, I'd have had them first.
We miss England very much, and come back for a holiday most years. I like Leyland despite the problems, there are a lot of good people, and I still have many Leyland friends. It seems to be popular to knock everything that is'nt just right.
If anyone wants any info about New Orleans I'd be happy to help.
Rocketmanjohn
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| Caroline | Hello Frank,
I remember your names at Balshaw's, and the shops and garage, but not you! Do they still shout 'Crawfish' in the streets of old New Orleans, as in King Creole, which I may have seen at Leyland Palace?? Cheers!
Caroline
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| rocketmanjohn | They shout all sorts of things in New Orleans, most of it unprintable. The crawfish season is almost over, it runs from January, any later in the year and you need a pair of pliers to get the shells off. We normally have 5 or 6 pounds between 2 of us every Saturday evening, with a few ice cold beers and some crusty French bread, absolutely delicious. They are boiled in highly spiced water [lots of cayenne] and eaten hot or cold.
Even though everyone knows the name "crawfish" they are known locally as "mudbugs" or just "bugs".
Strange thing is, every few years there's a mass migration with millions of mudbugs on the move. People stand at the side of the road and scoop them up by the bucketfull.
Rocketmanjohn
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