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PHILIP GORDON NORTH

Son of Robert Edward North

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

Pauline North, his daughter writes:

My father was born and brought up in Coventry and, after war service, spent the rest of his life there.

He used to tell us that, when he left school, his mother wanted him to work in an office. He rebelled, however, as he had his heart set on being a carpenter. In 1940 he was called up to join the Army but was transferred to the Navy in January 1944 where he remained till the end of the war. On leaving the Navy, he took up his old trade of carpenter-joiner.

He had met my mother while stationed at Aberford, near Leeds…at a dance, I believe. Dancing was to be a life-long hobby for both and in retirement it became their passion. Dad married his Yorkshire lass on April 23^rd, 1946. As many couples had to do then, in early married life they moved in with my paternal grandparents in Coventry.  Subsequently, as the housing shortage was especially acute in Coventry owing to the scale of the bombing, they could only find temporary accommodation in former Army hostels on the outskirts of Coventry. Not long after I was born in 1947, it was their turn for a council home and we moved to Coventry. He was working as a carpenter for Courtaulds at the time.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s Coventry became a boom town and there was plenty of well-paid work in the car factories. My father went to work for Jaguar Cars, first on the assembly line and later in the press shop. He remained with Jaguar (subsequently British Leyland and then Rover) until his retirement in 1980. My mother returned to work in about 1958 and finally achieved her dream job…a responsible post in an office! In 1961 my parents bought their first house and we moved to  Coundon. They lived there for 36 years.

They both shared a love of gardening and grew flowers, fruit and vegetables in their large garden. My father was not as adventurous as my mother when it came to foreign travel. With a friend from work, my mother first went on a day trip to the Dutch bulb fields. Dad did risk travelling on package holidays to Rimini, Sicily and the Costa Brava but he would not be persuaded to go with Mum on a family trip to visit relatives in Northern Canada! He was supportive, though, of her travelling there with the rest of the family.

My father remained as physically fit and active as recurring varicose veins and leg ulcers would permit. He died from heart disease and heart failure after a short spell in hospital, 5 months before his 80^th birthday.

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