Dad and his girls

This was taken at Christmas 2016.

We've never been in any doubt about how proud he was of us.

Travel snaps

Not a natural traveller, Mum usually had to bully him in to going abroad. He never tired of saying 'If you've heard of it, it's ruined', but was grudgingly fond of France and the Yorkshire Dales.

Apart from the West Indies, he also reached as far as Bali, Africa (where?) and Russia, where he nearly got arrested for jaywalking.

Hobbies

Dad has had several hobbies over the years, some more successful than others. They include:

• cookery lessons - see Cookery
• an allotment
• woodwork (he made a lamp-stand, coffee table, sledge)
• drawing (mainly trees!) and painting
• black and white photography
• raiding skips (bicycle and various garden tools were 'liberated')

Photographic evidence of some of these is below.

Relaxing with friends

Can you spot a common thread in the pictures here? Food and drink figure in most of them.

David meets Noreen

They met at Swansea University in (?) where Mum was studying Economics and Dad Geology.

We've heard tales of policemen's helmets being knocked off, stealing Babycham glasses, wild dancing to Acker Bilk, and romance amongst the dunes of Swansea bay, so it is fair to say students haven't changed much.

On the back of the photo below, Dad wrote: One of the causes of the Decline of the Roman Empire.

But here they are, in 19xx? celebrating their xx anniversary:

Wedding Day

Dad married Noreen Margaret Jones in Pembroke (when?)

Charlie Suff was best man.

Despite the official photographer losing ALL the photos, some pictures were salvaged from guests' cameras.

Teaching

His daughters never quite forgave him for coming home to North Wales, and denying them a life in Trinidad, but that's what he did - to be a Geography/Geology teacher in Grove Park, then Elfed High.

Staff room tales:

• he would sneak out of lessons for a fag
• he fell asleep in one lesson and was woken up by a student, as they left
• he avoided saying 'shale and grit' for obvious reasons
• he cuffed a pupil called Woodcock, and said 'Blimey it should have been Woodhead, not .....'
• he went on a staff curry night where one teacher had been excluded, and all was revealed the next morning when she was the only one not reeking of beer and curry.

A past student came to his memorial, and said that Dad was an inspirational teacher, and that his lessons had decided his career path.

Cooking

It started as an evening class given by a colleague at school, and who knew he would end up with a repertoire including:

• Pasta with olives
• Prawns and courgettes
• Jambalaya
• Turkey something or other
• Oeuf Cressy
• Beef and green peppers in black bean sauce
• Salad with Welsh Dressing (vinegar and pepper)

Golf

A source of great frustration, it's rumoured he once hit a double-decker bus in Liverpool.

We need Llew to spill the beans on this and many other stories.

Music

Dad liked Mahler, Edith Piaf and The Pasadena Roof Orchestra, so you can see he had poor taste in many ways. But he also liked Ian Dury so it wasn't all bad - not sure if it was the songs or the titles that appealed to him most (New Boots and Panties, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick being ones he particularly laughed at).

At his funeral we played Mahler's Adagietto, which was a love song to his wife, which seemed appropriate. You can hear it here.

He and Mum met at a Swansea University dance, where trad jazz star Acker Bilk was on the playlist, and mohair cardigans were de riguer. He swooped down on her for the last dance, after his friend Charlie Suff had done all the hard work.

He never really 'got' pop music, at least not from the 1970s onwards, but was pleased young David enjoyed being in a band.

Texaco Trinidad

Dad went to work as a geologist for Texaco (pronounced Tex-AH-co), spending some time on the rigs, checking test bores for signs of oil.

That's where he met his great friend Keith Jeffries, who married Pam. Keith died in 2013 and his obituary in the Trinidad Guardian can be found here.






Tales from the time:

• his nickname was 'Dai Death' after his numerous driving accidents
• they made him drive the jeep because 'he had no license to lose'
• in one crash he rolled a jeep in to a village and killed a water buffalo
• a friend who was flung in to an oil drum of water, thought it was fuel and was screaming that no-one should strike a match
• after injuring his back he was flung on to a flatbed carrying stinking fish
• he had an operation and they left some wadding in, which went septic
• in the fire drill, the darker a man's skin, the closer he was put to the fire - Dad was scathing about the racism on the rigs

A history of the oil industry up to 1962 can be found here.