I knew Jack

Jack Edwards was my Grandfather, well, one of them anyway. He was a good man.

Jacks real name was John, I've noticed this was a common thing back in those days. Jacks being Johns, Nellies being Ellens, Dots being Dorothy. A name change epidemic.

His full name was John Edward Edwards.

He courted and married his sweetheart, Betsey Cottrill, in those years between the World Wars and in 1930 they had their first and only child, Dorothy Edwards who was my mum.

She was the best mum I ever had.

In World War 2 he volunteered for the Liverpool Fire brigade, attending many of the fires during "The Blitz" which destroyed a lot of Liverpool and the docks. He also worked in various trades as a driver and then an export clerk at a Liverpool shipping company.

They travelled around England and Wales, from Lands End and maybe even to John O'Groats. Betsey would be Jacks "love of his life" as after her tragic death in 1961 he never remarried.

I was only four at the time and never knew her.

In the 1960s Jack moved in with the family in Botanic Road and loaned my mum and dad almost a thousand pounds so they could buy the house next door. They converted it into flats and rented them out.

Oh, they had some fun with tenants.

He often babysat my older brother Robert and myself, he'd take us to the Presbyterian church on a Sunday morning and off for a Tizer at Capaldi's Soda bar afterwards if we behaved ourselves. I only realised in the last few years that it gave my mum and dad a break, to have some "quality" time alone at the end of a long week.

But we won't think about that.....

In the years that followed he took us on holidays to Wales, the Isle of Man and afar. Allowed us to shoot cigarettes out of his mouth with our Astroray guns, suffered rubber sponge balls bouncing off the top of his head and was a constant source of cash and chocolate.

A few of his interests were woodworking and gardening. He worked at W.Boot & Sons as a clerk, as they dealt with a lot of exporting and custom wooden box building it was here that he gained a good knowledge of carpentry. This would result in numerous home projects, garden sheds, fences, greenhouses and even a home for the dozen or so chickens that my dad would introduce into our family in the early 1970s.

He was a super Granddad and I still miss him.

I miss them all.