The Crooks Family in Hertfordshire
This is an attempt by a Granddad to impress his family especially the young ones. As they are more technologically minded.
My name is George Crooks and I came to Hertfordshire from the north east of England as a lad of sixteen in 1955.
My Father was an Aerospace Engineer and brought the family down to Stevenage, which was a Newtown.
One of three built just after world war two.The new towns were constructed to house the displaced people of bombed out London.
New factories were built, and were allocated houses to attract workers to come to live in a new environment in the countryside around London.
I had served a year of an apprenticeship in a heavy engineering environment on the banks of the River Tyne in a firm called Noble and Lund They made the largest metal turning Lathe in the world with a chuck diameter of 18 feet. I was to be eventually a Draughtsman after I had learned how to use all the different types of machinery.
When the family moved down to Stevenage my father was employed by the Aerodynamics division of the De Havilland aircraft Company and he had got an interview for me to carry on my apprenticeship at the Hatfield site of Dehavillands.
Unfortunately I had a couple of weeks to wait for an interview so I had to find some work in the meantime.
My friend Tom Jones was working for a Roof Tiler named Bert Ramsay as his labourer, carrying tiles and other things up to him.
In those days tiles were carried up the pole ladder on the labourers head, balancing and using both hands to propel him up the ladder.
Tom said to me “why dont you come with me and earn some money carrying tiles up for Bert, you can earn a lot more than the lads in factories.
So I did and consequently became a Roof Tiler and some say the best in Hertfordshire. My son Martin is a Roof Tiler now so with a bit of luck the skills will be carried on.
Clacton 1964
Shephall church 1965
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