This apprenticeship was followed by two years National Service in the Royal Signals, mainly based in Germany and maintaining electronic equipment. Then, after working with underground and internal cable installation, followed by repairing telephones and switchboards, I was promoted to work on telephone exchange maintenance. A further promotion, in 1960, took me to CCTA in London. After living for a year in Wimbledon, where David was born, we moved to Rayleigh in Essex to a new house. We moved to our second house in 1972.

After leaving Sixth Form college in 1979, David joined Heath Insurance Brokers, to work as a computer programmer, based in Southend-On-Sea. At 40, in 2000, David was chief programmer with a good salary and company car. Dave and Mandie each had a flat in Southend then, on selling these, moved into a large old semi-detached house on the outskirts of Southend.

Stephen was too busy chasing girls to concentrate on examinations and left school at 16. His first job was as a computer operator in London, followed by various other occupations. He then trained as as a ceramic tiler and started his own tiling business, opening his showroom/shop in 1995 at Westcliff-On-Sea. In 2004, with Steve aged 40, business was doing well and they were running a new Land Rover and a Jeep. Following major renovation and expansion, Steve and Lisa moved from their not too far away house into the flat above the shop on a temporary basis.

Andrew attended Warwick University where he obtained a BSc in Applied Mathematics then an MSc in Computer Integrated Engineering from Loughborough University. This was followed by a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Nottingham University, where he became a lecturer. Before his 40th, in 2008, he had been appointed Professor in the Department of Mechanical Materials and Manufacturing Engineering and Associate Dean for Research. Andrew and Dawn lived on the outskirts of Nottingham, moving to a larger detached house in 2002.