Frank Kelsall Duckworth War memoir

My late father, Frank Kelsall Duckworth, was a pupil from 1939 at what was then Balshaw’s Grammar School. I am enclosing a copy of a piece he wrote about his memories of the war years, which may be of interest to you. My mother was also a pupil at Balshaw’s from 1945 - her name then was Elsie Gill. She is now 88 years old and wondered if the school held any records of the war years. I myself now live in Garstang, near Winmarleigh, and would love to know which farm my father is referring to in the piece.

Whilst I realise that there are unlikely to be any records, I hope you don’t mind us asking and that you at least find the piece my father wrote interesting. Despite his admission that he could have worked harder at school, he was an intelligent man who started his working life as an apprentice in the tool room at Dick Kerr’s (later English Electric) and worked his way up to the position of Training Manager at British Aerospace, so clearly his schooling did pay off!

Kind regards,
Gillian Jolley (Mrs)

Dear Mrs Jolley,

Thank you for sharing your Dad's war memories document. I have been digitising the school archive and the records of the summer farm camp appear in the Balshavian Magazines from the war years including photos. Please follow the link to read these amazing documents and maybe you will find reference to your mum or your dad. These are searchable documents to make life easier for you!

Kind regards,

Naomi Breen

Dear Dr Breen

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to reply to my email and to send the link to the Balshavian Magazines. I have found them very interesting and did manage to find one picture of my Father!

Frank Kelsall Duckworth War memoir.

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