[HELEN] As you will know, Dad was a very organised person and so it won’t be a surprise that he took the time to write down his life story. I’m going to share the highlights of this today and Sue and I are also going so share our own memories of a wonderful Dad and Grandad. We look forward to hearing yours, too, afterwards at the Golf Club.
Dad was born in Minehead, Somerset in August 1937 to Bert and Vi Franklin.  He spent a lot of time with his grandmother, aunty and two cousins, Shirley and Elaine as his mother worked at the local laundry. Mum lived just across the lane from Dad’s grandmother and they got to know each other from about the ages of 4 and 5.
Dad and Mum started going out together in their mid-teens, and Dad said that from the start this felt that it was true love that was going to last – which it obviously did.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
After his A-levels Dad left school at 18 and moved from Minehead to Chippenham so that he could join Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company on a 4-year Student Apprenticeship. This included 6 months based at the head office in London when Dad stayed with Uncle Bill and Aunt Olive which meant that he took over cousin Valerie’s room – Dad wondered if  she has ever forgotten or forgiven him?!
While Dad was in Chippenham, Mum worked in Minehead and during this time of enforced separation they wrote to each other every day without fail with Dad coming back to Minehead nearly every weekend.
They became engaged in 1958 and were married in St. Michael’s church in Minehead on the 26th September 1959.
After spending their honeymoon in Newquay Cornwall, their first visit to an area where they would spend very many happy family holidays in the future, they returned to find Dad’s calling up papers waiting for National Service and a couple of weeks later he left for Basic Training at Bridgnorth. It was 6 weeks before he saw Mum again – not the start to married life that they had envisaged!
After completing his technical training Dad became a Ground Wireless Instructor at Compton Bassett and was finally allowed to live off-camp so that he and Mum could at last set up home together, renting a flat in Calne.
At the end of National Service, Dad returned to Westinghouse  to take up his interrupted career  as an engineer within the Automation Division. He also taught physics at Chippenham Technical College at evening classes for 3 years until being away from Chippenham for longer periods of site work made this no longer possible.
Mum and Dad then moved to Elmwood, Chippenham and I came along in November 1966. My wonderful sister Sue was born in December 1968 and our family was complete.  Mum and Dad had had 4 miscarriages before this and it is clear from the photos of us at that time how much love Dad had to give and how proud he was.
While Mum was primarily bringing up the family through our school years in the 70’s and 80’s, Dad continued with Westinghouse, moving from technical design to project management and became Divisional Manager and then Operations Manager until he took early retirement in 1993.
Sue and I have lots of happy memories of Dad during this period. He was caring, fair, supportive, funny, conscientious, and kind. We will never forget how he used to carry us on his back up the stairs to bed and we’d play the game of ‘wrong room’ where he’d take us into the bathroom, and other bedrooms before landing us onto our beds in our room. We loved it.
He was an intelligent man who had plenty of patience with us when we were stuck with our homework – particularly maths and physics .. he’d always say ‘fetch a pencil and a piece of paper’ and we’d sit down together. I can still picture him smiling when he let go of the bike and I cycled on my own for the first time and he taught me chess, not going easy on me so that when I eventually did beat him for the first time I really felt I’d earned it.
He (and Mum) also gave us a love of sport, particularly cricket. While Dad was the first to admit that he unfortunately had little eye and hand co-ordination which was a matter of frustration to him all his life, he did play golf and bowls and he loved to watch sport. The family were ardent supporters of Somerset County Cricket Club and we watched many a game at Taunton in the days of Joel Garner, Viv Richards, and Ian Botham with Sue and I collecting autographs. He also loved Rugby and enjoyed watching games with Mum and with long-time friend Margaret waving flags for England and Wales respectively.
Dads’ decision to take early retirement meant that Mum and Dad both had more time to enjoy supporting the family as well as with the church and local communities. Dad spent some time as church treasurer, and also as treasurer and trustee of RISE, a charity started by the church initially in the Chippenham Hill Rise area to help with the social and educational development of families.
Dad also spent time for over 25 years mending the ‘talking book machines’ for the blind – tape players that enabled many people to hear stories. He said that the time he spent with the owners of the machines was as valuable to them as the repairs as they were often elderly and lonely. This is the Dad that I will always remember.
Grandchildren, Alice and Laura were born in 1996 and 1999 and over the next 20 years or so, Dad enjoyed supporting Sue and Adrian in looking after them and seeing them grow up into lovely girls. Sue’s going to share a few of her memories now:
[SUE] Dad was a fantastic Dad and Grandad. Alice and Laura were fortunate that they spent a lot of time with Mum and Dad while growing up. Dad loved his granddaughters very much and was extremely proud of them. Both girls remember their excitement at seeing Mum and Dad waiting in the playground to collect them after school, when they made a surprise visit. Often making a detour on their way home to stop off at the bakery for a gingerbread man and then on to the park to play.
 Alice remembers the times when Dad would patiently help her with her A level maths, taking time to explain things to her ……………..with a pencil and paper, of course!
Also, she remembers one day, when she announced that she was going to dye her hair black, to look like one of her favourite actresses. Dad said ‘why not just be yourself’. Wise words indeed.
Laura remembers our many picnics in the park with Mum and Dad, when we would play Frisbee and catch together. Also, the many happy Christmases we spent together, playing cards and board games. Whenever Mum and Dad drove back home after visiting us, Laura would always look out of the window and wave, saying ‘Goodbye Big Grandad and little Grandma’.
We enjoyed many family holidays in Cornwall, Mum and Dad sharing their love of the coast with the girls. Laura has definitely inherited the love of swimming and surfing in the sea…..whatever the temperature!
I've many happy memories of my childhood. One which stands out is when Dad helped Helen and I to build our go-cart, very proudly named ‘Grease Lightening’. We had great fun racing down the hill next to our house, with a few bumps and bruises on the way down.
 On my Wedding day, I remember waiting with Dad at home before our journey to church. Everyone else had left and it was very quiet after all the hustle and bustle of getting ready. Dad was calm and supportive and gave me a hug. I told him that I hoped I would be as happy as him and Mum.
 [Back to Helen] One of the things that made Dad happy was being outdoors in the countryside and he loved the dogs that he and Mum had throughout their lives which got them out in all winds and weathers. He loved walking at Bird’s Marsh in Chippenham as well as in the Lake District, Dorset, and Cornwall on their many holidays there which we sometimes shared with them, with Constantine Bay being a favourite place.
Mum and Dad were also fortunate enough to share an 8 week adventure in 1992 to Australia, New Zealand (travelling around the North and South Island in a camper van) and the US which gave them happy memories to enjoy.
Dad enjoyed driving and used to help friends with trips for hospital appointments as well as to and from church and social activities. He found it very difficult when he had to give up his driving licence when he began to notice the physical effects of his Parkinson’s disease. He felt he had lost his independence.
We did our best to help Dad do the things he wanted to. We were able to have a day in at the beach at Poole for Dad’s 80th which he loved, we took him, with Mum to visit their friends of 60 years, Brian and Enid in Dorset and we had a day trip to Minehead last year so that Dad could visit Elaine and Shirley as well as some of the places that were most precious to him and Mum.
As Parkinson’s disease developed it affected Dad’s confidence and anxiety levels and it became difficult for Dad day to day. While medication can ease some of the many symptoms for Parkinson’s, there is no cure and Dad has asked that any donations given in lieu of flowers are passed to the Parkinson’s Society.
Sue and I would both like to say a few final words:
[SUE] One word which I've heard a lot in the last few weeks, when people describe Dad, is kind. And he was. Dad was always there for everyone, family, neighbours, colleagues and friends.
We couldn’t have wished for a kinder, wiser or more wonderful Dad and Grandad. We are all truly blessed to have had him in our lives, to have been loved by him and to have loved him so very much.
[Back to Helen] I’m going to finish by remembering what Dad held so dear throughout his life – his relationship with Mum. Mum and Dad regularly thanked God for so many happy years together and it was lovely to see them celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary last September.
Dad was a wonderful husband, Dad and Grandad. We will not forget him. He will be with us in the simplest of moments .. eating a crumble with custard, watching England win a cricket match, or enjoying the sun on our faces on a beach in Cornwall. Thank you Dad, for being you.