The only time

The one and only time I have heard that Ken sort of "lost it" was when Michael (Gt Uncle) was still at school. He brought home a letter once and when opened mum was fuming! It was from the deputy headmaster "Basher" Andrews as we'd called him, a big man with quite a temper - he had played opposite "Pancho" Pearson (PE teacher) once in the staff/pupils rugby match and gave Pancho two black eyes! Anyway, the letter stated that he'd given Michael the cane for smoking whilst walking down Burnmill Road wearing his school uniform. Mum was all ready for going up there and giving him a piece of her mind (and a lashing with the cutting edge of her tongue) but couldn't get any time off work to do so. Ken said he'd go up and have a word. Mum wasn't too happy about that but had to give way, but thinking that Ken would be his gentle affable self and not make too much of a fuss over it.

Imagine her (and our) surprise when he came home and related what had happened in the meeting. It had all started off fairly innocuous but Basher made the mistake of gloating over the fact he'd caned Michael, Ken did something then that mum has always been proud of, he grabbed Basher by the lapels and dragged him across the desk between them. "I've never had cause to hit any one of my sons, so don't ever think it is something you can do, no matter what the reasons!" It still makes me smile when I remember that, it was so unlike him, but at the same time so true to what he believed in - he has never hit any of us kids, not when we were small or when grown up, it's something he never needed to do, for one reason we wouldn't give him cause to - if something was said it was meant and we never needed another reminder, but nothing was ever meant with any malice, just to make sure we knew where the line was and not to cross it.

I don't think anyone else stood up to Basher like that, either before or since, though he never stayed long at Robert Smyth school after that!