Frank Charles Dilley (23 Jan 1924 - 14 Feb 2018)

In loving memory of Frank Charles Dilley, "Pops" who sadly passed away on 14th February 2018
Frank was born in 1924, at 33 Dawes Avenue, Isleworth, the family moved to number 14 when he was three and stayed until he was fifteen when they moved again to a cottage near the Hope and Anchor in Hanworth, which he remembered as having a lovely garden full of roses and flowers. He was the youngest of siblings, Molly, Arthur and Joan. He was a bit of a nuisance to the older ones, but they often got their revenge, such as when Arthur wired his shed door knob to the mains to give Frank a shock when he tried to enter!
His father worked as a bus inspector and became blind when Frank was quite young and the family struggled financially.
He enjoyed holidays in the country with family and told interesting tales of his exploits on the farm! Once he threw a stone at the farm cockeral and thinking it was dead, buried it in the nearby woods, he got a shock when it re-appeared later, presumably only stunned! He thought the farmer realised, because he remarked at supper, on how odd the bird looked!
Unfortunately he contracted TB at some time, probably from farm milk but this seemed to improve.
He won a place at Isleworth Grammar School where he enjoyed playing football. After the sixth form he was going to train as a teacher and started studying in London only to be evacuated to Wales, but then the war took him away to train as a radio operator in a flight crew in the Royal Air Force.
He met Margaret when he was home on leave and she came to lodge with his family, having moved from Preston to work at Job's Dairy.
Unfortunately he was playing football when he suffered agonising pain and discovered that his TB had moved into his spine. He was designated unfit for active duty and sent to Switzerland to lie immobile on his back for two years to try to cure the disease. Here he met Raoul, a Belgian and they amused each other by teaching each other languages and Frank became fluent in French.
When he was discharged he married Margaret,they were married on the 21st December 1950, and he continued his studies in geology at University College London and went on to gain an MSc in paleontology. By this time he and Margaret were expecting their first child and he began work for British Petroleum. His first posting was in Africa and they enjoyed the luxury of the expat life very much, Margaret had been very run down after war time rationing and was under a lot of strain having a new baby and blossomed, with the help of an ayah called Ayesha, to look after the 18 month old Sarah. They travelled to many more countries around the world including Australia , New Zealand, Canada and America and in fact Kathryn was born in New Zealand. After many years abroad they settled in Bagshot, Surrey and bought their first house but by the time Sarah had finished university they were getting restless and moved to a new house nearby and then twice more, finally settling for their final years in Great Bookham, Surrey.
Frank was the last of the Dilleys and will be sadly missed by Sarah, Kathryn , his son in law, Niall, his grandchildren Vicky, Dominic, Felicity, Kimberly and Calum and his great grandaughter Isabella.