Frederick Whitlock (20 Jan 1925 - 21 Apr 2015)

Frederick Whitlock
Frederick Whitlock was born on the 25th January 1925 to Frederick Thomas and Emily.
In 1925 petrol was1.75p per litre, A new Morris Oxford car was £275.00, Russ Conway, Honor Blackman, Margaret Thatcher, Ernie Wise were born
Only brother to sisters, Bet, Tilly, Amy and Mary
Enjoyed boxing with his mate Cyril Mann, and it’s said that they helped Wally Swift in his early days to get on his way. He became at one time Welterweight champion of Gt. Britain
Between 1941and 1944 was in the Home Guard, just like on Dad’s Army on the Television
Worked on the Railway, down the pit and as a window cleaner
Joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in September 1945, possibly a safer time to join up, He went to Butins in Skegness to do his initial training at HMS Royal Arthur. From his Navy records we see that his “Efficiency “ was Satisfactory, and his conduct was always very good, in 1946 he progressed to be a stoker first class. He served on several ships, HMS Duke of York, King George 5th, Victory, not the same as Nelson,

Was on HMS DIDO for the Queens Coronation Review on June 15th 1953
Worked for Railway & General on Meadow Lane 1948 -1957
Sheila was with her friend June when she first saw Fred near the council house in Nottingham he was in his sailors uniform and drunk
On their first date they went to the pictures and shared a packet of Spangles
Married Sheila Robinson on the 4th September 1954 at All Souls Church in Radford.
They honeymooned in Matlock, but told people that they had gone to Scotland, they posted the cards to a friend of Fred’s who then posted them from Scotland
First house was on Pierpont Street in Snenton, rent was 60 p per week
Keith was born on May 9th 1956
Moved to a new house in Clifton the rent was £1.50 per week
1957 to 1969 Worked for Corona Soft Drinks, Carters Soft Drinks, started work at the Co-op dairy on Beechdale Road in July 1970 as a maintenance fitter until he started at Crowshaws Bakery in 1973 to 1974.
In 1974 he started work for T N Parr /Pork Farms @ £42.00 per week until he was sacked for smoking where he wasn’t supposed to be, he soon got a job a Browns Bakery, again as a maintenance engineer
In the 1960’s he was in the Civil Defence Corps and in the 70’s was a member of the Red Cross
Many will remember that he drove a motorbike and sidecar for many years. He passed his car driving test and travelled warmer and drier

Became a father in law in September 1981 when Keith married Shirley, and a Grandpa in September 1987 when Abi was born

He retired in in 1990
His sister Mary says “One thing I can think about Fred is that his most favourite place in England was Whatstandwell in Derbyshire he spent a lot of his time there camping as a youth”

Enjoyed Bagpipe music, this was not shared by mum, he went with his sister Mary to the Highland Gathering in Ashbourne, Keith was the taxi service , but declined the kind offer to stay and collected them after a while

For many years he would go to the shops, delivering chocolate to the staff at the doctors and Boots as a thank you for their extremely good service. He was known at most of the shops, like Birds. If he got there early enough could get a cream sponge cake, the card shop where he would give the man a list of the birthday cards he wanted and the butchers at the top of the Estate which was a bus ride away

Over the last few years used to go every other Saturday to Sainsbury’s, with Keith always with one of his famous bits of neatly cut card with a shopping list on, there was always a discussion on who the pound for the trolley belonged to at the end.

In the last few months he kept falling over, had many visit from the Paramedics to pick him up, always seemed to have “bounced”, never hurting himself. After his last fall he was taken to hospital where they found that he had severe Pneumonia, from which he never recovered.

The morning before he died Mary and Amy visited him, he kept trying to take the oxygen mask off, and when Amy insisted he almost hit her. In the afternoon Keith and Shirley had a special time with Fred, his face lit up as we showed him pictures of battleships on the computer. Dad was a very good dad, a very special person and will be missed by many people