Fireman Frank Walduck, remembered by Peter Walduck

Peter Walduck lived in Perkins Street, Coventry, in the late 1940s and 50s with his mother and father, Vera and Frank Walduck. His mother used to sing on the stage of many clubs in and around Coventry, and was a member of the Variety Artists' Association. She was known at one time as the "Vera Lynn" of Coventry. Peter now takes up the story....

My dad Frank, was in the National Fire Service during the war, and I spent most of my time as a child in the Fire Station in Hales Street, which is now known as "The Old Fire Station". My dad had a serious accident whilst fighting a fire in the old Riley factory when he fell through the roof, suffering a fractured skull.
As time went on he then worked as an Ambulanceman for the old City of Coventry Ambulance Brigade, and was killed on duty at Baginton Aerodrome as it was known then, in 1950. The photo of his funeral can be seen below.

The funeral of Frank Walduck passing the Fire Station, Hales Street, on a wet rainy day in 1950. It was taken by the Coventry Evening Telegraph and put into a beautiful frame by Coventry Glass when they were in Vine street. Peter donated the photo to the West Midlands Fire service, where it is now on show in their museum at the Central Fire Station in Radford Road.
Peter points out the firemen in the "old kit" and the Fordson fire appliance poking its nose out of one of the doors.
The building with the short steeple in the background is Holy Trinity Church School on the corner of Ford Street.

My mother went on to marry again, and she passed away 5 years ago.
As for myself, I went to Wheatley Street School and remember my childhood days in Perkins Street with great affection. I was a Coventry Transport Bus driver, and when it became the West Midlands I left the "Corporation" and moved lock stock and barrel to this part of the country and drove buses for United Counties and eventually Green Line in and out of London, but all the time never forgetting my beloved Coventry. I always wore a small Coventry Transport badge on my uniform jacket wherever I drove buses.

Peter Walduck, always a gentleman and a pleasure to speak to, sadly passed away in 2012. His legacy for all to continue to enjoy is the Friends of Coventry Transport website, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/cwk205/, where there is always a lot of talk about Coventry transport and the old Corporation.

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Post-war decades remembered, by Mike Tyzack

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Fireman Frank Walduck, remembered by Peter Walduck

Early memories of Coventry, by Muriel Wells

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