Hi there! My name is David J. Townsend. The 'J' stands for 'Johnston', a throw-back to my Great Grandfather, who was born in Crowland, Lincolnshire, in the late 1800s. Most of his life was spent in Hallam, Sheffield. He had 3 daughters and 3 sons, one of whom was Albert Edward Johnston, who married Rebecca Haslam in 1901 at Chesterfield. They became the parents of my mother, Annie Beatrice Johnston, who was born 14th October 1904 at 4, Thorpe's Yard, Holywell Street, Chesterfield.
I took on the mortal coil on the 25th July 1943, slap bang in the middle of the 2WW and lived in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. I was lucky to survive the war, as a 500lb German nasty was dropped and landed just across the road from us in a neighbour's garden. It didn't go off! If it had, I would have been off! I continued to grow, survived many a fall and cut, Peritinitis, and some other minor ailmaents and became a fine young man of good physique. This demanded I join the Police Force, which I did, as a Cadet, in 1959 at Wakefield. In 1962 I went to the Police Training College at Pannel Ash, Nr Harrogate and passed out successfully some three months later, then being posted to that wonderful, cultural beauty spot alongside the River Don - Bentley! I had some good fun there, met a young lass, still at school. My she was a great girl! Also had a good mate, Jed Wilson, a garage mechanic. I remember we once travelled down to Great Yarmouth from Yorkshire, in the height of the Summer ( Summers were summers in those days!)in an old Ford Popular. Somehow we managed to end up in a ditch! Don't ask me how, but I wasn't driving. My how we tried to trap young fillies in GY, but without success. Still, we got a good tan, it was scortching hot! ( well, at least I did, being of good physique, and all, but poor old Jed was so skinny he was too embarrased to take his shirt off. Poor kid! Those were great days! Since then I have spent 22 years in the Royal Navy and the past 14 years as a Chiropodist in Plymouth. That's enough for now! See you later