Harry and Nancy Tall’s Family 2
                               Home Page   Family History    Tall Family Start    Military    29 March 2007

Harry and Nancy bought 40 Gt.Park Str. on the 3^rd of April 1959 for £1250; solicitors costs were £143-03-00.  The mortgage obtained was £1020 for 15 years. 

Ground Floor Plan

The house was huge.  It had a large cellar and three floors.  For the first time mum not only had a living room she had a front room and a room called the red room because of its furniture – all bought new and covered with red material – and never used.   

As with all our houses the only heating was coal fires.  Thus David and our huge bedroom (space to spare for two double beds) was only heated if one of us was ill.  In winter the house was cold and the windows mired in frost in the morning. 

When sold in 1984 the house was worth £18,000. 40 Gt.Park Str. was a large house very close to Nancy’s mother’s house in Park Rd. 

A day trip with the Iron Company took place annually, as usual I am hiding behind the camera. 

David was not only an academic high-flyer at school, he also represented the school and county at rugby and taking part in music competitions and school plays.   

He was a member of the school Toc H group and of the local Broadways Branch.  He decided to stay on a third year in the sixth form so that he could go to Oxford University.  When the maths teacher left, David made the immense leap from being a pupil knocking on the staff room door to being a member of staff opening it– and he was still successful in his ‘S’ level examinations!  He obtained an open scholarship in mathematics to Wadham College @ Oxford University. The fact that he subsequently won the Junior Maths Prize demonstrates not only his intelligence, but also that he worked damned hard. 

neighbouring village.  On Christmas day members of the group went round the wards singing Christmas Carols.

 A number of group members regularly went to Northampton, to square dance on Saturdays.  About once every year we drove to London for a day out.  Terry Payne, above, showed his generosity when Graham felt unable to go, because of lack of cash, by paying at least £5 towards my share for the general ‘kitty’. 

 Graham managed to get sufficient grades at GCE so that he could stay on into the sixth form studying Botany, Zoology, Chemistry and Physics.  But, he had to repeat the second year of his A levels because his results were disappointing.  In retrospect this was good because he started putting more effort in, with the result that he obtained a place at Hull University to study Joint Botany and Zoology in 1963. 

  The photographs below show her in costumes in the Lido shows in Paris and Las Vegas.

 When Harry lost his job at the iron company he obtained, with David’s help, a manual job at Whitworth’s flour mill.  His last job before retirement was loading lorries at British Road Services.

 Harry and Nancy’s Silver Wedding Anniversary @ 40 Great Park Street

Rosemary is standing next to Harry, Graham is holding Jenny and Dave and Sue are behind Nancy.  Uncle Reg is sitting extreme right.  The rich iced fruit cake was the cake Nancy made for all celebrations!

David is a professor at the University of Warwick, Graham a lecturer at the University of Birmingham and Rosemary, after dealing in a casino,  teaches dancing at Las Vegas.

Photos taken at Graham's University           David's Life              Rosemary's Life in the USA

 Sadly, after we had all left home, ownership of Overstone Solarium changed and the new owners decided to ban chalets and replace them with static caravans and.  With nowhere to re-erect the chalet, Dad used some of the wood to build a small porch outside the back door at 40 Gt. Park Str.  Visiting Overstone recently it was striking how much poorer the environment is – the large grassy fields in front of our old chalet are now covered with static caravans.  The undergrowth is missing from the woods – where now are the hiding places?  The two lakes have cleared banks for fishing and the swimming pool is a fraction of its former size.  The children living there now may have electricity and TV, but they certainly won’t have the freedom and fun we three enjoyed.

 Life did not stop for Harry and Nancy.  After a number of attempts Harry finally passed his driving test and obtained a car.  The couple regularly went to Doddington Working Men’s club, often taking her sister Maud; they also visited a club at Coventry with her sister Elsie.  Nancy enjoyed playing on the slot machine and bingo and was a member of the Doddington ninepins team.  Nancy insisted that they at least broke even on the bingo - certainly with a sheet of tickets in front of her (each sheet holding every number) she wouldn’t have missed a ‘clickety-click’ (66), ‘Kellys Eye’ (1), “Key of the door’ (21) or ‘on its own number’  (2 – 9) – and certainly would have kept her eye on Harry’s card!

 Nancy’s practical nature is evident in the information she gave her sons on one of their visits to Rosemary in America:

 Harry and Nancy sold 40 Great Park Str. in September 1984 for £18,000 and the couple moved to a council flat  at 71 Bell Court.  A flat built on land that had once been the site of the terrace and gardens of their former house at Cannon Street.

	Harry with Stephenie in the kitchen at Great Park Str., Wellingborough  Harry died of a stroke on the 10 Nov 1987, the information below was written by David for Dad’s funeral: My father, Harry Tall, was the salt of the earth.  he was not a leader of men, nor yet a follower.  He had the qualities that made Britain great.  He was honest, hard-working, loyal and considerate.  Above all he cared for his family and friends.  In his youth he was the smartest man in town - he would never leave the house if there was a crease in his shirt.  In those days he was a good dancer and full of fun.  His friends tell the tale of his cycle racing triumphs.  One day he was so far ahead of them in a road race that the next man was amazed to reach the winning post only to find that Harry had yet to arrive.  The conquering hero was so far in front that he thought he had time to stop off at a local pub for a pint.  In his twenties he cared for his father during his final illness, working during the day and staying up to attend to his father at night.
When Dad himself had a stroke just a fortnight ago, we were fully prepared to face the possibility that he too might live in a twilight world for years before he passed away.  It was not to be.  After six days in a coma he passed peacefully away.  I am sure he would have wanted it that way. I mourn his passing.  I shall miss his friendly face and his homely philosophy.  "Always be friends with your brother, boy”, he used to say to me, "You’ll only ever have one brother.”  His spirit lives on in the warmth he gave to his family and friends.  There will be few who knew him who will not remember him with affection.  He leaves behind my mother, who has been brave and stalwart during these last few days.  I trust that we can stand together and help her in the future.  And I must also mention my sister Rosemary, who is in Las Vegas at the moment, torn because she is unable to come here today.  We will retain his ashes and lay them to rest when Rosemary joins us at Christmas.

Goodbye Dad, and thank you for all you did for us during your life.     David Tall

 David’s description adds colour, but it is necessary to emphasise Dad’s kindness, friendly nature, generosity and strength - everybody liked Harry.  He was a quiet sort of chap (with apparently few if any girlfriends before meeting Nancy) but, 50 years later, his old friend Percy saw several cycling ‘foes’ from different clubs in the background at Dad’s funeral.  Percy Hulatt, Dad’s ‘best man’ reminiscing to Graham Tall.  (P.Hulatt, Rockingham (01536) 771361)

 David wrote the following about Mum for her funeral:

Nancy Tall was a woman born out of her time. She was bright, intelligent, and argumentative; had she have been born today she would have taken advantage of all the education that is now available. But as a young woman brought up between the two world wars, she knew her place.  She excelled at all the office skills that were available to her: shorthand, typing, book-keeping, accounts, and general office work.  During the Second World War and in the years that followed, with her husband Harry in the army, she devoted her time to her three young children, David, Graham and Rosemary, to see that they should have the advantages that had been denied to her. After the war, working in a shoe factory, with Harry a semi-skilled labourer making pig-iron at Stewart & Lloyd’s Iron Works, she decided her children would have the benefit of education. She told her five year old son David that he would go to Oxford, and her daughter Rosemary would be a dancer. Both achieved the vision that only she saw at the time.  Only Graham did not do what she expected when he grew up.

He was the one she hoped would stay near home when the others had fled the nest.  It was not to be. Graham, like his brother, achieved a level of academic excellence and became a university lecturer. Rosemary became first a dancer, then a dancing teacher in Las Vegas.  All the children moved away, married and had families of their own.  Nancy and Harry were to have many happy times visiting them, including several long visits with Rosemary in America. 

Just over two years ago, her dear husband Harry passed away, and she was left with her children and grandchildren scattered afar.  In February this year she was taken ill with a chest infection but resolutely refused to ask for help.  Fortunately, through the good offices of her sister Maud, her family learned of her illness and her last two months were shared in the care of her sons and their families in Warwickshire.  Her last weeks were spent with her family in the way she always hoped they would be.  On Saturday April 28th she was in Kenilworth, awaiting the return of David from America the following day where he had been for the last two months. She was looking forward to the snooker final on the television and had a hearty meal of a kind she had enjoyed in her youth.  She seemed to be improving in health, so it was a surprise to all when she collapsed late at night.  She was not in pain, but felt short of breath and was admitted to Warwick Hospital for observation. Three hours later in the early hours of Sunday morning, she passed away with what proved to be a blood clot in the lung.  She never realized the seriousness of her condition. 

with her husband Harry who died just two and a half years ago.   Bye-bye Mum, bye-bye Nan, bye-bye Aunt Nancy. We will always remember you.

 What can be added to the above about Mum?  Not much, except she loved playing cards - we all learned how to play whist and rummy whilst at Overstone – and she, like her father before her, hated losing.  She invariably had a tube of mints in her bag – initially polos, later trebor.  She never smoked and drank very little alcohol for years her drink was ‘lemon and lime’.  When they could help their ‘adult’ children they always did.  Whilst Nancy made the decisions, Harry was not hen-pecked – when he really wanted something he got it.  The net monetary value of their estate was just £2,600, its worth was immeasurable.