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Left photo: David's parents by the River Tyne in Newcastle. Note the bizarre bridge (known as the `eye' because it blinks when a tall ship wants to pass) in the background. right photo: on thier wedding on 15 January 1955.
Philip Anthony Bell My father was born in Rochester, Kent in December 1929. My grandparents were both from Yorkshire, but Grandad had moved to Kent to take a job with the gas company. The family, including my father and his sister, my Aunt Christine, moved to Exeter in 1932 when Grandad got a new job as Sales & Service Superintendent for the Exeter Gas Light & Coke Company. After spending the war in Exeter, the family moved back to Rochester in 1945. After National Service (as an education sergeant in the Royal Air Force) from 1948 to '49, Daddy went up to Keble College, Oxford to read History. From there, he spent a year at the University of California, Berkeley for a year's course in business administration. After a short time with Birds (who make things like custard powder) in Birmingham, he joined Procter & Gamble, who make soap, washing powders and the like. He moved to P+G's UK headquarters in Newcastle, where he held a variety of management positions until he retired. His main interests are Bridge (at which he has won several trophies) and gardening. In his youth he was a keen Rugby player. Jean Margaret Bell (nee Talbot) My mother was born in Lowton, Lancashire in 21 November 1932. My grandparents were both from Lancashire families of long standing. Grandad was the manager of the Bedford Mill in Leigh, part of the Courtaulds group. This mill wove silk and later rayon; during the war, it produced parachute silk. Later, he also became manager of the other Courtaulds mill in Leigh. Grandad had served with the Royal Field Artillery in the First World War, having been wounded on the Somme and received various decorations. My mother was the youngest of three sisters. In 1951 she went up to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford to read PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). Upon leaving Oxford she became a management trainee, first at a department store in Birmingham and then joining Daddy, whom she had met at Oxford, at Birds. Shortly after moving to Newcastle, she got a new job as a mother! Her main interest is tracing her family history. With only two minor uncertainties, she has traced her father's family back to Norman France in the eleventh century. She also enjoys reading, music and cats.
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