Their wedding

The wedding took place at Settle Church on 19 January 1946 at 10am in the snow. Joan wore an 'old rose pink crêpe two piece costume with leather soled Dolisis shoes costing 12 shillings and six pence (12/6), whilst her bridesmaid, sister Beryl's shoes cost six shillings (6/0) with cardboard soles. Little else is known about the wedding, except that Geoff's father didn't travel. Right: The bride and groom Photograph by Horner and Son of Settle

1807info3i, sheet 2

Above: The wedding party Back row left to right: Don Crompton (best man), groom, bride, George Allen Pitts - Joan's father, Ted Crompton Front row left to right: Jane Crompton - Geoff's mother, Beryl Pitts bridesmaid Photograph by Horner and Son of Settle

A photograph existed of Geoff and Joan standing outside a Hornsea railway carriage converted into a home, which could have been their first married home. If so then there is no known date or reason for their moved to Settle. Their first home in Settle was 1 Church Street, Settle. Before the new extension there was an external staircase to a 'flat'. Right: Ada Coats, Settle

1807info3i, sheet 3

A rare photograph of Joan wearing her glasses! Richard was born in June 1947, so this photograph would have been taken the following summer when Geoff and Joan were on holiday at Jane and Arthur's Hornsea home. Usually, because of vanity, Joan was photographed without her glasses. Right: Geoff, Joan and Richard, Hornsea summer 1948

1807info3i, page 4

Albert Hill, Settle

Their first house was on Albert Hill, Settle, which was then the blue doored number 2 and is now 8 Albert Hill. It was a new building built on the old workhouse foundations. Geoff and Joan moved in on Whitsunday of 16 May 1948 and stayed six years. Jo Johnson, as landlord, collected the 10 shillings and three pence (10/3) a week every Saturday. This was six shillings (6/-) rent and four shillings and three pence (4/3) rates (community tax).

I remember this as a four story building with a lower ground floor, accessed by wooden stairs, opening on to the back yard. This area contained an inside lavatory and bathroom but no basin, the clothes washing equipment and in particular the mangle. The galvanised tin bath hug on the stairs wall and was, on bath night, carried up stairs a placed in front of the fire. There were two bedrooms - one large and one small - on the first floor. I have no recollection of the attics. Right: Albert Hill Settle

I have little memory of the allotment, which was easily accessible from Albert Hill except for the then very big green house on the top level above Geoff's plot. The allotments is now a green area. Left: Geoff on his allotment situated off the road leading to The Green.

It is thought that from the time of his marriage until 1953, Geoff managed TD Smith at the corner of Cheapside and Duke Street, Settle.

1807info3i, sheet 5

Geoff had free rental of workshop in stables of TD Smith’s Cragdale. This was located behind the open stable door. As I recall this had a cobble floor covered in shavings and a work bench against the left wall immediately on the inside. The manger was on the back wall. Cragdale has since been converted into police office. Left: Cragdale workshop  Source: Author: June 2015

TD Smiths was an old firm based in Lancaster. Geoff worked there for £5 a week. Joan recorded that the shop had 'been there since Granddad Harris’ days' - Florence Pitts née Harris' father.

For a short period of time, the family lived in a flat at Castleberg House. This can be seen in the central photograph, at the top of Cheapside, shown above the white shop front bay window.

A photograph of Geoff at the cheese counter where slices were cut off a cheese cylinder, weighed and wrapped in grease proof paper. When placed in the centre of the paper, the long edges were folded together twice, laid on the cheese slice before the two ends were turned in to make a neat and compact parcel. It was usual for Geoff to use his thin, broad and sharp knife and cut the wedge within a half ounce of the customer's desired weight. Left: TD Smiths pre 1953

1807info3i, sheet 6

With Settle being at the centre of a rural district and TD Smith the largest grocery shop in the town, deliveries to outlying farms was part of the business. The photo shows Geoff with a tray of bread in what may have been a Trojan. Deliveries were made as far as Chapel-le-Dale some 15 miles away, sometimes by George Newhouse, Right: Geoff with TD Smith deliveries May 1946

Barnoldswick

On 23 April 1953, the family moved to Barnoldswick for two and half years until 1956. Geoff worked for Kings, at £10 a week, in a grocery shop on the corner of Garden Street and Newtown. (phone Barnoldswick 2209) Left: King's shop Barnoldswick

1807info3i, sheet 7

The black Ford Thames 10cwt van was also used as a weekend family transport and was frequently taken on trips to visit Leonard and Beryl. Right: Geoff and Richard maintaining the King's van c.1953 in a farm yard somewhere along Skipton Road, Barnoldswick.

149 Gisburn Road was a three storey terrace house with an attic in the roof. It was bought for £1000 and sold with a profit of £250. During the families time in the house, the downstairs woodwork was stripped back and 'grained' and varnished as it was fashionable at the time. The shiny brown colour made the entrance and staircase very dark. 'Graining' preceded the fashion of bright white paint. At the end of the entrance hall was a long thin kitchen and one out building in the yard that contained the laundry tools. Geoff modernised the kitchen area by gluing rolls of green squared 'congawall' on to the walls to represent a tiled surface. The water supply brought in from front to provide better supply, with Eddy Percy, a Settle plumber, adding a back boiler to kitchen fire for summer hot water. There was no emersion heater. Geoff's workshop was in the attic and in those days the sash cords in the windows often had to be replaced. On one occasion, Geoff's fingers were trapped by the falling window adjacent to the soil pipe and he had to be rescued by Mr Bowman, who lived next door, first making him hear. From that same window I saw, for the first time, my bicycle lights, lit by a new dynamo, illuminating the back yard. Geoff was no electrician so both parties were satisfied.

However the most memorable feature of the house was the outside earth or tippler closet, which abutted the boundary wall with manhole access from the road. This has been demolished. Faeces was either washed from the pan by a tipping a tank of water. It would have cost £28 to convert to a flush, which never happened. The toilet was not connected to mains sewage so had to be emptied by a chain-smoking man accessing the pit through the manhole.

On 2 June 1953, Coronation Day at Ingfield, Settle, Geoff cut off his moustache as he was getting fed up with it.

1807info3i, sheet 8

Hornsea/Hull

For a reason not shared with an eight year old, the family moved to Hornsea between about 1956 until leaving in spring of 1958. During this time Geoff worked for Cousin at a grocers shop along Southcoates Lane, Hull. Some days, Geoff took the train from Hornsea to Hull returning at about 19.00. It is not known where on Southcoates Lane the Cousin's shop was or how Geoff got from a Hull station to the shop. It was at least a ten minute walk from Hull Paragon Station to a modern Premier food market 462 Southcoates Lane. There are recollections of Geoff having a green motor bike. The family first lived with Jane at the family home of 2 Clifton Street, Hornsea before buying 91 Cliff Road for £850, which was available through an Arthur Watts legacy, Geoff's uncle in Beverley. Mr Hunt lived next door. Right: 91 Cliff Road, Hornsea

Back to Settle

In the spring of 1958, the family moved back to Settle with Geoff managing the 'Bottom' Cooperative (Coop), which was located on Craven Terrace. During this time Joan worked in the Duke Street Coop office, at two shillings and six pence (2/6) an hour, and the family lived in a tied flat on Castle Hill, Settle until 23 October 1961. Billy Bush, reporting in 'Back in Settle', said that his employment at Craven Terrace, as his first job after school, were happy days. He recalls weighing potatoes and flour, with encouragement from 'the boss'. Geoff was always popular with his staff and customers.

Above: Bottom Coop in 2004, Settle now Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses

1807info3i, sheet 9

At the time Geoff and family lived in the flat, above the once Coop drapers shop, then empty and used for storage. The two upstairs windows were the kitchen and lounge. The children shared a bedroom behind the windows in the adjacent annex. This room also had a skylight, which provided an interesting environment in rain and snow. There was a three room cellar of unknown use, apart from an air pistol shooting range.

Before buying a car, Geoff's transport to work was bicycle, certainly from The Flat to Bottom Coop. Right: Geoff Crompton's Raleigh bike 'parked' in Witney when used by  Richard's transport to work. Basically the same bike: frame, wheels and handle bars

6 Riversdale, Giggleswick

With two adolescent children of different sexes Craven Council allocated the family a three bed roomed house. We moved into one of 22 post-war council houses on 23 October 1961 at a weekly rent of about £2.  At this point Geoff was working at the Bottom Coop and Joan in the offices of Settle Coop at two shillings and six pence (2/6) an hour. Richard had started Settle High School that September and then had only a short walk to school. Geoff had a good size front, side and back garden. When the family moved in the back garden was for vegetables which Geoff enjoyed and did without the aid of gardening books. In the bottom left hand corner was a large, solid, blue ex-hen hut as a shed/workshop, which eventually rotted out. There was a green house and home made cold frames.

Eventually, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's right to buy policy, Craven District Council were able to sell the property to the sitting tenants. On Monday 7 January 1980, Geoff bought the house for £7280, with a deposit of £3000, but he had to work from the age of 65 to 70 to pay off the mortgage. It was after purchase that changes were made to the house. Originally, the house was heated by a single coal fired back boiler fire in the front room. There are recollections of winter ice forming on the small framed metal Critall windows in the small front bedroom small window. This ice flowed off the window on to the sill. Homework had to be done in the dining room, which was equally cold. Eventually a gas fire was installed in the dining room with gas central heating following at a later date.

1807info3i, sheet 10

The house was so well built that little maintenance was needed. The only problem was the red asphalt flooring that pitted when chairs stood on it for a long period of time.

Geoff spent many Settle High School woodwork evening class and time in the shed making oak furniture for the house. This included a wardrobe, dressing table and bed headboard. The wardrobe was good enough to be displayed in Settle and to win first prize at the Giggleswick show. He was devastated after putting his chisel through one of the dressing table doors, in a very obvious place.

There were changes in jobs. In September 1962 Joan went to Giggleswick School sewing room at two shillings and nine pence (2/9) an hour. She eventually retired as the School's house keeper.

In April 1963, Geoff had a complete change of occupation to become an insurance agent for United Friendly, making weekly collection of fee in a rural area based on Settle and a sea front Morecambe office. In order to do this job Geoff had to buy the families first car: a green Austin A30 PWR 348. This was convenient because Richard's summer holiday involved learning to drive on the round and journeys into Morecambe.

Above: United Friendly letter head

In between the A30 and the Datsun was an A40. There was a second Cortina followed by two Allegros.

Right: Geoff Crompton date unknown but in the days of an insurance agent - see lapel badge. Geoff looked like this for many years. It was later, during his Eagle Star rounds, that Joan reported evidence of loss of short-term memory, being unable to remember all details of Eagle Star collecting round and loss of confidence. This was probably the first sign of his dementia, though later Geoff reported having very bad headaches, which he put down to migraine. This may have been the start of the multi-infarct dementia – a series of mini strokes.

1807info3i, sheet 11

As the dementia progressed Joan arranged for Geoff to be homed in Eshton Hall, Gargrave: the former home of the WD & HO Wills tobacco family. She travelled weekly by bus, describing herself as a 'widow with a husband.' For a period of time Geoff was assessed in Keighley hospital to judge the amount of care he required. I witnessed a very caring nurse putting on his tie, something that he wore on all occasions. This was something I could not come to terms with as it made Geoff a shadow of my memory. From this assessment, the state paid all Geoff's care bills. Until the home closed down Geoff received very good care. On closure he was moved to a home in the village of Gargrave, where he died.

Above: Eshton Hall Gargrave at the time of the Wills family

1807info3i, sheet 12

CROMPTON Peacefully at Gargrave Park on August 15 2002 Geoffrey aged 88 years of Riversdale Estate Giggleswick, dearly loved husband of Joan, a dear father, grandfather and great grandfather. Service and cremation took place at Waltonwrays Crematorium, Skipton, yesterday Thursday August 22. Donations are being received in Geoffrey's memory if so desired to The Salvation Army c/o Porters Funeral Services, Settle Tel. 017929 823280

The wake for family and friends was held at the Golden Lion, Settle a few doors down Duke Street from TD Smiths. The announcement above was in the Craven Herald.

In his wedding photograph Geoff is wearing a ring on his third finger of his left hand. Over many years, I can not remember this ring. After his death a worn and broken ring was found in Joan's jewellery box, which may have been his wedding ring. Whether it was a band or signet ring is not known.

This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass		Version A5 Updated 04 June 2023