R38 airship book

My friend Ken Deacon of Howden has just published a novel based on the crash of the R38 airship in 1921.

 The airship, which was crewed by both American and British servicemen, was on a trial flight before flying to America. Unfortunately while carrying out a tight turn over the Humber off Victoria Pier in Hull she broke in two and most of the crew were lost.

Ken's book [available from him direct on kenneth.deacon@sky.com  ] tells the story of a Goole girl who, having lived through the Zeppelin attack on Goole in 1915, gets a job on the Howden airship station where the R38 was based and meets a young American flyer.

 Their story, entitled My American Sky Sailor ends with the crash but you will have to read the book to find out what happens to the young lovers.

Goole Times weddings - George and Annie Walsh

Here is another diamond wedding from the Goole Times of 1953:

George Henry Walsh and his wife, the former Annie Marie Pridmore

MARRIED SIXTY YEARS

GOOLE PAIR'S BIG DAY

Two Goole octogenarians Mr and Mrs George Henry Walsh of 15 Third Avenue, today (Friday) celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Mr and Mrs Walsh were married at St Jude's church in Spring Bank Hull on October 23^rd 1893 and have spent all their married life in Goole . Both enjoy good health and Mrs Walsh still does most of her own shopping.

EAST RIDING MAN

Mr Walsh, at 83 a year older than his wife, is a native of Scalby near Newport  He started work on Goole Docks after his marriage when wages were 6d an hour with no basic minimum.  For three years during the First World War he worked at Barlow Airship Station, later returning to Goole as an L.M.S.R. worker.  He retired in 1935 but then he considered 65 too early for retiring age and worked for a further 5 years at South Park.

Mrs Walsh who came from Grimston near York and was Miss Annie Marie Pridmore before her marriage, worked at Malton, Hull and Goole in her younger days. In those days work was hard and pay poor, she said this week, young folk nowadays have little to grumble at.

ZEPP MEMORIES

When they first came to Goole Mr and Mrs Walsh lived in Montague Street, later moving to Carter Street and then to Weatherill Street before going to their present home some 37 years ago.  Both have vivid recollections of the Zeppelin raids on Goole during the First World War, Mr Walsh also remembers especially the Market Hall fire.

This year for the first time for seven or eight years Mr and Mrs Walsh missed their Blackpool holiday but are both looking eagerly forward to resuming their visits to the resort next summer.

Mr and Mrs Walsh have 6 daughters. There are 11 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

The anniversary is to be  celebrated with a family party.

If you would like to know whether your relatives may be amongst those whose photographs have been identified please contact me through my website Howdenshire History . Most of them so far are from the 1950s and 1960s.