When he was very young the family moved to Heywood, where he was brought up. He attended St.Joseph's Roman Catholic school where he despised the strict regime of the Catholic Priest teachers. Fred had many interesting stories to tell of his schooldays, including saving from drowning a child who had fallen into the mill lodge. Some of these stories have been published in Heywood's Living Memories nostalgia magazine and some have been transferred to CD.

All the sons of the family were involved in the Territorial Army, which instilled discipline and got them out of the squalid, industrial environment.

In those days most families worked in the cotton mills and Fred was no exception. He started work "in t' mill" at the age of 14 as a 'doffer' until he was out of work for a while. During this unemployment he started courting Marion and at the age of 24 went on a Government re-training scheme in Croyden where he learned joinery for house building. He put this to use working as a joiner for a while in Heywood until he was made redundant about the time he met Marion.

The couple went working in Birmingham to make some money then returned north to Bury to get married. His training plus the ever-present shortage of money led to Fred becoming an ardent D-I-Y and shed-building man.

Fred got a job in a timber yard in Bury, sawing up trees by hand in the open air, until the 2nd World War broke out. Fred's job was 'protected' but, seeing his mates and brothers being enlisted, he volunteered for service in the Armed Forces - very much to the dismay(!!!) of Marion. He served in the RAF in North Africa as a Fitter-Armourer until being demobbed at the end of the war.

Fred returned to the timber yard for much of his working life until a short time before the firm closed down. Next came a move to Yates Duxbury's paper mill at Heap Bridge (between Bury and Heywood), where he operated the water treatment plant. It was there that he had a tragic and serious accident when he fell off a gantry. He was left severely disabled, unable to work and with much pain and reduced mobility.

In 1984 Marion and Fred moved to Chester to be near their son Derek and his wife Jean, to live in a bungalow (40, Glan Aber Park) which had a nice, spacious garden . Fred spent many a happy hour in his favourite chair in their beautiful tree-lined garden, whistling the old tunes and reminiscing the old times. Looking after the garden was his main joy.

Because of his age, disabilities and developing deafness Fred became isolated and set in his ways. He was much happier with the old way of doing things and shunned the modern consumer society.

Fred had had little opportunity to gain a decent education and so was immensely proud of the achievements of his two sons; Derek was a senior lecturer in chemistry in North Wales and Allan a principal geologist at the Geological Survey. He also took great pride in his four grandchildren, who all went to University to gain good honours degrees and subsequent professional jobs. He was also proud when he and Marion celebrated their Diamond Wedding in 1997, and he really enjoyed his 90th birthday party in Ellesmere Port Cottage Hospital on 27th January 2001, despite being very ill.

Despite all his problems, Fred never complained or made a fuss about them.