The photo on the left shows Derek as a 3 year old at Bream's celebration of the coronation of King George VI in 1937. In front of the man in the trilby we think is Evan Watkins, son of Rufus Watkins of New Road, Bream.

The photo bottom right is from the same celebration, at centre pushing the pram is Jennifer's mum, Emma Tye (nee Blower). Jenny is in the pram.

The photo at top right shows Derek again, this time in 1951 as a seventeen year old 'Bevin Boy' at Cannop Colliery. Bevin Boys were young men who worked "in the pit" instead of serving in the armed forces as coal mining was an important "reserved occupation". The Bevin Boy scheme set up by Ernest Bevin, the wartime Minister of Labour, can be found documented elsewhere. Although the Bevin Boy scheme had ended by 1951, "National Service" was in operation until about 1960. Working "in the pit" was an alternative to National Service and in the Forest, young men who took this option were still refered to locally as "Bevan Boys". The incorrect spelling here is probably due to Bevan being a local name in the Forest.

-Thanks also to Len Olley.

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