Martin with Charlie
Pavey Ark, Lake District, February 1966
Photo by my father
It would not be right not to include Charlie in these family photos. Charlie (a 'she') was our family dog when I was growing up. I don't remember her ever going to kennels (she may have) so she must have been out with my parents whenever they went fell walking, and that was often. She was lovely.
Click picture to enlarge
My mother Françoise and Charlie
(some time in the 1970s)
I don't know how old she was – getting on probably because I had left home by then – but she was badly injured by a car in Stapleton Avenue after she went out through the front gate. It was a weekend evening. My sister Michèle and I took her to an emergency vet in Lostock Junction Lane who gave her an injection. We brought her home and buried her in the back garden I think. I suppose we must have. It makes me sad to think about it. It's partly because animals are innocent. When something goes wrong it can't be explained to it. You can only be thankful for the pleasure you had and the love you received.
Later on my parents had Norman. Martin and Johnnie (he later became my brother-in-law) found an abandoned mongrel in Leeds. They decided to take him in and named him Norman. Eventually Norman went to live with my parents. I don't know what happened to him but he was well looked after.
