Page 19 - recollections of a life in Porthleven

Chapter 4

My Dear Dad

My dear father. What a life he must have had. I never saw him upset, he
never had a bad word to say about any one. And what a determined man he
must have been.

There is not much I can remember about my father when we lived in Gibson
Way in Porthleven. I know he worked at Falmouth dockyard .And his days
were very long. Dad was not the only man from Porthleven who worked in
the docks at Falmouth, there were many men. I recall once or twice walking
with a crowd of other people. Mothers and their children walking through
Gibson Way down to the bus stop, to wave of their husbands when they
boarded the coach which would take them off to the docks.

I remember this coach being a dark green in colour and only picking up men
who worked at the docks. It’s strange what we remember. The people in
Gibson Way were just like one large family. Although I was of a very young
age I know my mother had many friends. Little things that one remembers….

If my father was home at the weekends he would take me up to watch
football. We and many others would walk out to the end of Gibson Way,
turn left as though walking towards Penrose and the football ground was in
a field on the left-hand side. I believe the team was well supported and they
were a very good team. Their nicknamed has not changed, The Fisherman.
Are they as good today as they were all those years ago?

Another thing I recall was going down to the allotment with my father which
was on the right-hand side of the road walking down Torleven Road towards
the harbour. The allotments were on the opposite side of the road from the
cemetery. I remember me standing on my father's plot and in my child’s eyes
the allotments went on and on. In those days if your family needed vegetables
you had to grow them.