Within 30 seconds of posting about Wellington Arch & my old man, an email hit The Cabbies inbox from Cudlip matriach and font of all Cudlip history, Grandma Cabbie. I’d been a very naughty boy and got some of the facts wrong, the copper in the photo isn’t Bob but Dave. I’ll let Grandma Cabbie take up the story….
“The bobby in the picture is not Bob – it is Dave Cavell, whose wife Maria had a baby daughter, Heidi, in St. George’s when I was in there having given birth to your lovely sister, April 1965. Dave and Maria were last heard of running a pub in Kent – I wonder if Bob Holden knows if he is still around. Dave’s brother, who i think was called Tony, joined the Met but left to become a cabbie! And yes, Lorraine has the photo of Dad in full uniform in Trafalgar Square, surrounded by pigeons!”
Phew, glad we cleared that up then. Just for the record, St Georges Hospital (where Big Sis was born) was then at Hyde Park Corner (now The Lanesborough Hotel) not in Tooting (where The Cabbette was born).
A photo of dad at Picadilly or Trafalgar, or wherever he was at the time (looking very smart in uniform) will be scanned and sent along.
Excellent, I am now gathering dad photos from all over the world, Utah and Bromley!