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A
Lievesley Story
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Neil Lievesley 1918-1989 & Minette Thomson 1917-1988
25th April 1945 :- William Lievesley : Minnie Thomson : Neil Lievesley : Minette Thomson : John Kirkwood : Ada Kirkwood : Olive Lievesley |
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After marrying Neil & Minette's first house was at
2 Cutthorpe Road Upper Newbold, Cherterfield,
which joined up to Neil's garage. In 1946 their first son, Ian
was born.
Recent picture of 2 Cutthorpe Road...with new
garage behind.
Cushpool House East Markham
As if they didn't have enough to do early in 1949 they had the bright idea of opening up & running a Cafe & filling station on the A1 main trunk road in Tuxford just south of the old East West Railway Line. Where, this bright idea came from is not known, but with Minette's knowledge of good cooking from her training as a domestic science teacher & mass cooking from her days in the Army not to mention Neil's knowledge of running a petrol station from his garage days they must have thought they had all the skill sets they required.
The field at the back of the property was put to good use, peas were grown, chickens for eggs & a number of pigs to eat the waste from the cafe. The cafe was a roaring success because it offered one basic but nutritious cooked meal a day (outside breakfast times) that had vegetables but definitely no chips. Unfortunately it was such a success that the pressure of raising two small children & an operation that ran for 24 hours a day 6 days a week caused Minette to have a break down.
37 Ordsall Park Road, Retford
In about 1954 the business was sold to
T Shipside & Son.
Garage at Worksop, they turned into a filling station and the cafe was
closed. The family moved
to 37 Ordsall Park Road, Retford. Neil then
worked for Shipside's, building a new Garage for the company at
Retford, which he managed for the next 10
years. In about 1959 Minnie Thomson, Minette's mother joined them & they
moved to a larger house at 33 Holly Road Retford. In the early 50's there was a shortage of teachers and sometime during their stay at Ordsall Park Road the Headmaster of Carr Hill Primary school contacted Minette to return to work as a teacher, we believe initially part time. Neil could see little prospect of a future with the small family firm of Shipside's & was concerned how all the small garages were being taken over by the big groups. To cut a long story short he joined a large but independent garage in 1964. He became Service Manager, followed by General Manager (& company director, until its sale) of Allens of Plymouth, which was a Vauxhall franchise with depots in Cobourg Street (now redeveloped) & Cattedown Plymouth. During his time at Allens it was sold to a big company Thomas Ward, which in turn was quickly purchased RTZ which...etc. Neil worked here until he retired in the early 1980's. The name Allens has long gone but there is a Vauxhall Franchise in Cattedown which has Allens in its history.
Retford was a time of hard work, Minette combining teaching & bringing up two boys. Neil with a job that occupied very long working hours. After his evening meal he would often return to work & in the early years of the garage was available for night breakdowns. At Plymouth life was different. Neil joined the Royal Western Yacht Club (and was present the day Chichester returned from his epic round the world yacht journey). Their circle of friends expanded. <<< Neil + Ian & Minette + Andrew 1949 |
Before leaving Chesterfield Neil started work as a management
trainee with Esso . In1947 they moved to Cushpool
House East Markham
in Nottinghamshire where Neil took up his first position as Circuit Manager for the local Esso storage sites. In 1948 their
second son Andrew was born. 
Minette
took up a position as a Needlework teacher at Ivybridge Secondary School
until she retired in the early 70's.The family, including Minnie Thomson
moved to 17 Harley Park Gardens Hartley, Plymouth
After Minnie Thomson's death they thought they didn't need the
space of a large house and moved to 9 St Edwards
Gardens, Eggbuckland Plymouth. The change of address also helped fund their boating & retirement
plans. They lived at Eggbuckland until they died, Minette of
colon Cancer in December 1988 & Neil
8 months later with a
heart attack, both at the age of 71.|
9 St Edwards Gardens Plymouth |
17 Hartley Park Gardens Plymouth |
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At some point they bought a 21 foot life boat which they called 'Fredrica' the firstof series of other boats they called Fredrica. Fredrica lV: Neil & his elder son Ian with built with the body shop foreman at Allens, Phil Thorn who helped build it from a fibre glass hull. >>>>>>>>>>> Their last boat was called Michiko ll, which was not renamed. It was a Seadog 30 ft sailing ketch . At the same time Minette's recreational interests changed from painting to embroidery and tapestry work, not to mention 1st Mate on the boat. As well as this she always had a keen interest in what Neil referred to as 'culture' classical music, painting & the theatre. Neil's interest in such things were limited & in his own words " Culture comes by the square foot or by the hour" Phil Thorn, Ian and Neil Lievesley
Click here to see>>>
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In 1980(ish) as they were both semi retired they took Michiko across the channel & down the Canal Midi and on to Estapona in Spain (Near Gibraltar) . Sometime after this epic journey they recognised their age & strength to handle a boat was waning so they sold the boat & bought a caravan, after that they spent January, February and March driving down to Estapona & staying in the same apartment they had rented to 'winter' out their first trip. |
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Andrew Lievesley : Jane (Selly) Lievesley : Minette (Thomson) Lievesley : Neil Lievesley : Joy (Powton) Lievesley : Ian Lievesley early 80's |
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 Neil & Minette mid 80's |
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