On the subject of Uncle Wilf's house at Sheringham, where we spent a week, by Janette Walker:
"At some point in the very early 1970s Mum, Barbara and I went to stay with Uncle Billy in Coventry for a week, and at the end of that week, Uncle Wilf came to collect us and take us to his house at Sheringham [North Norfolk coast] for another week. He had some sort of large Ford car which was silver. It was an automatic, and he kidded me that there were little men behind the dashboard changing gear. This journey took us past the end of Cynthia's [Osborne] road, but there wasn't time to call in. We did stop for strawberries on the way, as this was the land of Pick Your Own.
Uncle Wilf's house was quite big, with a beautiful terraced garden and a lawn which we used as a putting green. He also had a beach hut down on the seafront which was equipped with the essential buckets and spade, and a surfboard. The beach was shingly near the promenade, but sandy further out. One place where we went was a big hotel in Cromer, where we had a slap-up meal, fish I think, and Uncle Wilf brandished a ten-pound note, which I had never seen before. At the end of that week, Uncle Wilf took us through London to see [his daughter] Hilda and Ian, then put us on a train at Euston to head home to Lancashire.
Aunty Nellie wasn't well, and was away in hospital, and Uncle Wilf had had phlebitis treated and was still in bandages, although he was gamely going around everywhere with us. The other occupant of the house was a cat, mainly black with white bits on like Sylvester. It was female, but I don't remember its name, just that Uncle Wilf referred to it as "it" rather than "she". It would go mousing on the grassy knoll above the house and come back with all kinds of things. Another interesting thing in Wilf's house was a book on numerology, and there might have been others on astrology, which his father, our Grandad, was interested in. And finally, the novelty of having two phones in the house, both dark-coloured Bakelite ones!"
Anecdote about Wilf, by his niece Cynthia Osborne (nee Roebuck):
"Uncle Wilf used to come up to see us during world war 2. He worked for the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and was working for the R.A. F at the time. I vaguely remember being told that this was something to do with fitting something in the nose of a plane that interfered with radar, but don't take this as gospel, as my memory is hazy about it. I only know that the work was top secret."
Further anecdote from Cynthia Osborne:
"Talking of relationships, my [maternal] Granddad Heald's second wife Nellie was some sort of relation to Aunty Nellie, Uncle Wilf's wife. I think she was possibly an aunt."