William Ian Weaver
April 12th, 1950 - December 20th, 2011
My name is William Ian Weaver. I was born on 12th April 1950 in Stalybridge, Cheshire, which makes me a mere 61 years old. At the age of five I attended Christ Church Infants School in Stalybridge and then moved on to Hob Hill Junior School until I was eleven. I was an only child (no pesky brothers or sisters for me, thank you very much), and lived with my parents, Marion and Bill. At the age of eleven I moved to West Hill Secondary School, still in Stalybridge, until I was released at the age of fifteen. The first job I had on leaving school was as a maintenance painter and decorator at a company called Range Boilers in (guess where - Stalybridge!). I lasted in this job for about three months and left before I fell off the ladders.
I then got a job at a company that made Christmas cards and other stationery called Newton Mill in Hyde. (By this time I realised there were other towns in the country and decided to try one.) I stayed there for four years until I left to go to Moorlite Electrical in Ashton-under-Lyne, where I worked for 28 years.
In 1972 I went on holiday to Newquay in Cornwall and met my future wife, Allyson. I almost didn't go on this holiday and if I hadn't I wouldn't be writing this now. In 1974 we were married and had our first son, Simon in 1975. Charlotte followed in 1976 but we didn't achieve our hat-trick until 1980 when Richard arrived.
There were no dramas or crises during the subsequent years and it wasn't until 1996 that a new addition was added to our family when Lucy, our first grandchild was born to Charlotte. In 2001 Max arrived and now writes biographies of his grandparents that have to be handed in at school tomorrow. Our third grandchild, Billy, was born in New York in 2005 after Simon married Heidi and moved to the USA. My youngest son, Richard, married Adele in 2008.
In 2000 my mother died and in 2009 my father passed away also. They were 83 and 93, respectively and enjoyed a marriage that lasted 53 years.
I now drive a HGV truck for a living and enjoy football (up the Villa!) and reading. I also enjoy writing short stories and poems and have had a few near misses in competitions. I have also written a novel, which I am about to begin hawking around the publishers.
In the future I hope to have my novel published, win the lottery and retire to the south of France, where we will have a villa that will be big enough to accommodate all the family for as long as they want to stay. (Well, we can all dream, can't we?)
Written in 2011.