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Douglas Evans
Doug was born on the same day as the Queen who chose to mark her 80th birthday by inviting those with the same birth date to lunch at Buckingham Palace. Doug was one of those people who were very quiet until you got him talking, and Margaret says that when the Queen spoke to them, an attendant had to eventually usher her royal highness away while Doug was in full flow! He was a Probus member for many years and rarely missed a meeting but, in recent years, was unable to attend due to his failing health. GFH |
Doug was
born in Market Street, Finsbury, London, not far from St. Paul's Cathedral
and was proud of the fact that he was therefore a Cockney. He was 13
when World War II started and at first was evacuated to Luton for a short
time. Back in London and being a member of the Boy Scouts he was recruited
to be a boy messenger delivering messages for the emergency services by
bicycle. By the time he was old enough for the armed services, the war
was almost over but he did National Service in the Army, at one time being
posted to the devastated Berlin. A few years later he married but his
wife died at the age of 32 and he was left with three sons. His second
marriage was to Margaret who survives him and they had a further two
children. Most of his working life was spent as an electrician for
British Telecom and he became the elected representative for his trade
union. He frequently came to Blackpool for Trade Union conferences and
so liked the area that, when he retired, he and Margaret chose to live here.
He took up bowling and made many friends among the players.