And The Beat Goes On
by Sue
Back in 1952, my dad’s younger brother Ted lived at home with my nan and grandad in their house in Becontree Heath, and Ted sang in the choir at the church nearby in Dagenham where my mum and dad were to be married, complete with ruffle, cassock – the whole works. When uncle Ted was younger the family used to call him ‘Tiddles’ and the name stuck and he was still known as ‘Tiddles’ even though he one of the tallest in the choir and went on to be well over 6ft tall by his late teens. When my grandad passed away my nan moved to Harold Hill to be near her children.
When my uncle Ted was approaching his twenty-first birthday it was decided to have a party at the house on Harold Hill, where he still lived with my nan and his sister Joyce and the whole family were invited. It was 1961 and In those days there were a lot of ‘Teddy Boys’, ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’ and they were always racing their scooters and motorbikes at speed around the roundabout near to where my nan lived.
My mum, dad, me and my two little brothers went to the party and my Uncle Ted was pleased to see us and so were his friends and so the party began. He played all the songs that you would find on a Juke Box in those days. Any song you could name and he had it. He was also a very good dancer - a bit like a 60s version of John Travolta on the dance floor. Whilst we were all having a great time - people eating, drinking and of course, dancing, with the music now blasting out from the record player. It had become a bit hot and stuffy in the front room so the windows had all been thrown wide open. Suddenly there came a loud knock on the front door. The local ‘Bobby’ passing by had heard the party, which was by now in full swing, and decided he ought to check it out.
My uncle Ted was a such nice man and he invited the policeman to come in and asked him if he would like a cup of tea whilst he was there. But he declined as he was still on duty and had to get back to the Station at Harold Hill, but he did chat with my uncle for a few minutes to ensure everything was alright and then left to return to the station.
My uncle Ted later married Brenda who was a very nice lady and they moved into a house back in Dagenham across the road from the pub named The Merry Fiddlers. They later emigrated to Australia, but when Malc and I got married Uncle Ted and Auntie Brenda travelled all the way over from Australia to attend our wedding and filmed the whole thing on his 8mm cine camera which was High-Tech for those days. The film was put away somewhere and we never gave it much thought until years later when somebody gave us an old 8mm projector along with a couple of old black and white silent Laurel and Hardy movies.
So, one evening we decided to show the children the old Laurel and Hardy films and then we remembered our wedding film which was buried away somewhere. Well, we found it and when we played it, we could not stop laughing as we watched it back. It was so funny as films always seemed to playback too fast on those old projectors and this young couple walking at high speed down the aisle in the church, and walking about like a couple of penguins, it was difficult to tell which film was the silent comedy movie and which was our wedding.
When Malc and I came to know Jesus as our Lord we were attending a church where we met a lovely older couple and when we got to know them it turns out that he had been a policeman stationed at Harold Hill police station just about the time of my uncle Ted’s 21st birthday party. We cannot be sure but it may well have been our new friend George who came to the house that night to check on the party.
I live in the hope that I’ll see my Uncle Ted in heaven when Malc and I get there - and my Aunt Brenda. Singing in the choir or attending church is never going to be enough to get anyone to heaven. So we hope that he came under the sound of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ since when he was attending that church and that he repented of his sin and gave his heart and life to Jesus, who came to save sinners and who “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)