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Ronald William French May 1921 - September 1992 Ron French was born May 2nd 1921 in a house on Stoke Road, Blisworth and grew up with brother Arthur and sister Wyn. All went to the County School in Blisworth. At the age of sixteen, having left school and starting work as a bottler at Phipps Brewery in Northampton, he joined the Blisworth Oddfellows. In addition to building a Phipps pension he also began saving money at sixpence (old-pence) each four weeks with the Oddfellows Society for a considerable time. Although the Oddfellows became unfashionable after WWII, Ron is believed to have stayed with them until they closed in Blisworth in the 1970s. He joined the Grenadier Guards in March 1941 and served as part of the defense force in England until June 1944. One suspects the work at the home base was a bit boring, judging from a photo Ron sent back to the family. He was then posted within an armoured battalion of the Grenadier Guards into a danger zone; to serve in North West Europe, seeing the end of hostilities and presumably serving in Germany as the occupying force. He was demobbed in November 1946 with an exemplary record and received the Star France & Germany, the Defense Medal and the War Medal. He then signed up for the "reserves" as Lance Corporal - Guardsman.
At the age of 24 he married Elsie. She wore a beautiful white wedding dress and Ron donned his Guards ceremonial uniform. He remained with Phipps until it closed and then continued with Carlsberg. He thus worked at the same industrial site for his entire working life and as a result this notable performance appeared "in the headlines" when he eventually retired. At weekends he worked as a chimney sweep, often turning up for the traditional 'good luck' at some village weddings. Like the Freeston sons, though younger than them, he was very keen on motorcycles, swapping from one 'pride and joy' to another every few years.
Living with Elsie, at first in Stoke Road and later at number 15 Connegar Leys, they raised five children; Tony, Linda, Geoff, Christine and Paula. It was Linda (now Linda Burrows) who has provided most of the information for this short article. As a keen allotment grower he was well known for creating, each Autumn, the neatest hand-dug 4 poles right through the 1960s, 70s and 80s. In the 1960s, with Ron Law, he represented a newly formed allotments association in Blisworth in a fight to preserve the Stoke Road allotments against RTB's (forerunner to British Steel) keenness to sell the land for housing development. They were successful but nevertheless the village lost some allotment land to the development of Greenside. He willingly offered his good humour, wit and valued advice to any other allotment holders. Rather late in life he conducted a walk-around the village with a younger relative holding a camcorder. From a start near the house he lived in, in Connegar Leys, he wandered into the centre of the village and down to the canal giving a running commentary as he walked about ironstone mining and the old manager there, some old houses, the Oddfellows and the things children did by the canal, which was mostly bathing and skating. He was interrupted in his rounds by just one person, whom we know to be usually vigilant, who came out and asked if they were spying for an estate agent, or some words on these lines as it was around the time the 'kitchen garden' was being developed. That person was George Freeston! The cam-recording CD has been lodged with the Blisworth Heritage Society.
By way of a footnote, the faith in an investment before WWII was solid. The certificate from the Oddfellows for Ron's saving of 6d each month carries an actuarial table running to 65 years (ie. till 2002) to show the capital to be accrued at a steady 3.5% compound interest. How things about banks have changed!
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