Frank Whitaker Sharrocks

1
Frank Whitaker Sharrocks

• Age 79
• D.O.B 24/12/1925
• Place of birth Rochdale

2
Household

• Members of my granddad's household were
• Father, James Ambrose Sharrocks who was a metal
  broker.
• Mother, Madeline Sharrocks (nee Whitaker), who
  was a housewife.
• Sister, Bernice.
• Brother, Terrence.
• And himself.

3
Home

• My granddad didnt help around the house he gave
  money to his mum to help pay for bills and
  shopping, because when his dad died there was
  nobody to bring money in for the family.
• My granddad got along well with his brother and
  sister. He shared a bedroom with his brother.

4
Daily routine whilst at school

• My granddad's daily routine would be to get up,
  boil the kettle on the gas stove for some warm
  water in order to have a wash there being no
  bathroom in the house (and the toilet was in a
  shed outside). Then he would get dressed, have
  some breakfast and walk to school.
• When he came home from school he would have his
  tea and go and play out with his friends. When he
  came in from playing out, he would listen to the
  wireless (the radio) before going to bed.

5
Hobbies whilst at school

• My granddad liked to go out with his friends and
  play marbles on school nights. At the weekends,
  they used to go to the cinema. 6d could get you
  in to the cinema and pay for an ice-lolly and 5
  cigarettes.
• They did the usual things that boys do play
  football, climb trees, etc.

6
School

• My granddad attended Greenbank school from the
  age of 5. He was taught basic reading, writing
  and arithmetic. He was never in trouble with the
  teachers. He enjoyed school and his favourite
  lesson was P.T and sport (P.E and sport).
• At break times and dinner time at school my
  granddad and his friends got together to play
  marbles and read comics.
• My granddad left school at the age of 14 and went
  to work in a cotton mill because his dad died and
  he had to keep the family. He didnt enjoy
  working at the mill but he made some new friends.
  When he left school he left behind some of his
  friends, although many of them went to work at
  the same place.

7
Daily routine whilst at work

• My granddads daily routine when he was working
  was practically the same as when he was at
  school, except he would have to get up earlier
  and be at the cotton mill for around 700 am.
• When he came home from work he would have been
  tired and therefore went to bed earlier instead
  of going out with his friends. He waited until
  the weekend to go out with his friends.

8
Holidays

• For holidays, my granddad went to Blackpool and
  stayed in boarding houses or went to Heysham near
  Morecambe to visit his granddad, who owned a
  landau.
• They were not fancy expensive holidays, they were
  simple and they were enjoyed.

9
Christmas/birthdays

• At Christmas my granddad, his sister and his
  brother got a stocking filled with sweets and
  small gifts at Christmas. On their birthday they
  got a small gift.
• It may not seem like a lot today, but in those
  days it was a lot as people didnt have a lot of
  money and expectations were much lower.

10
Expectations, hopes and fears

• My granddad didnt really have any expectations
  only to do what was expected of him and try his
  best at everything he did.
• He achieved these expectations because he
  provided for and looked after his family well and
  succeeded in life.
• His hopes were just to achieve his expectations,
  which he did, so he fulfilled his hopes.
• He didnt really have any fears.

11
The Army

• When my granddad turned 18 he was conscripted
  into the army. Most people were conscripted apart
  from those who wanted to join the Regular Army
  and enlisted.
• His rank was private and he was a motorcyclist,
  that is a despatch rider, although only
  motorcyclists in the Signals Corps were called
  despatch riders.

12
His job as a motorcyclist

• His job as a motorcyclist was to take despatches
  (messages) to different units.
• He had to be careful that he didnt run into
  enemy units and wasnt seen by them.
• He travelled a variety of distances, depending on
  the position of the unit he was taken the
  despatches to.
• On one occasion, after delivering despatches, he
  was on his way back to his unit when he
  discovered that a German Unit had moved between
  him and his own unit. This meant he had to try
  and find a way round them without them seeing
  him. He managed to do this and eventually came
  across another British unit. They radioed through
  to his unit and he was told to stay there until
  they could get him back.
• The unit he had to stay with was a company of
  Irish Guards. The next morning he was woken up
  and told that the companys sergeant insisted on
  morning parade. When he turned up on parade the
  sergeant told him that as he wasnt one of his
  guards, he didnt want him on his parade.
• This was good news for my granddad as this meant
  that, for the time that he spent with this unit,
  he could have a lie-in each morning!!

13
Money

• When my granddad was younger he wasnt given
  pocket money, only 1d occasionally to go and buy
  some sweets.
• Because he wasnt given any pocket money my
  granddad had to make his own. He did this by
  going to the market on a Saturday and collecting
  wooden boxes. He would then flatten these and
  sell them as firewood for 1d a bundle. He also
  went to peoples houses and asked if they had any
  jars or bottles they wanted returning to the shop
  because, for every 3 he returned, he got 1d.
• When he left school, he went to work in a cotton
  mill and earned his money by working. His first
  wage was 3s 6d, but as more of the older men were
  called to join the army, the younger men had to
  do their jobs and therefore the wages went up to
  a mans full wage.
• Then when he joined the army he was given
  allowances, half of which were sent to his family
  to live on.

14
A memorable day in my granddads life
My granddad and grandma first lived in one of two
cottages situated on top of a hill with open moor
land behind them. My granddads pride and joy at
that time was his Royal Enfield motorcycle, which
was always parked at the back of the cottage.
Late one night my grandma was woken up by noises
coming from the back of the house. Thinking that
someone was maybe trying to take my granddads
bike, she woke him up to tell him. There was no
back door to the cottage and so my granddad had
to go out of the front door to get around to the
back of the cottage. The cottage being situated
on moor land there was no street lighting or
windows at the back of the cottage to shed light,
therefore the rear of the property was in pitch
blackness. So armed with a poker, and closely
followed by my grandma, my granddad went out to
see who was there. He suddenly froze, when he
felt someones breath on the back of his neck. He
screamed and dropped the poker and ran back
towards the front of the cottage, only to find my
grandma in fits of laughter. The someones
breath on the back of his neck turned out to be
that of a cow that had wandered into the back
garden and was happily and harmlessly eating
grass!!!! This was a cause of hilarity amongst
his friends and a memory he would rather have
forgotten!
15
Pictures!!!

My granddad in the army.
My granddad today
My granddad on his pride and joy.