Marvellous: Neil Baldwin - My Story. Neil Baldwin
eleven. He lived just down the road from Neil in Chesterton, as did Neil’s great-uncle, Dan Johnson, his wife, Lilian, and his son, also called Dan.
Uncle Dan recalls the family and Neil’s childhood:
Harry was a fine chap but was very quiet. He was a singer in the local church choir, as was Neil. Neil’s always been a good singer.
Some ignorant people in the area didn’t have much to do with Neil because they said he was slow. He was always polite and very respectful, which he got from Mary. If Neil ever crossed the line, Mary would firmly say, ‘Neil – that will do. No more.’
He didn’t ask for anything, but somehow before he left the room he would always get what he wanted, and that has carried on through his life – look at the autographs he’s got and the famous people he’s met.
NEIL
When I was about six, the teachers sent me to a speech therapist because my voice wasn’t working properly. I had to go to the hospital every week to learn how to speak. There was someone asking me questions and I’d have to answer. They wanted to get me to speak right.
I went for about two years and then it was all right and I didn’t have to go any more. There was no problem with reading. I was a great reader.
I went to the local primary school in Chesterton. It was in a very old building. I quite liked it. There was a teacher called Mr Dowler who was always very nice to me. Some of them weren’t nice to me, and I got into trouble sometimes.
They decided not to bother to sit me for the eleven-plus, and I went to Broad Meadow, the local secondary modern school. Uncle Dan still calls it the ‘college of knowledge’. Yes, of course there was a bit of bullying there, but I was all right, I stood up for myself.
MALCOLM
Neil was a friend of the late Gilbert Bartels, who was also regarded as having special needs. Gilbert’s brother Paul recalls:
Gilbert and Neil were like each other in many ways. Both of them always saw the best in people, even if they weren’t treated right. Because they were seen as being limited, they were picked on by the school bullies and had the mickey taken out of them by the local kids. It was quite a tough area to grow up in, but it didn’t seem to faze Neil.
I liked Neil because he always did what he wanted to do once he set his mind on something. Sometimes his mum had difficulty in stopping him if there was something he really wanted to do.
He was very involved with the local church even as a young boy. He used to wear a large wooden cross about five inches by three inches round his neck, which was a very unusual thing to do.
NEIL
You should never be afraid to proclaim your faith. Christ died on the cross for us.
MALCOLM
David Kelsall was a student teacher at Broadmeadow in 1959–60. He recalls:
The school had four streams, A, B, C and D. Neil was in D stream, and academically probably at the bottom of that. Their class teacher was Ron Cauldwell, who taught every subject. Ron was an inspirational teacher who had a really good personality for teaching, and a real commitment to help the less academically able kids. The school could be quite brutal but Ron didn’t use the cane like other teachers. Neil couldn’t have been in better hands.
Before I took the class, I remember Ron telling me, ‘Don’t worry about Neil. He’ll do his best and do what he can. He won’t cause you any problems.’ I just remember Neil as a really nice pleasant lad who was always smiling. He was always smart with a tie on and he often wore a green jacket.
NEIL
I remember David. He was very nice. Ron Cauldwell was a great teacher who looked after me. He taught our class for two or three years. Mr Toms was the headteacher and he was a nice man.
MALCOLM
David Leech, another local contemporary, who eventually went on to be the leader of the local council, also remembers the strength of Neil’s religious commitment. ‘Neil always walked round the village with a large Bible under his arm,’ he told me. Bert Proctor, three years Neil’s senior, also remembers Neil’s Bible and comments:
He would give you the impression that he had an official role with the church, but that was really due to innocent simplicity, not an attempt to deceive you. The clergy had no choice but to get to know Neil, because, once Neil had decided that it was worth getting in with somebody, he was always confident enough to do so. That came from his mum. It’s interesting that I remember her well but not his dad.
Neil knew everybody in Chesterton and everybody knew him. He was uncomplicated, with no hidden agendas and didn’t take offence. He became interested in and visited the churches and the university, whereas Gilbert did the same in the hospital. Today’s society with its concerns about security and other things wouldn’t be so accommodating. I worked in a butcher’s shop after I left school and Neil was also very interested in that.
Uncle Dan also recalls Neil’s early self-confidence:
He once asked me to phone Sandhurst to get him some application forms to join the military academy, which of course I did and he got the forms, but he became a clown instead.
His son, Young Dan, thirteen years Neil’s junior, recalls being taken to Stoke City as a young child by Neil:
We hung around for ages after the game getting players’ autographs. Neil coached me how to ask for autographs. He had no fear. Once, he just walked into the players’ bar. I was embarrassed and just wanted to get out but Neil wasn’t bothered at all.
Uncle Dan recalls family trips to West Midlands Safari Park at Bewdley in Mary’s car, when Neil was in his twenties and Young Dan was a teenager, but his boldness caused them worry: ‘Neil was always winding down the window in the lions’ enclosure, which frightened us all. He was obsessed with animals.’
Young Dan recalls that Mary’s driving added to the concern:
We were always scared Mary would stall the car whilst we were in a dangerous-animal enclosure and Neil would open the door. She had trouble finding the gears in her Renault 5. She wasn’t a very good driver. We used to go to the country, to Dovedale. I remember Neil just climbing right up the rocks with ordinary shoes on. He was fearless and had an amazing amount of energy.
NEIL
We Baldwins were a very close family. I used to see Uncle Dan and his family a lot because they lived just round the corner but for a long time I used to call him ‘Mr Johnson’ because no one realised until much later that my grandmother, who had died, was the sister of Uncle Dan’s father. Mum and Dad always taught me to be very polite to the neighbours. As well as Uncle Dan’s family, my granddad lived just down the road from us in Chesterton as well as my Uncle Eddie, who was also very good to me. Everyone lived nearby and I had a very happy childhood. I have always loved the trips to the safari park and the country. They were marvellous.
I had some good friends. I wasn’t bullied at school and I never used to worry about what some of the other kids in Chesterton said to me. I took no notice. That happens to everyone. I was very happy and I still am and have always been proud to be a Christian.
MALCOLM
Mary had been born in October 1922 in Birkenhead. Her mother, Sarah, died in 1929, aged thirty-four, after giving birth to five children in five years, one of whom died in childbirth. Mary, the second of four surviving children, was only seven. So both Neil’s parents had suffered the loss of their mothers at a very early age.
NEIL
Because he was in the navy my granddad couldn’t cope with looking after my mum and her two sisters and one brother and the family was split up.
MALCOLM
Mary’s sister Iris and Iris’s twin brother Dennis were sent to an orphanage, where they suffered some cruel treatment. Dennis eventually became an alcoholic and moved away. When he did return, on one occasion