JOSEPH COXHEAD
ADDED 28 FEBRUARY 2007
With
reference to the Digest, issue 22, December 2006, and the letter about
St. Joseph’s Catholic School by Charlie Callon, Joseph Coxhead the
teacher, lived in Carleton. He lodged with Mr. and Mrs Nurse in the row
known to us as Cricket Field Houses; the house right next to the drive
leading down to the tennis courts and the cricket field. Incidentally,
Stan Briggs, who sat beside me in Miss Hanson’s class, mentions Mr.
Nurse, the Children’s Home’s gardener in one of his articles. Joseph
Coxhead was taken prisoner during the Second World War and when he was
released he returned to teaching. We lived at The Lilacs, Carleton, and
Dad was a milkman. On our way to deliver milk in Pontefract in our milk
float, Joe, riding his custom made bike on his way to school, would
invariably catch up with us as we reached the railway bridge at Carleton
Crest. He would then grab hold of the handrail on the cart and hitch a
lift with us, letting our pony do all the work, until we got to Lemmon’s
shop at the top of Swanhill, when he would then bid us a cheery
“Goodbye”.
It was during these encounters that he told Dad and me about his time as
a POW. He told us how he built a radio so that prisoners could listen to
the war news on the BBC. Evidently he worked in the stores and having
first thrown padding into the rubbish bin, he would then indicate to the
guard that a radio valve or other component was “Kaput”, and throw that
into the bin on top of the padding. In this way he was able to obtain
enough components to construct a workable radio inside a Red Cross
biscuit tin.
He was invited, by Mr. McQuarrie, the Headmaster, to address the
assembly at Carleton School, telling us of his experiences. When he had
finished speaking he picked up my sister Sylvia, who was at the front,
and asked her name. “Sylvia Lambert..”, she replied, “...you know my
Dad, Bill Lambert”. “Indeed I do”, he said.
Joe Coxhead was a lovely, friendly, cheerful man, with a smile for
everyone.
Cliffe Lambert.
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