Born in Westbury, to Reginald (Jim) and Elsie, his father was a railwayman, starting as a cleaner and eventually as a top link driver on the Great Western Railway. Norman was one of four children; Ian, Marjory and Reg. 

Norman left school at 14 and worked as a driver’s mate, delivering paraffin to towns and villages locally. He always wanted to ‘join the railway,’ but Jim insisted it ‘was no life’, however, in later years Norman managed to fulfil that wish, as a fireman on the East Somerset Railway.

When National service was introduced, Norman served in the Royal Signals Regiment, where he was deployed as a driving instructor for army lorries. His nephew Adrian fondly remembers Norman instructing him in clutch control in an elderly Austin car, without a worry about the potential damage that could have been done, but just for the joy of teaching somebody else to enjoy Norman’s passion for driving.

On returning to civilian life, he continued his driving career with the Co-operative Dairy and later for Jack Pearce Transport in Bratton.

He met Barbara, and they were married in 1950 and lived in Hilperton, until they moved to Melksham in the middle of that decade.
Alan arrived in June 1958 and family photos of early caravan holidays were to be a precursor to Norman’s later years, as he toured the UK with Barbara in their own caravan.

Norman joined the Avon Rubber Company as a leading hand in the stores department, arranging transportation and logistics of tyre distribution across the country. He rose through the ranks to Foreman and Shift Manager, prior to taking early retirement to look after Barbara, who had become ill.

Throughout his life, Norman had an eclectic taste in music, anything from Welsh male voice choirs, massed pipe-bands, to the music of Bert Kaempfert; particularly if it was played on a Hammond organ, another one of his passions. He learnt to play by ear and was quite accomplished, he would often entertain visitors with a rendition or two, whether they liked it or not!
The call of the railway never left Norman, he built a large model railway collection in the loft and was an enthusiastic visitor to railway shows and get-togethers.

During the 1970’s Norman joined the East Somerset Railway as a volunteer, initially helping restore locomotives, until he proudly took and passed his fireman’s examination. From that time on, for a period of twenty-five years, he enjoyed the work and the camaraderie of the railway community.

A keen bowls player in the Christie Miller league in Melksham and then the Holt bowls club, he won a number of plaques and trophies, including on one occasion, a wooden spoon!

In 2000, Norman moved back to Hilperton and continued playing bowls, he also diverged into cake making with the Women’s Institute, under the watchful eye of his friend Honour, and, when there were baking competitions, Norman always gave it his best shot. On one occasion Honour was annoyed because she won second prize, not because it was second place, more that Norman had won the first prize!

His competitive streak continued with whist, locally in Hilperton and often touring the coastal towns on ‘whist holidays’ with like-minded folk, invariably winning consumable prizes which inevitably never made it back…

With the onset of dementia Norman had homecare visits which enabled him to stay in his own home for as long as he could, until his condition worsened and he moved to Milford Manor Nursing Home in Salisbury, where he spent his final years.

Norman was a kind and generous man, charming and with an eye for the ladies in latter years, and always with a good sense of humour, which continued to the end. This celebration of Norman and his life, would not be complete without an example of Norman’s sense of humour and dry wit which was eminently demonstrated during a shopping trip to Bristol in the late 1960’s, when, on leaving Lewis’s department store, a bird made a deposit which landed on Norman’s by then, balding head; as Norman cried out in surprise, Barbara exclaimed that ‘it must have been a pigeon’, Norman replied, pigeon? – more like a bl**dy swan’.

He was a gentleman, and a gentle man. All in all, and sometimes against the odds, a life well lived.