Vince:

What a great photo! How about some details about your father and why he was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire)?

Picture by Vince Hawthorn

Me too!

Enquiring minds want to know. 

Thank you everyone for your kind comments on my father's award. He worked for forty years with Neil & Spencer a firm that developed and made dry cleaning machines. He started in the service department going onto the overseas service departments and then becoming the overseas technical representative. Dad would regularly attend exhibitions (particularly the Brno Czechoslovakia exhibition each autumn) as well as many other worldwide duties. He always said where he had not been to as it was easier than stating where he had been. Although he even had visited Outer Mongolia for instance, he was never to visit Japan. The M.B.E. was an award for services to industry and export. As you can imagine as a youngster I did not see him for weeks on end. The day at the Palace was one to remember as you would expect. Pictured with him is his second wife and they retired to Cornwall, a place dear to him since his National Service days with the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry. Dad I am afraid passed away back in 2001.

As some of you may know I am a dry cleaner (for 31 years now) but started out as a surveyor but my entry into cleaning was in no way influenced by Dad but through a completely different course of events, mind you it did give us a fair bit to yarn about. My obbsession of Cornwall also came from another source, my wife this time but again more to yarn over and a place to call each time we went over the Tamar.    Thank you all once again.

Very cool, Vince!