Donald & Sylvia Burnett (Nee Robertson)

Donald Brian Burnett: January 1st 1925 to September 13th 2014

Don was brother to Vera, Roy, Norman, Eric & Arthur; only Arthur was younger.

As children they lived in Old Trafford with their Mother Ethel and Father Fred. We believe, the family were generally happy even without the luxury of having very much money to live on. Children made their own entertainment and lived well enough having never experienced anything different.

I’m only guessing but I suspect that Eric, Don and Arthur may well have played together as children being the youngest of the siblings. Certainly, as adults their relationship was very close which, provided a very rich and enjoyable childhood for us, the next generation, as a group of 7 cousins.

All three families lived reasonably close and memories of the festive season are very special. Every year we would celebrate Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve with a party and overnight stay at each of our three houses. The following year we’d do it all again but change whoever hosted Christmas Eve last year would probably do Christmas Day this year.

For us cousins and I have no doubt, our parents too, the parties were full of fun. Our parents would plan all sorts of different party games which everyone got involved with. I even remember one year at Uncle Don’s house we even did karaoke, although using a record player instead of a karaoke machine which I don’t think had even been invented then.

The three brothers were all fond of a beer which was always to be found in the kitchen, Party 4’s, I think. At some point over the years, all three decided to begin brewing their own bitter which had to be poured out fully into a saucepan and then dispensed into pint glasses. If you didn’t do this then ‘your pint’ would end up full of sediment. There are a number of stories that I Paul and maybe Michelle could tell of Eric’s (our dad) brewing escapades and I’m pretty sure that Don’s children, Gillian and Keith and Arthur’s children, Christopher, Julie and Vincent would have their own stories to tell. This page however, is dedicated to Don and Sylvia, so this is what we know.

Don attended Seymour Park Junior School as evidenced by two of his school reports. The first being Christmas Term 1935 (Don was 10 years, 11 months) and the second being the Summer Term which must have been 1936.

Don was obviously a good student receiving mainly A’ & B’s in most subjects only leaving arithmetic ‘with room for improvement’.

Don tells a story that at the age of 9, his friend at school was another young lad who everyone simply referred to as ‘Fat’. (Fat McCloud) This was his given name and nobody at school questioned it. Don went to call for his friend one day and knocked on the door. As the door was opened by the boy’s mother, Don realised in horror that he did not know the lad’s real name, so just blurted out ‘Is your ‘Fat’ playing? The boy’s mother literally chased Don up the path as he scurried home as fast as he could.

On another occasion and we don’t know the detail other than it was obviously debt related, Don recalled coming home from school one day only to find that the bailiffs had been in and had virtually removed all of the furniture. There was not a single chair left to sit on. Apparently, Ethel thinking quickly, had had the foresight to take certain items around to relatives before the bailiff arrived, thus saving at least some items which may have had either useful or sentimental value.

The family was extremely poor, and It was obviously of paramount importance that all the children should start work as soon as possible in order to contribute money into the ‘household’ pot. At age 14, Don found a job, working at Switch Gear & Cowen. He recalled receiving his first wage packet which, almost all he passed over to his mum, keeping only enough to buy himself a nice piece of frying steak which he cooked with onions and ate with great delight.

Aged 18 Don still worked at Switch Gear & Cowen, but the family had moved to a new address in Chretien Road, Northenden. It was whilst at work that a pretty young lady caught Don’s eye. That young lady happened to be 16 years old and her name was Sylvia Robertson. Don and Sylvia commenced courting and would later marry, having two children of their own, Gillian and Keith.

Nobody knows for certain his father Fred’s mindset, but Ethel his wife, had to manage the household budget for a family of 2 adults and 5 children. This was not an easy task and not helped by the fact that Fred who did not generally go out drinking but did have a regular habit of leaving the house carrying a little case. His destination was a local shop where he would buy two bottles of beer, place them into his case and return home to drink them. On one fateful night, Fred picked up his case, left the house, never to return. One can only imagine the despair that Ethel must have suffered. Possibly not so much that Fred, her husband had gone but more so that the little money he had been contributing had disappeared with him. It seems quite harsh that Fred did not even tell her himself of his intentions but sent someone else around to the house to tell her that he had left and gone to London.

Life was hard, as there was now even less household income. It is hard to imagine what life must have been like back then as Don told a story of how on one occasion, he had to literally share a single egg.

Somehow, as a close family they survived, supporting each other as best they could. War broke out with Germany in 1939 and the family were split up as each of the children were called up according to age. Don received his call up papers at age 21 and joined the Army, Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME). Sylvia stayed at Switch Gear & Cowen as Don was posted to Palestine where he spent two and half years.

Certainly, Don and maybe all of his siblings as well, felt very hurt that their father had simply abandoned the family. It was discussed that maybe Fred had a secret life that he had kept to himself; it was a mystery. Finally, whilst serving in Palestine, Eric, whilst home on leave had visited their father and obviously discussed this with him. Fred was shocked to hear especially, how Don felt and this prompted him to write to Don basically denying ‘the secret life’ and expressing his ‘hurt’ that Don would ever consider this to be true. (See picture). Another letter is pictured here written by Eric his brother who was also serving in Palestine but to the best of our knowledge, the two brothers never met whilst serving in the same region.

When the war ended and Don returned home, he went straight back to work at his old job and of course, courting Sylvia. Some twelve months later they were married.

Eventually Don found a new position at Metro Vicks AEI until he was made redundant and the company closed. Don opted for a complete career change at that point and became an auditor for the C.I.S until his eventual retirement at age 62.

Sylvia Irene Burnett (Nee Robertson) D.O.B. 14^th May 1927

Sylvia was born in Liverpool but spent her entire childhood and teenage years living with her parents and two younger sisters, Muriel and Kathleen at 39 Kings Lane, in Stretford. The girls went to school here in Stretford where Sylvia proved to be a very clever young lady, in fact top of her class. In truth, she should have gone on to Grammar School. However, being very thoughtful and knowing her parents couldn’t afford the uniform, she didn’t tell her mother what the teachers had said and so went on to a normal high school where of course, she excelled, graduating top of her class at age 14.

As we said, Sylvia was a very smart lady which she definitely used to her advantage. She once cleverly invited her friend around to the house, telling her it was her 8 ½ birthday party and she was invited for tea. The intention was to eat what they had left over from lunch that day so when the friend turned up for tea, she exclaimed ‘Is that all we’re having?’ Sylvia’s mum promptly sent her off to the shops to buy some ham to supplement the left-over lunch. It seems Sylvia had planned the little ruse because she was excited at seeing what birthday present her friend would bring along.

At the age of 12, war broke out. Sylvia, her mum and both sisters were to be evacuated. It turned out that their next-door neighbour had an auntie that lived in Bramhall near Stockport and so it was to here that the girls were evacuated.

Unfortunately, on arrival they discovered the downside which was that all four of them had to share one bed. As a consequence, the evacuation lasted literally just one month when they decided that to continue living this way was impossible. They decided to risk returning home to Stretford for the rest of the war.

Stretford is situated uncomfortably close to the Manchester industrial area of Trafford Park which was heavily targeted by the Luftwaffe during the period of the German Blitz. Thankfully, everyone remained safe.

On leaving high school at age 14, Sylvia received a glowing reference from her headteacher. She used that reference to secure a job working in the offices at Switch Gear & Cowen. It was here that she later met Don who was eventually called up to serve in REME until returning home after the war, to continue their courtship.

On 18^th June 1949, Don and Sylvia were married and lived in Sylvia’s mother’s house for four years until deciding to rent a room in Stretford in somebody else’s house. They shared this room with the family that lived there whilst saving up for their first mortgage. It was here at 25 Waverton Avenue, Heaton Chapel in Stockport where Don and Sylvia started their own family with Gillian born on 6^th March 1957 and Keith on 18^th October 1959.

Sylvia decided to stay home to raise both children before returning to work after 10 years. She joined the company Telemac in Broadstone House, not far from where they lived when Gillian was about 12 years old. After Telemac, she went on to enjoy spells at the Town Hall and McVities, until eventually retiring from Fairy Engineering at age 59.

In 1980, Don & Sylvia finally moved from Waverton Avenue and bought their retirement bungalow on Kingfisher Road in Offerton.