My father's name was Richard Walsh, he was born in Bradford in 1886. His father (my grandfather) was Irish and was born in the 1850s. He also worked in mills, as a warp twister.

My mother came from Darlington in the north-east, which used to be a big railway town. The first public railway was built from Darlington to Stockton-on-Tees, and there was a model of The Rocket, the first high speed train, in Darlington station. A man called Robert Stephenson built it in 1829. A chap called Henry Pease lent Stephenson the money to build The Rocket. Pease went on to run a mill himself, and he called his business 'Henry Pease of Darlington'. Pease's mill was bought by Lister's in the end.