VV_April Web 21-compressed

IN MEMORY
Frank Aubrey
23 March 1926-11 January 2021
Frank was born on the
23rd March 1926 in
the Potteries
(Staffordshire) and
died on the 11th
January 2021 at
home.
He was a muchloved
husband, father
and grandfather. He
lived in Tylers Green
since 1976 and was
an active member of
the village community
He was devoted to his family and encouraged
us all to do whatever made us happy.
He would do anything for anyone, always
looking for ways he could make a contribution
or help out a friend or neighbour. It’s no surprise
that he became a teacher. He taught at
Wellesbourne for many years, before moving to
Dr Challenors after he retired, where he helped
out as a technician.
A practical man, he loved to
understand how things worked
and he could fix just about
anything. For instance, when
his son Chris started to learn
the violin Frank realised that
the local schools had lots of
loan instruments that needed
repairing. So he taught himself
how to repair stringed
instruments and the house
filled with various pieces of
cellos, violins and violas.
That’s how his daughter
Megan came to pick up a cello.
His love of music was
www.pennandtylersgreen.org.uk
Village Voice April/May 2021
passed down by his mother, who sang opera,
and father, who was a brilliant pianist and
organist.
Ever the practical one Frank would drive his
father all around the potteries to play piano in
the local clubs and pubs.
A life-long obsession with engines was
fostered in his youth, with his love of
motorbikes, and a basement full of motorbikes
in various states of repair. He raced as an
amateur on a Norton works bike, until a bad
accident in Ireland landed him in hospital for six
months, at which point he decided it would be
safer to watch happily from the sidelines
instead.
Frank had somewhat eccentric views on the
use of spaces in and around a family house. For
example, a lawn was a perfect run for pet
chickens, a bathroom converted easily into a
photography darkroom, and only occasionally
would a garage be used to store a car. Instead it
would become a blacksmith’s forge, or a
workshop for lawnmower engines, or storage
for a horse-drawn trap (without the horse).
He loved to give new technology a try, and
bought Chris a BBC computer in the mid-80s,
which had the obvious appeal that you had to
partially build it yourself.
But he also loved the old-fashioned country
FRANK shoeiNg horses at YouNg Farmers
RAleigh, Cambridge
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