John William Frye

John William Frye, my grandad, died in 2005. However he spent his entire life writing, beginning in WW2. As a young man in the RAF he would scribble poetry and notes in his diaries and on scraps of paper he could carry around in his pocket.

A poem written in 1941 ; I love to sit and watch and stand, And see the planes of England land, But oh alas I quake to see, The planes of England fly to sea.

The family originated from Malmesbury, Wiltshire, his family were farm workers and loved the land. The original John Fry was born in 1801 and his children remained their through many generations. My grandad John (affectionately known as Joey as a boy) loved the summer days spent on the farm as a young lad. His own father Fred Fry (my grandad added the E later) drove trains all of his life. The family history was carefully recorded by Fred who loved photography, and John continued to keep the records.

During the war he lamented that he would like to be a philosopher, master of living, seeker of health, poet, writer and journalist, farmer, countryman, cricketer, naturalist and traveller. He had many occupations during his life including a teacher of rural studies but unfortunately his greatest wish, to be a published author, he did not achieve in his lifetime.

He married my grandma Eva and together they moved into a small holding and endeavoured to live the 'good life' living very frugally and being self reliant, no doubt inspired by the hardships of living through the war. He was already writing manuscripts when he met my grandma, in one letter to her dated 12th July 1946 he says 'the novel is positively leaping along now, writing in great slices at the rate of five thousand words a week and often more than a thousand a day."

He was a great record keeper, every letter and piece of writing he kept safely tucked away in his study. Many of his manuscripts are based on his experiences during the war and the difficult times following. My grandma helped him with his work, tirelessly typing up his manuscripts and listening to his readings while looking after their two children. My grandma recorded in one of her early letters to him dated 8th May 1945, Sheffield " the main excitement started when the big bonfire was lit. There was a fire display and fireworks and the kiddies roasted potatoes. many of the children had never seen anything like it before and were delighted , although some of them were a bit nervous of fireworks - after a crowd of children and adults gathered around the fire and sang songs of the last war, and songs of this war. someone played a piano accordion." this is a fascinating first hand account of the VE day celebrations. I hope to be able to shine light on some of his other works, based on first hand accounts of a time that will very soon no longer be remembered in living memory. I hate to think of his work lost forever and forgotten. I hope you enjoy his work and appreciate it for the time and place from which it was written.