My father, Frederick G Valentine worked at the Regent Palace from the early 1930s until 1941/42. He played football for Lyons from the early 1930s until the war and we still have a number of medals he received in connection with this. He was a fire watcher at the hotel during the war and narrowly escaped injury when the hotel was hit (I still have a small piece of shrapnel that embedded itself in woodwork near to him went the bomb exploded. I read Betty Chadwick's story and was particularly interested in the reference she made to a lady she referred to as a dear soul called "Valentine" (her surname). This made me wonder if another Valentine relative of mine worked at the hotel at the same time as my father. If you no longer have staff records from that time, would it be possible for you to pass this email to Betty Chadwick together with my email address? She might know if the "dear soul" Valentine had a relative working there. Ray Valentine Melbourne Australia
The above request was passed to Leigh Smith and the following information was supplied by Ray Valentine. We would like to thank him for sending this to us and with his kind permission have now published the story.
My father joined Chas Wright Ltd, Edgware as an apprentice die-sinker after leaving school, became qualified there and was still working for them in 1929 when the firm "went under" in the Depression. He played football for Hendon Town FC in the London League during the 1920s and until 1931. He also played for the London League while with Hendon Town. Hendon Town FC had lost their ground in 1929 and were in financial difficulty until they finally closed down at the end of the 1932/33 season.
He got a job at the Regent Palace Hotel as a french polisher, probably sometime in 1931. He played for The Lyons Club in the 1931/32 season (see West End Department League winners medal). As far as I know, he had little or no previous experience of french polishing and used to attend evening classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic after finishing work at the RPH.
Sometime after the hotel bombing he was able to make use of his earlier technical training and experience by working as an engineering inspector on aircraft frame production at Wembley. Sadly, a few years after the war, he died of cancer, aged 46.
Apart from the medals (see attached) I have no photographs from his football days - neither from Hendon Town FC or The Lyons Club. Shortly prior to receiving your email I had written to two researchers to find out what the cost would be of searching the Lyons Mail magazine copies of which I believe are held in the London Metropolitan Archives. So your offer to send me the presentation disc was very timely and welcome. I realize that there may well be no photographs of my father on the disc but I am very much looking forward to viewing the contents.
Attachments.
I have attached a couple of views of the piece of shrapnel that buried itself in a wall or in some woodwork after just missing my father's head. It isn't very large but it would have had the same effect as a bullet if it had hit him. He dug it out of the wall with a chisel. Some bits of the RPH are still stuck to it.
Also attached is a pdf file of his medal collection. I can send this as a Word file if required. The actual collection is held by a brother in UK. The attached file was created by myself using the scanned images.
The last attachment is a photo of my father taken in 1946. There are one or two photos of him taken in the 1930s. They are not associated with The Lyons Club but I will send them if you like.
Please let me know if you require any further information.
