Originally published @ 7:53 pm, Sun 24th Oct 2010
Eddie Edwards died 25 years ago today.
Born in the South Shropshire village of Diddlebury – pronounced Del-borough – he became a train driver, driving both steam and diesel engines, having worked at a garage and served his national service in the RAF.
Capable at school, it’s thought he had to decline grammar school at the age of eleven, since he decided his parents (a shepherd and a former domestic servant) could not afford the associated costs. He wasn’t too bothered since he had already decided that he wanted to drive steam engines.
He was therefore very close to his Uncle Jack who operated a signal box on the Shrewsbury – Hereford line and in his time at the garage, was particularly helpful to local train drivers.
He chose the RAF for his national service, hoping for wider travel but was disappointed to only be posted to post-war Hamburg. He trained others in aircraft recognition and reached Corporal (perhaps surprising given his failure to once convey the difference between a Spitfire and a Gloster Meteor to Army gunners; he won one medal – for cross-country).
On his return, he joined the railways serving as a fireman (from the LMS shed). He was nearly killed in a shunting incident in 1955. He became a passed driver in the early sixties, just in time to catch the end of steam engines which were phased a few years later.
At work, he served as a drivers’ rep on workplace, health & safety and rostering matters. His own preference was to work spare turns, enjoying the variety of work and scenery that came with that turn.
He and Audrey married in 1958, and they bought an 1880’s mill-worker’s house in Hanwoodbank (part of Great Hanwood, 3 miles west of Shrewsbury) using the compensation received for the industrial accident. They had 2 children, Michael (born 1961) and Hazel (born 1963).
He became politically motivated during his time on the railways, and one of his colleagues, Bob Evans, ended up working with Harold Wilson in No. 10. Harold Wilson inspired him to join the Labour Party and he set up a very large Labour party branch in his home village. With local villagers, Jack Evans, Alan and Marge Savin, and Joe Cartwright, he ran the village bingo, proceeds of which paid for annual seaside days trips for village pensioners.
Proceeds also paid for a village fete, including large wooden swing boats – which had to be closed down when the Labour Government introduced new health and safety legislation!
He stood for the Atcham Rural District Council in his local village seat that had never done anything but return the village squire before. He won at the second attempt in 1970 (becoming only the second Labour Councillor to have been elected to the very rural council), but lost in 1973 when the council had been re-organised for the new Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough council, and the new seat of Rea Valley was 11 times bigger than the old. He also served for many years as a Parish Councillor, and as the Chair of the Parish Council.
He campaigned hard for the Shrewsbury Labour Party (having been particularly keen on Tom Pritchard, the 1966 candidate who came within 3,000 votes of winning; Labour was not to come so close again until winning the seat in 1997).
Later, he gave more time to the establishment of a Labour Club opposite the Abbey in Shrewsbury, where he served for many years as the Entertainments Officer. The local acts he booked often shared his appreciation of country & western and some of whom went on to talent shows like “New Faces”.
Time at the Labour Club was very convenient for his love of beer (beer, not fizz; Wem Best was a particular favourite) and other passions included the love of the countryside and using the free travel in Europe provided by the railways.
His fondness for cigarettes was not so benign, it probably leading to the lung cancer that killed him within a year.
He held very strong views and a strong personal code of conduct. Having once attended ASLEF’s annual assembly of delegates, there was surprise when the Guardian reported that the assembly had voted unanimously for a motion for unilateral nuclear disarmament. His retort – “I’ve told you before not to trust the press – it was 45-1!”
Michael joined the railways in 1983, but in IT and not as a driver (he had said it was forbidden); and Hazel works in health and safety, having shown much more of her dad’s passion for motor-bikes and cars.
Both have continued the campaigning work for the Labour Party.
Eddie is buried at the village church of Great Hanwood, and his grave is marked with a headstone made from the red sandstone found in Shropshire.
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