Stanley lived in Brookside Crescent, Northop Hall. His father Bruce worked at Summers’ Steel works and was the chief ARP warden in Northop Hall. His mother was Elizabeth Jane Acton and his little sister was Joan.

After leaving school, Stanley, like his father worked at Summers’ Steel Works but he enlisted in the army in December 1939 when he was 22 years old. He served in France until 1940 when he was repatriated from Dunkirk. He spent the next ten months in Blackpool and then was sent in December 1940 to the Middle East. The following December he suffered his accident and died. His sister Joan who was twelve at the time, remembers vividly the trauma for the family when the news was received.

Bruce Acton, Stanley’s father was chairman of Northop Hall’s ‘Welcome Home Committee’ which must have been a sad and very difficult irony to endure.

Grateful thanks to Stanley’s sister Joan Roberts (nee Acton) for sharing these photographs and details with us. Joan says ‘hello’ to all her friends in Northop Hall and looks forward to her next visit.

Stanley Acton