Farewell Mr Miller

[THYLACINE]

Seeing SteveHB's map on a recent post brought back memories. My wife and I lived with the mother-in-law for 2 years,1970-72 in the house marked by the arrow. In the house next door (109) lived Mr & Mrs Miller. This must have been an assumed name as they were Polish refugees. They were really nice neighbours, honest and hard working, grew their own vegetables and did all the maintenance on their house.

Coming home from work one evening I noticed a large stain on the pavement outside Mr Millers house and two of the iron spikes on top of the railings had been snapped off. The poor man had been on the roof fixing the slates. His wife, standing at the top of the ladder had seen him fall.

A few days later, by sheer coincidence I met a man at Firvale shops looking for directions to Mr Millers house. He was a stocky man with a weather-beaten face, huge hands and obviously not used to wearing a collar and tie. It was Mr Miller's brother from Poland. When I showed him the house he broke down and wept. And I think I did too.