Male Norman Baker

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Norman was born on December 26th, 1947.  Norman's father was James Baker and his mother was Elsie Goody.  His maternal grandparents were James Edward Goody and Mary Jane Robson. He has three brothers and three sisters, named Colin, Alan, George, Margaret, Pamela and Angela.  He is the oldest of the seven children.

General Notes

Norman was the eldest of 7 children, 4 boys and 3 girls, to James & Elsie Baker. Norman was born on Boxing Day 1947. That year saw one of the severest winters in recent history in the UK. Norman attended Leadgate Infant & Junior School until the age of 11. From there he attended Moorside Secondary Modern. Every one of the 7 children attended the same schools. (No wonder the teachers used to say not another Baker).
Norman left school in 1963 and started work at Consett Iron Company, later to become known as British Steel Works Consett following nationalisation. His first area of work at the steel works was at the ‘blast top’ or the blast furnaces. He then transferred to Hownsgill Plate Mill as a stocktaker but shortly after took a practical test and became an overhead crane driver which he loved.
Sadly the steel works closed in 1980, (Hownsgill Plate Mill closed a year earlier) and Norman was made redundant.
However, Norman soon got a job for a local security company and was their radio operator.
He particularly liked this job as his lifetime hobby and interest was amateur radio. Although he never took his transmitting exams, Norman was an avid radio ham in every other respect. It was not uncommon for Norman to get on a train to York or London just to get a particular book or magazine that he couldn’t source nearer to home.
When the IT age came about Norman really took to it and through his computer and email facilities that went with it, he became the focal point of contact between the extended family in England, Canada & Australia. Norman became affectionately known as ‘Normie’, a nickname given to him by Uncle Cecil in Canada. Norman visited both Australia & Canada but became particularly close to Uncle Cecil and it was through Norman’s contact that the rest of the family kept updated on affairs.
We have been fortunate to have had reciprocal visits from our family in Canada & Australia, on more than one occasion, and our ties have become that much stronger for it.
As for our parent’s generation, Uncle Cecil is our head of family and who we love dearly.
Before going to pick relatives up at the Newcastle airport, we would go to Norman’s where he would be tuned into the aviation channel. He would have known the flight number of the ‘plane in question and would then pick up the pilot alerting traffic control at the airport of their entry into local air space. Once we heard the pilot making his turn over the coast line for his landing approach, we would then set off for the airport and by the time we arrived, our visitors would be almost through customs and we would have minimal waiting time.
Norman was also known for being a bit verbose but sometimes it’s fond to remember someone for their little irritations and in Norman’s case, why use a few words when a couple of hundred would do!
We all miss Norman and it also seems that the ‘centre’ of the family has gone as that’s where we would all go to leave things for each other at birthdays, Christmas time etc. It was
comforting that when Norman passed away, we were all there for him and he left us with all the love we had for him.
Norman, first born – first loved.
God Bless
26/12/1947 – 06/03/2011

Occupation Details

Death Notes

Died at the age of 63 on 6th March 2011.