Farnworth Grammar School
Personal Profile

Derek Brooks

[NOTE: All photo references are to groups in the 1950 panorama. Derek is in Group 6, right at the end of the fourth row from the front — LD]


• I left FGS in 1952 and spent spent 48 years working in three laboratories, namely:
• L.Dennis's chemical works at Walkden, where I worked until the firm closed down in 1976. The company's former site is now Blackleach Country Park.
• Tetrosyl Ltd. in Bury, where I worked until 1990.
• Feb Ltd. at Swinton until I retired in 2000.
• I have lived with my wife Rosemary for 52 years in the same house in Walkden. We have an unmarried son who lives locally, and a married daughter who lives in Portmadog and has two boys.
• We go to Walkden Methodist Church and so do Norman Davies (Grp. 5, four rows from the back), Mike Wilson (Grp. 6, three rows from the back), Barbara Simpson (now Barbara Edge, who was in my class) and Jean Whiteleg (now Jean Jackson), neither of whom is on the 1950 panorama. Rosemary and I sing in the church choir and also in the United Christian Singers, a choir which consists of people from all over Lancashire and Cheshire.
• My main hobby is gardening and I have my own garden, an allotment in Walkden and two greenhouses. I am the show secretary of Worsley Horticultural Society and Philip Hale (Grp. 6, two rows from the front) is the chairman. Cyril Guest (Grp. 5, three rows from the back) is also on the committee; he was the one who told me about this website.
• I had a gardening book published last year and I also write every four weeks in the Garden News magazine, and in the bulletins of the National Vegetable Society. I do a lot of showing of flowers and vegetables at local shows and I also help to run the garden club at St.Paul's primary school in Walkden, teaching the children how to grow vegetables and other things.
• I am also very interested in wildlife and I go to Blackleach Country Park at Walkden twice a week to man the visitor centre, where I lead health walks and keep a record of the wildlife in the park.
• I'm a Bolton Wanderers fan and used to go regularly but no longer.