Robin Good

“My Aunt Doreen, she knew how hard my mother worked on me. She was asking later on in, very much later on in my life, how my walking was and she said I had a bit of a limp and she said 'Mary, if it wasn’t for her...' I might not have walked... I had a dog called Burly, on wheels, my mother christened my toys and I used to push him around and we had a playpen so that I could pull myself up....” Robin Good
 
Born 29 May 1938
 
Educated Manor Road School; Clare House Prep School; boarding school near Gravesend in Kent

Robin Good Tape 1 Listen here:
Born 29 May 1938 in Wembley. Parents Ronnie (violinist in the BBC symphony orchestra) and Mary Good. Children’s concerts. Went to Manor Road School until evacuated in 1944 to 14 Yatesbury, Wiltshire. Younger brother Tim born in... 00:30:55

Robin Good Tape 2 Listen here:
Childhood sweetheart Patricia. Father died in 1959. Freelance musician. Paternal aunts Dora and Binky were also musical. Charades at family reunions on Boxing Day. Henry Wood and the Proms. Wireless and television during the... 00:31:33

Robin Good Tape 3 Listen here:
Spastics Society school Thomas Delarue. Mr and Mrs Bowyer. Coombe Farm. Puckle Hill. 1961-’62 in hospital in Farnborough Kent for operations on hip and foot. Family had TV from Christmas 1956. Filing coffin handles and packing... 00:31:27

Robin Good Tape 4 Listen here:
Delarue school. Teachers Mr Davies and Mrs Gladwin. Friends. Music lessons. Coombe Farm, Spastics Society residential centre 1959-61, Surrey (near Croydon). Workshop stripping telephones and making twin locks for files. “Wilfred P... 00:31:36

Robin Good Tape 5 Listen here:
October 1971 went to parents in Cornwall. Stayed at Bentford Hotel, Clacton. Moved to Gladys Holman House on 3 May 1972. George Cook, friend at Jacques Hall in Manningtree, Essex. Care staff at Gladys Holman House. Polishing... 00:31:20

Robin Good Tape 6 Listen here:
Atmosphere of workshop. Activities garden. Church wives came to help at Gladys Holman. Broke ankle at Christmas 1973. Truro City Hospital... 00:10:48

Robin Good Tape 7 Listen here:
Cousins Myra and Olwyn. Robin’s mother had family dolls. Both Uncle Ron and maternal grandfather were sailors. He was drowned at sea. Family Christmases. Musical background. Grandfather worked on the 'News Chronicle'... 00:11:53

Download a transcript of the Robin Good interview (PDF, 447kb)