Ancell was the fifth child of John and Eliza and had three
children by his first wife, Noel, Ken and Joan and one, Mary, with his second
wife.
Noel Holt married a scots woman, Susan, who I knew very well
as a child and was great fun to be with. Noel had a loud laugh which father and
John used to make fun of and imitated. He had a heart of
gold and was very supportive and generous to us at our wedding. Susan died
first and this left a huge hole in his life as they were childless. Noel had a
horrible time with throat cancer and died in the 70’s.
Ken Holt was a bachelor who lived in a large house called
the Limes near Woodhall Spa. He had about 4000 acres of prime farmland and
lived for shooting and fishing. I never knew him very well. I first met him
when father arranged for me to spend a week in the school holidays on his farm
when I was 12. His farm manager Geoff took care of me a lot of the time and I
got to know a little about farm work and a lot about bad language. Ken took me
shooting with Fred Davy, great aunt Dorothys son and we went out on Reed island
in the Humber ( it has since sunk) It was my first encounter with a broad
Lincolnshire accent. .More
