A CUMBRIAN man has written his memoirs in which he charts a "life of adventure" which has taken him all over the world.
John Usher was born in 1932 in Waskerley, County Durham before moving to Kendal as a four year old.
Since then his life has taken him across continents and through a fascinating career which has seen him flying in the RAF during National Service, posted to Afghanistan as a telecommunications expert and volunteering in the South Pacific.
John, now retired and living in Morecambe, was encouraged by family to write his memoirs after years of sharing stories with his daughters and grandchildren.
"My daughters kept saying 'get it down in writing', and everyone has been very favourable about it," he said.
The book, Memories of a Country Lad: A Life of Adventure, is dedicated to his beloved wife of 62 years, Joan.
His father worked as head gamekeeper of the Sedgwick estate and the family, including John's three siblings, Ronnie, Marjorie, and Joan, lived in a house called Birks Cottage near Endmoor.
John attended Endmoor School from the age of five. He recalls walking himself to and from school and when the Second World War broke out in 1939, John, then aged seven, recalls the arrival of evacuees.
"I remember seeing coaches arriving at Endmoor with children and mothers crying and being met by the foster families they were going to stay with," he said.
"Each child had a label around their neck with the name and address of the family they were going to stay with so it was a bit like a raffle with families trying to find their evacuee child.
"Some children never settled and their parents came back some time later and took them back home, being prepared to risk the bombing to keep the family together."
After two years at Endmoor School, John and other boys his age moved on to Preston Patrick Infants.
At the time, children across the country had to take 11 plus exams, which determined whether they would go on to attend a grammar school or a comprehensive school.
John's former headmistress at Endmoor School stepped in and pushed for him and a friend, John Bush, to be transferred to the Central School in Kendal which had a better reputation for children passing the exam and going on to grammar school.
In his memoirs, John said, "John Bush and I will be forever grateful to Mrs Earnshaw as this advice shaped our careers" and the two remained good friends throughout their lives.
Attending Heversham Grammar School, John rode his bike on a 10 mile round trip to get there and back everyday, which could pose a challenge in winter weather.
In the winter of 1945-46, Cumbria saw one of its coldest seasons on record, and John and his friends were off school for two weeks.
They took it as an opportunity to learn to skate on Rydal Water.
After school, John took on a telecommunications apprenticeship with BT, and two years later was called up for National Service, which saw young men drafted in to fill the gap in the shortage of army personnel post-1945.
John started in 1951 and became an Air Signaller in the Air Crew and spent more than 400 hours in flight on Lancaster Bombers and learned enough to help manage the warplanes.
After National Service, John returned to BT and worked across Cumbria for a number of years before moving on to his next adventures
"Surprisingly, I found myself on a plane on my way out to Kabul in 1976," he said.
"I was helping to advise on telecoms, and I was going to go back in 1981, but the Russians had moved in by then and I couldn't go.
"It had been an excellent life when I was there [in 1976].
"The country was fantastic, we managed to get down through the Khyber Pass, and it was very mountainous."
His role in Afghanistan was to increase the capacity of the network around the country due to growing demands for improved communications.
In 1958, John became engaged to Joan, a telephonist supervisor at Kendal telephone exchange at the time, who would be his wife for 62 years, before passing away in 2022.
Daughters Denise and Janet were born in 1961 and 1965 and were brought up in Cumbria before going on to careers in education and the Foreign Office.
Denise was awarded an MBE for Services to Education in 2016, and in 2023, Janet received a CBE for Services to the Economy.
Before settling in Morecambe for retirement, John and wife Joan went out to Vanuatu in the South Pacific in 1980 to support a telecommunications project.
Stepping off the plane, the couple were greeted by the British High Commissioner at the time, and on their first day in Vanuatu, John met the country's Prime Minister, who he recalls asked him to set up a telecoms authority there.
In his memoirs, he writes, "I could not imagine chatting to Margaret Thatcher (our PM at the time) under similar conditions!"
Now 93, John lives in Morecambe, has four grandchildren, Jessica, Henry, Ben and Gracie and still regularly drives to his old haunts around Kendal.
Joan passed away, aged 84, in 2022.
John's memoir is written for friends and family, and he has donated a copy to Endmoor Primary School.
John writes that, "A long and happy marriage with my beloved wife Joan, together with a wonderful family and two fantastic daughters, has left me with a wealth of treasured, very happy memories.
"It is these moments — large and small — I would like to share with you."
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