My Dad's 70th Birthday
The text reads -
BOUNCING 70-YEAR-OLD
HE'S WANTED TO GET BACK ON THE TRAMPOLINE FOR 48 YEARS....NOW HE HAS ACHIEVED IT
For 48 years Howard Boys has nursed a very special ambition.
It was to perform on the trampoline and so re-live an experience gained on the stage of the Palace Theatre, Wellingborough, in 1927.
This week, on his 70th birthday, he did it - on the trampoline at Campion School, Bugbrooke, under the watchful but approving eyes of PT teachers David and Linda Pope, with Mr. Boys in our pictures.
Mr. Boys's first encounter with the trampoline was during a music hall show at the Palace when the Dillon Brothers, whose act included a trampoline, invited members of the audience on to the stage to try their equipment.
He was one of the first to step up to perform. "It was marvellous." He said " I managed a front somersault and ever since then I've wanted to try the trampoline again."
With the co-operation of the Campion School headmaster, Mr. D. Roberts, and members of his staff, Howard's second performance on the trampoline was arranged for his 70th birthday.
"It was splendid," said Mr. Boys, "I did a backwards somersault but Mr. Pope did not think I was getting high enough to try a forward one."
Mr. Boys of Brooklyn, Bridge Street, Weedon, has been a model aircraft enthusiast for many years and his performance on the trampoline this week at the age of 70 did not surprise his colleagues in the Northampton Model Aero Club. Said one of them: "Most of us know better than to try to out-climb Howard when models require recovering from tall trees."
A health food "addict", Mr. Boys is probably best known for his "Boys-Austin special", a car he built himself in 1945.
Since his retirement from AEI at Rugby eight years ago he has travelled widely on the Continent visiting model aircraft enthusiasts and attending model aircraft competitions.
For economy reasons, he does not now use his car. Instead he travels on a 197 cc motor-cycle -- which he built himself.
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© Copyright 2007 Jim Boys