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Uncle Frank Ansett with other medal-winners in about 1914
| Uncle Frank Ansett won a medal at a schools violin-playing competition at Crystal Palace in about 1914. He is seen here second from the right, in the front standing row. My grandmother proudly mentioned this medal very many times, but the only public performances my uncle ever gave once he'd left school (Ancona Road, Plumstead) was with an amateur dance band in the late '20s called Frank Syncopated. My father (also Frank) was on drums and my mother played the piano. For decades the violin remained unplayed in the attic of my uncle's house in Bexleyheath until he died in about 1985. He lost a finger in an accident at work (he was a joiner) while still young and this was probably the reason he stopped playing. |