1/10 So have I ever told you about my great grandad Frederick "Fred" Woolfenden? He was born near Oldham in 1901. I don't know much about his early life, but I know when he met my great gran he was a boxer, streetfighter and one of those fairground fighters who you take on for ££

2/10 My great gran, who herself was a game old bird, described him as a proper tough bast*rd, Anyway, as if being punched in the beak for a living wasn't enough. He and my gran decided to move to Fleetwood and Fred decided to try his luck at sea.

3/10 For most of his time at sea he was either a fireman or deckhand on "coal burners" fishing Iceland & the North Atlantic. An immensely tough job and life. When the second world war started in 1939 being a fisherman was a reserved occupation.

4/10 They continued fishing despite the risk of mines and U-boats. In Sept of 1939 Fred was part of the crew of the "Arlita" (FD188) fishing near St Kilda. All of a sudden this bugger popped up.

5/10 The sub rounded up two other trawlers put all the crews on one and sank the other two. Fred made it through the war, despite another submarine incident and continued to go to sea. In 1947 he was part of the crew of the trawler Dhoon.