12:26pm Tuesday 23rd May 2006
EDITH Davis was working as an accountant in the advertising department of the Free Press for Mr Mead one winter when the heating broke down in the warehouse, behind Crendon Street.
The paper's fifth editor, John T Baldwin, asked if she would mind sharing her office with a reader and his copy holder, because of the temperature in the warehouse.
"Basil came in and he said good morning. My first impression was that he seemed like a nice, polite, young man," said Mrs Davis.
"His assistant Maureen didn't really say anything she was a very quiet girly in those days," she continued.
"I was just very pleased that I could help somebody out when it was so cold."
Mrs Davis, of Hammersley Lane, High Wycombe, pictured below, ordered her assistant Pam to pop down to Denney's cake shop and bring their guests back some hot coffee and pastries for elevenses and so the seeds of friendship were planted. A few weeks later Mr Davis asked her to accompany him to Windsor race course.
Mrs Davis recalls: "He told me that if I did not get off the 10.50, 441 in Slough High Street on Saturday he would be going by himself.
"Much to his surprise I stepped off the bus. We had a lovely day and I even won some of my races."
The couple courted for 18 months and were married on Tuesday, November 6, 1951 at St John the Baptist Church in Little Missenden.
Mr Davis's best man was a compositor called Wally Tubb, who also worked at the paper.
The two men had been childhood friends and worked together at the Maidenhead Advertiser before joining the paper. It was through Mr Tubb the couple's friendship had blossomed. Mrs Davis said: "Wally and I got on really well and we would go out the three of us together.
"Basil never said much but he told Wally what he wanted me to know."
After the wedding Mrs Davis gave up work but Basil continued working for the paper until he was 65 and retired in 1987.
Mrs Davis said: "The Bucks Free Press was very, very good to us."
Five years into their marriage Mr Davis became critically ill with jaundice and gallstones. He had a risky operation and spent six months in Amersham Hospital recovering.
Mrs Davis said: "The Bucks Free Press paid his wages all the time he was in hospital and welcomed him back when he was better. We wouldn't have been able to manage otherwise."
At her husband's request, Mrs Davis went back to work part time as a teacher at Beaconsfield Church of England School. She introduced commerce as a subject at the school and later taught at Wycombe College.
One of her original pupils was Dick Smith, Beaconsfield's town crier.
The couple had a daughter called Anne who was very interested in wildlife and nature. Mrs Davis used to take Anne to meet her dad coming home from work.
Outside of work, Basil enjoyed golf. During his illness he had suffered from depression and was introduced to golf by his wife, a member of the Flackwell Heath Golf Club, as a way to take his mind off his illness.
Mrs Davis recalls: "When I first suggested the idea he said, what me, knock a silly little ball around?'"
Mr Davis went on to become an accomplished amateur golfer and filled their home with silverware he had collected from competitions around the country.
He was president of the Flackwell Heath Golf Club between 2000 and 2001 and died aged 81 on November 20, 2003.
Mrs Davis added: "He was very considerate and thoughtful, which he proved time and time again during our marriage.
If you have any memories about the Bucks Free Press you would like to share or if you have been featured in the paper, please contact us with your letters and photos.
l There is only one week left to enter our competition to win a bespoke Windsor chair designed by chairmaker Stewart Linford to commemorate the 150th anniversary year of the Bucks Free Press.
To enter, tell us in no more than 30 words why you want the chair and what you would do with it.
Send you answer on a postcard, along with your name and daytime telephone number to Anniversary Competition, Victoria Birch, Bucks Free Press, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Bucks HP10 9TY. The closing date is May 26. The editor's decision is final.
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