The Welney Website

"John Waring was born in the year 1915 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The early years are not well known to us, as my grandfather was a very private man. We do know that he joined the armed forces just before the war had begun. He was in the 51st Scots Battalion, which my Grandfather told us, was wiped out in Arnhem. After the war he was decorated with an M.B.E medal. This we have been told vaguely was received for the building of the bridges over the river Rhine. Little else is known about his time in the Army except that he was ranked as a Sergeant major when he left the forces.

He met my grandmother Elisabeth Mabelle and they married in 1946. After he left the forces he began work with the BP Oil Company. This work took him first to Aden and then on to Persia (Saudi Arabia). They stayed out there for many years before retiring. My Grandmother returned a year before Grandfather and decided to surprise him by taking on the tenancy at the Three Tuns Inn. When Grandfather returned to England he found that he still had to work in the pub.

A lot of people I have spoken to say that he would sit with the customers more than serve them. In fact some people have said that if Nan was not around he would tell people to help themselves to a drink. This did not amuse my Grandmother. Fish caught in the river would sometimes be cooked and put on the bar for people to eat. In 34 years I have never known any trouble in the pub but I have known that there was a lot of light-hearted arguing and banter thrown around.

I have spoken to a lot of people recently and I have discovered that nearly everyone of them have told me that they always had trouble buying Grandfather a drink as he would have one ready for them as they became empty. Also people have said that he was "a true gentleman and one of a kind" and I have not heard anyone who had met him say anything against him. Grandfather had travelled the world and met hundreds of people who we are still trying to contact and they all seem to say the same thing, 'It's the end of an era' and a great shame that its all come to an end."