Staveley war veteran nearing his 100th birthday counts his lucky stars that he's still alive

Ted Trickett of Staveley said: "There were several times when I could have been killed - it's luck that I've survived."

Born in Grassmoor where he was named Charles Edward Trickett, Ted went on to lead a fascinating life which he recalled in great detail ahead of his big birthday on Sunday, October 2.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Ted signed up to the RAF on his actual 18th birthday after an initial attempt when he was underage and against his parents’ wishes.

On completion of his training Ted was posted to Canada and set sail, with his compatriots, from Gurnock in Scotland on the return journey of a US troop ship as part of the first American convoy.

He said: "That month, July 1942, there were more ships sunk in the North Atlantic than at any other time. I was on a troop ship called the Argentina. We could hear depth charges on the perimeters as the destroyers were chasing the U-boats. When the Americans first joined the war they wouldn't go in convoys like the British were doing. Every time they got out of a 12-mile limit of New York, they got sunk by a U-boat."

Ted spent the next two years in Canada where he worked as an aircraft fitter at a Commonwealth training base for allied pilots in Moose Jaw, Saskatchawan. Those pilots included Polish, Czech , Norwegian, Free French (a movement fighting for the liberation of France from German control) amongst the many.

It was at a dance in Moose Jaw that Ted met his wife-to-be, Marie-Cecille Jeanne d'arc Babeuf (known as Joan), who was of French-Canadian descent. Ted said: "I think she had her eye on me and we got chatting. I'd been going out with her for a week or two when she invited me to her family's house for Christmas."

Ted and Joan were married in Canada in November 1943.

D-Day changed the tide of the war and with air bases in Canada shutting down, Ted was despatched back to England at the end of 1944. Joan, who was eight months pregnant, stayed in Canada to have their first baby.

Ted said: "I was in Hampstead Norreys in Berkshire when I was told to report to the guard room for a telegram. Joan had had a baby but the telegram didn't say whether it was a boy or a girl. I didn't find that out until I got a letter from her six weeks later."

Baby Caroline was three months old when her mum sailed with her to England. Ted said: "It wasn't really a safe journey. In the Atlantic the U-boats were having heavy defeats so they brought them all back to operate around Britain. They were operating on the Severn estuary near Cardiff and that's where Joan landed."

Ted and Joan went on to have four more children, John, Theresa, Denise and Juliet, nine grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and a handful of great-great-grandchildren, one of whom Logan, 12, has his birthday on the same day as his great-great-grandad.

When Ted was demobbed in 1946, he went into farming and worked for two years at Caenby Corner in Lincolnshire and two years in Shropshire.

He said: "My mother died while I was working in Shropshire and my father was upset. I was having a rough winter milking cows so I decided to come back to Staveley to look after dad."

Ted worked as a miner at Ireland Colliery for a year before he returned to Canada with his family.

He had various jobs in Saskatchewan, working nights greasing locomotives for the Canadian Pacific Railway company, then in a woodmill that made window frames.

He narrowly escaped death while working as a labourer in an oil refinery in Canada. Ted said: "I had just walked over a manhole that was about 4ft in diameter when I heard a bang and the manhole exploded." A welder had caused a spark in a pipe that ignited gas underground.

Two years later, Ted and his family returned to England where he found employment at Staveley Works, firstly as a fireman on a locomotive and then in the furnaces.

He later worked as a bricklayer's assistant, building houses at Mastin Moor and then repaired roads and pavements in Chesterfield borough.

"I've had more jobs than hot dinners!" he said.

During retirement Ted and Joan enjoyed annual visits to Canada and later to France to see their daughter Theresa.

Ted, who became a widower in 2015 and lost his only son four years ago, has lived in the same house in Staveley for 70 years where he's now looked after by carers and members of his family.

The property was formerly his mum and dad's home and was one of 15 built in the town by his grandad, Charles Dickens, who had worked as a fettler in a foundry in Renishaw.

Charles Dickens kept racing pigeons and his grandson followed suit for 45 years. Ted had around 15 pairs of pigeons and belonged to racing pigeon clubs including Staveley, Poolsbrook and Renishaw.

Since retirement Ted has led a life of leisure and enjoyed tending his large garden.

HIs 100th birthday will be celebrated with a month of small parties arranged by family members.