This page is dedicated to my late father.

....Benson loved the workshop. He sniffed the familiar, faint, oily smells, and yesterday's fumes from the big, black grinding machine still lingered in the air. (From Benson and the Wishing Machine)  Photograph by kind permission of Country Life Magazine, London.  Mr Elvic is based on my late father who owned the workshop on Cinder Lane in Louth. He was born in the village of Tetney in Lincolnshire on 11th November 1918. He was baptised Hedley Victor Ackrill but was always known as Vic. He spent much of his early childhood moving around the country, as his father's work took him around England. He started his working life working with his father who was a joiner. Due to ill health, Vic was not able to enlist in the armed forces, and he was sent to work at an engineering firm in Lincoln. He moved to Louth and trained as a motor mechanic working in various garages around the town. On 24th March 1951 he married Enid Timms, my mother, who was the daughter of a Louth Decorator. They had two children - I was born in 1952, and my brother Roy was born in 1961. Vic set up his own business on Cinder Lane in 1966 and it was called Elvic (Louth) Ltd. This was mainly a lawn mower repair business, but he could turn his hand to mend almost anything. He was always on hand to maintain and repair the large mowers and machines used at Grimsby Town Football Club. He enjoyed singing with the local Methodist Chapel Choir, and my mother still sings there. The pair of them loved touring around England and Scotland with their caravan, and had many happy holidays at Mablethorpe in their static van. Vic was a well known character around Louth and the surrounding villages and is still fondly remembered today. He died on 1st November 1998.