AN EALING man is on a mission to discover his father’s history.

Mike Abbott, 73, now lives in Chiswick but back in 1940 his dad Frederick Abbott lived in a Northolt flat over a bakery.

Mr Abbott said since Frederick’s parents divorced, he never knew his granddad, so he knows very little about his dad’s side of the family.

“There’s a large and unacceptable black hole in my family knowledge," he said.

“Both my children, Lucy and Tom, have been asking me for some 20 years to find out more about their granddad and the Abbott line.

“So, I owe it to them, as well as my grandchildren, to learn more about my dad's family history.”

Frederick Abbott lived with his mother Theresa at 102 Greenway Parade, Church Road, over his stepfather’s bakery.

“Does anyone remember the baker shop, Mr Bown the baker, and Theresa helping in the shop in the 1950s?” asked Mr Abbott.

Mr and Mrs Bown lived over the Greenway Parade shop well into the early 1960s.

Frederick had two sisters - Joan married Northolt estate agent Frank Ormrod in the war years and had a son, Stefan, an animal conservationist who is sadly now dead.

Her sister Winifred, or Win, lived in the 1950s with builder husband Arthur in Douglas Crescent, Willow Tree Lane, Yeading. Their son Philip was in the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm.

Mr Abbott added: “It’s quite a detective story so I sincerely hope readers might be able to help trace anyone who remembers the bakers shop from the 1950s, or are related to Mr Bown, Arthur, Win, and Philip.”

Frederick, who worked as a railway man with Great Western Railway, married Mr Abbott's mum Margaret in 1940 and in 1952 they moved from Ealing to Hayes, where they lived until he died from cancer in 1986.

Anyone who can help fill in the gaps can email Mr Abbott, an Ealing Talking Newspapers volunteer, at mikefabbott@gmail.com