The Melton family who watched the 1953 Coronation on their homemade TV

Back in 1953, not many households in the town, or anywhere else in the country, could afford a TV.

But the Dawson family settled down at their home in Clumber Street to watch the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II on a set made from scratch by ingenious brothers, Edgar and John.

They started building it in a shed in the garden in the late 1940s - their boyhood interest in broadcasting and communications awakened by their wartime service in the RAF.

There was initial excitement when the set picked up sound from a swimming event being broadcast live at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

Tweaks were made over time to marry up sound with pictures in time for the historic Coronation.

The old set has remained a treasured family heirloom and has this week gone on display at Melton Carnegie Museum.

Chris Clayton’s late wife, Avis, was one of the family members who watched that 1953 Coronation on the set.

He told the Melton Times: “Not many people had televisions at that time.

“They all went round to neighbours to see it on someone else’s set or they waited for the newsreels at The Regal cinema.

“So Avis and the family were thrilled to bits to be able to watch it on their own set.

“Avis talked loads and loads about that day.

“Whenever John and Edgar came over for lunch or tea we would always reminisce about how quaint it was to have a handmade television in little old Melton Mowbray.”

The brothers always had an interest in science and they both studied it at university before and after the war.

Edgar had volunteered for the RAF when he heard a request on the radio seeking people with an interest or knowledge of radio - which turned out to be radar.

John served with ground crew for Bomber Command and worked alongside the Royal Canadian Air Force on the development of an ‘auto pilot’ system.

Returning to Melton at the end of the conflict, they set about building their own TV one long, hot summer.

The brothers configured the tube and the internal components themselves - encasing it all in a wooden cabinet - and they erected a pole outside the shed to pick up a signal.

On that historic day - June 2, 1953 - eight family members gathered to watch the Coronation, John and Edgar, their parents, cousins Avis and her brother, Andrew, plus their parents, Harold and Freda Brown.

“When they built this set, the BBC was being transmitted from Alexandra Palace in North London and the signal was only supposed to come out for 35 miles but they managed to pick it up in Melton,” said Chris, who is 81.

Chris recalls watching the Coronation as a young child at a family friend’s home in the town.

He recalled: “All the houses were decorated with flags and bunting.

“I lived on Nottingham Road at the time and I remember going to a field where Hillside Avenue is now and we had a party there to celebrate the Coronation.

“There used to be TVs in the windows in electrician’s shops in Melton and people would sit outside watching them through the windows.”

Chris first learned about the Dawson TV set when he started going out with Avis in the 1960s - the couple had been at the same school as children.

“By coincidence she and I were both at The Grove School in 1952 when The King died and I remember she was called out of class to ring the bell to gather the school together to let everyone know that George VI had died,” said Chris.

After university, Edgar worked in the electronics industry in Birmingham and he became a Fellow of The Royal Television Society. John taught physics at the old Sarson High School, where Avis worked as a librarian. In later years, the brothers were involved in setting up and running the local Talking Newspaper for the Blind system, which enabled people with sight issues to access the pages of the Melton Times.

Edgar and John lived in a pair of semi-detached houses in Clumber Street and their homemade TV set was on show in John’s front room for decades.

It was watched by the family for many years after the Coronation until the cheaper and more advanced sets became freely available.

Shortly before his death, John wrote down his memories of how they built the TV.

He wrote: “A major step was the construction, by Edgar, of a receiver on which vision could be received.

"At the time we did not have a television tube, but this was overcome by the use of an oscilloscope tube which, though of green fluorescence, could be used as a substitute.

"It was not ideal of course, but even so, served its purpose. The breakthrough in vision came sooner than we had expected. Again it was on a perfect summer’s day that Edgar managed to receive vision of reasonable quality. The picture was small, probably about 4” x 5”.”

The brothers have both now passed away - Edgar in 2001 and John 10 years later - but their legacy lives on.

Visitors to the town’s Thorpe End museum can now see the homemade TV close up.

There are also information boards telling the incredible story behind it.

Chris added: “I’m sure we will all be talking about the family’s old TV set on Coronation day at the weekend.

“I’ve got two adult children and the grandchildren are amazed by the story behind it all.

“That’s why my son suggested we should let others know about it and hopefully people will enjoy seeing it in the museum.”