On leaving school at 15 Den took a job as an apprentice at Turnbulls Garage in Plymouth and trained to be a panel beater and body sprayer. As Den came to the end of his apprenticeship, Ron was just leaving school and Den managed to get his younger brother a job at the garage, too.The brothers later moved to Thomas’s Garage before Den set up on his own at Pat Wilson’s in Plympton and Ron became a taxi driver. Den and Ron worked together for much of their lives and Den’s final job saw him driving a taxi, too. Ron was working at St Mellion golf course by this point and Den would join him there every Saturday, ostensibly to ‘work’. He finally retired in his sixties.

Popular and happy, Den was known for singing and joking around at work and could often be found chatting to friends, acquaintances and complete strangers. His friend Paul remembers an occasion when they went to the pub at lunchtime and had a little too much to drink before returning to work. Den nearly passed out from the combination of paint fumes and alcohol, but Paul managed to get him down the stairs and prop him up against a petrol tank. He rang Kay to tell her, ‘Den’s a bit poorly. Could you come and pick him up?’ When Paul saw Kay coming round the corner, he ran away and left her struggling to get her inebriated husband into the car.