In August 1952 Frank left the RAF and came to live near his sister in Marple. There were a few very difficult years when money was scarce and work in civilian life hard to find; Louisa went back to nursing, as a night sister at the Children's Orthopaedic Hospital, Dale Road, Marple. They bought an old farmhouse in Mellor (Damsteads) which had no gas or electricity, cooking was on an open fire, and chickens had been kept on the top floor. They borrowed £1,500 to pay for it, and set about making it habitable.

One of the jobs Frank applied for was as a warden for the newly formed Peak District National Park, but he was eventually accepted on a teacher training course at Bolton Training College for Teachers of Technical Subjects, from where he was awarded a Teacher's Certificate in July 1957. He had finally found his ‘niche' in civilian life.

He started teaching science at Marple Secondary Modern School (the Willows) in September 1957; the first walk of the Willows Rambling Club took place three months later and the following Whitsun the first YHA school holiday took place. The monthly ‘rambles' and annual YHA holidays continued 1974. Each year parents were invited to a fund-raising evening showing slides or a film of that year's holiday. In the earlier years of teaching Damsteads became a regular Sunday meeting place for many pupils.

Meanwhile Frank pursued his interest in the countryside and the environment through the Ramblers Association, the National Association of Voluntary Wardens and the Peak and Northern Footpaths Society. Frequently, in later years, the school walks would be combined with footpath inspection or foot-bridge building, and his reports of school walks often include comments relating to his voluntary warden duties. He was also one of the instigators of the Cown Edge Way, running 19 miles from Hazel Grove, via Marple and Mellor to Gee Cross.

Frank with his friend Ron Booth

Frank was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the early 1970s and retired from teaching in July 1977. In spite of spells of ill health he continued to go walking on Kinder whenever possible, often with his good friend Ron Booth. Frank died on 23rd February 1983, aged just 70, and Louisa died on 12th January 2005.