MEMORIES of Southport came flooding back for a former resident – all thanks to an unusual decoration in a café on the other side of the world.
Valerie Robb told how she was intrigued and excited to walk into a café in New Zealand and discover a wall hanging that “listed so many places associated with my childhood and teenage years in Southport.”
She said: “I stopped in my tracks, thinking I was dreaming.”
Valerie, who now lives in Edinburgh, was with her husband visiting her step-daughter in Tauranga, on New Zealand’s North Island.
She said: “Top of the list was Hesketh Park, where when I was aged four the resident geese had chased me on my tricycle, and where our family had spent so many happy hours.
“Further down was Roe Lane, scene of the Rookery where I played tennis and hockey and my late husband Barry Morris played cricket for Holy Trinity cricket third team.
“The Monument, Lord Street, Chapel Street, Eastbank Street – the list of familiar places was endless. I read on with amazement right down to the bottom, Bispham Road. When we lived in Griffiths Drive, Bispham Road was the site of our nearest local shops.”
The café owner, Jane Thompson, told Valerie she had bought the wall hanging from an online auctioneer, which described it as just “a bus roll from the 1940s”.
She had been attracted to it purely because it included Chapel Street on the list, and her new café was at 65 Chapel Street in Tauranga.
Valerie said: “We are left wondering what happened to the roll in the sixty-odd years since it was in use on one of those smart Southport buses, and its appearance in New Zealand.”
l If you can shed any light on this, call reporter Robert Alcock on 01704 398287, email robert.alcock@southportvisiter.co.uk or leave a message below.
The 1940s Southport bus roll used as a wall hanging in a cafe in Tauranga, New Zealand
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