Results tagged “WW2” from Southport Visiter - Look Back

ALMOST 50 years ago, Helen Connolly discovered an old diary buried amongst items in preparation for a jumble sale.
What looked like an battered homework book for children was actually a journal, penned when 20 young girls fled from the Nazis in 1938.
Amongst the pages were accounts of fond memories that the girls had all shared while growing up together in Southport.

After years of apprehension about what to do with the diary, Helen decided to donate it to the Manchester Jewish Museum.
The remarkable story was then told in a Yorkshire TV documentary, in which she re-enacted the moment she recovered it, and also featured in the emotional reunion which saw nine of the girls meeting for the first time since going their separate ways.
It was that initial discovery by Helen that eventually led to the reunion.
Reminiscing of the shock at finding such a priceless memoir, Helen told LookBack: "I couldn't believe it when I found out what it was, it could've easily made it into the rubbish bin when it looked like such a tatty old thing.
"I was very concerned about doing anything with the diary at first, I wasn't sure if it should be publicised as it's such a sensitive and emotional issue."
Helen found herself wondering what happened to the girls after their stay in Southport.
She later discovered that a few of them moved on to a hostel in Manchester, while some moved to places such as Austria, Israel, Vancouver, New York and Brazil.
A couple of the girls who stayed in England ended up with high-flying careers for organisations such as the BBC and the Commonwealth of Nations.
But the thought of the girls being reunited again was the driving force behind Helen's decision to reveal the diary.
And the occasion dissolved any doubts that she originally had: "I have absolutely no regrets now as it was amazing to see all the girls together.
"It was the first time after so many years and they all really enjoyed being in the company of eachother again. They were very thankful to me and even bought me flowers and a card."

IN APRIL, a service of thanks was held at Liverpool's Anglican cathedral in honour of the many women who helped the war effort.
Anne Leatherbarrow served in the Women's Land Army for most of World War Two.
Prior to the war, she worked as a clerical officer in Smedley doing administrative work.
However, due to the shortage of men during the war, Winston Churchill called for 1m women to take up agricultural jobs.
In response to this, Mrs Leatherbarrow voluntarily transferred from her job to the WLA.
The land girls endured a very difficult lifestyle during the war.
They worked on average for nearly 50 hours a week in the summer and up to 48 hours a week in the winter.
Machinery was not widely used and most of the time work had to be done using out-of-date techniques.
Horse-drawn hand ploughs were still common and nearly all crops were harvested by hand.
Mrs Leatherbarrow was about 22 when she was billeted in Kirkby and she remembers working in the fields behind Haskayne.

She said: "We used to have to fell the fields. I worked farming the potatoes. The work was very hard and I will always remember being really exhausted after work in the night."
The WLA was not recognised at the time and men dismissed the women's efforts.
Mrs Leatherbarrow said: "We weren't respected at the time. People just saw us as a necessary force to fill the void. When the men returned, we went back to our old jobs."

A WORLD War II love affair was the key to the mystery of one woman's identity.
Grandmother Linda Gunn-Russo won a landmark case to get her dad's name on her birth certificate and has been inundated with people asking for advice on similar cases.
Linda, of Linacre Street Southport, last year won the right to have her Italian-American father, Americo "Mid" Russo, legally recognised as her father.
The 62-year-old was adopted when she was two by Thomas and Kathleen Rogan after spending some time in an orphanage.

When Linda was in her 20s she decided to search for her birth mother.
After years of struggling to gain information from Nugent Care Society in Kensington, a Catholic organisation involved in her adoption in 1948, she managed to locate her natural mother, Elizabeth Gunn, in 1976 and kept in touch with her until she died in 1989.
"I was able to have a 13-year friendship with my mother," Linda told Look Back.
Thanks to Elizabeth, Linda discovered that her parents, a British nurse with the American Red Cross and an American GI based in England, fell in love just after World War II.
Elizabeth had nursed Mid back to health after he injured his hand.
"They had quite a courstship and when I mentioned my father her eyes just lit up, she obviously still loved him," said Linda.
"She stayed single all her life and she only had me."
Mid returned to America before Linda was born and died in 1987 before she could trace him.
But Linda's battle to discover her true identity did lead her to other American relatives.
On a trip to New England to find out more about her father she met Mid's nephew, her cousin, who was able to tell share her father's story.
"He was born in Hartford, Connecticut but my grandfather was from Italy," Linda explained.
"He was a mechanical engineer and went to sea before he joined the air force for World War II.
"Afterwards he went to Arizona, where he started a ranch working with horses, before eventually moving to Mexico."
In July 2001, Linda won her first landmark high court battle to gain access to confidential information about her adoption.
Linda, 62, said: "When I saw my dad's name finally on my birth certificate I was so pleased, I still can't stop looking at it.
"It was the icing on the cake."
The grandmother-of-two added: "Since I won my two cases I have been approached by many people in similar situations asking for my advice.
"I would encourage anyone who would like to find out who their real parents are or to get their father legally recognised to go for it. "It gave me a sense of identity when I achieved what I worked so long for. It made me feel more complete."

By LAURA JONES
THEY arrived in Southport never to see their parents again as Europe slid towards war.
For the 20 Jewish girls who fled the Nazis in 1938 this town should have been a dark, traumatic place that they never wanted to remember.
But 47 years later their joy at being reunited in Southport told a different story.
In 1985 the "girls" came from California, Austria, Israel, Vancouver, Sydney, Brazil, London and New York to visit Ruth Livingstone, the woman who saved their lives.
Mrs Livingstone was the driving force behind Harris House at 27 Argyle Road which gave a home to Jewish girls from Europe.
Judy Ruben, nee Jutta Schulz, wrote to Harris House matron, Margaret Stone, from California in 1981: "I was not only surprised but overjoyed that contact had been made after so many years.
"You know perhaps, that you and Southport left a big mark on my life."
The reunion came about after the girls' Southport diary was unearthed at a jumble sale.
Their remarkable story was then told in a Yorkshire TV documentary which brought the girls back to Southport to meet Mrs Livingstone.

Mrs Livingstone's daughter, Nan Bloom, remembers meeting the girls when she was just eight years old.
She said: "My mother went to Harris House almost everyday.
"She had to overcome a lot to do what she did, because other Jewish families were worried that by bringing the girls to Southport anti-Semitism would spread here.
"In fact it was just the opposite, people were supportive, and I'm incredibly proud of her work."
Ever keen to help, the Livingstone family opened their own home to Lottie.
"She was absolutely sweet," said Nan.
"Lottie came over earlier than the others and she must have been 12 or 13 years old which is very grown up when you're eight!
"The others at Harris House seemed happy, or if not happy then not desperately traumatised."
Remembering the reunion, which brought the girls back together after more than 40 years, Nan said: "My mother was very delighted and very touched by it."