August
2014, Centrelea, Nova Scotia, Canada – Earlier this year, I learned that a book was
being launched in As, Belgium. And I was asked to write an introduction. I have
never had that honour and was most flattered to be asked.
Here is,
as they say, the back story.
Part I -
Back in
2008, my cousins started asking questions about my father and mother during
WWII. I was the recipient of much of the memorabilia from my parents about that
time and, of course, it was the start of my history as well. And so it all
began. You can read all about the previous work on this “project” starting here
- http://philtripe.blogspot.ca/2009/12/back-story.html. There is a lot of information on
that blog which I won’t duplicate here.
My
husband Bill Crossman and I went to As in January 2010 to commemorate my
father’s last day of his war on January 16th, 1945.
Learning about this story, I have had tremendous support from new friends made online! Karel Baeten
and William Engelen have such enthusiastic supporters of their local history.
When we went to As, there were many local people who came out to the exhibition
day held at the community centre. Some even brought photographs from those
days. Karel said that the work they did and my visit and the story of my Dad
seemed to have sparked new conversations about those old days.
So let
me start back with the plan to launch the history book of the Opglabbeek
airfield Y.32 in November of this year. To my delight Karel asked me to do an
introduction which I did. Then he said that my “introduction” should go in to
the chapter on my father. I was delighted to know that there was a whole
chapter on Dad. So I did another intro.
And now
the book is being launched on Saturday, November 22 and there will be another
exhibit at the community hall over that weekend.
I am
going to be there! My sister Louise Mulvihill and I are going on a European
excursion in November.
Part II
-
And then
I started thinking about an amazing connection made in March 2013. A researcher
named Sally Parfitt in England asked if she could use a photo I had included in
Dad’s blog in a research paper she was doing for a man who lived in 13 Deva
Terrace, Chester. To make the story a bit shorter, I agreed heartily. I have
subsequently been in touch with Chris Caunce who owns both No. 12 and No. 13
Deva Terrace townhouses. Mom and I lived in 13 and Belle and Fanny Grey lived
in 12. Mr. Caunce has very generously asked that if I am ever in Chester, I can
stay in No. 12 as he lives in No. 13. You can see where this is going, right?
The
tickets are now booked. Louise and I are flying to Manchester where Mr. Caunce
will pick us up and take us to Chester where we will do some sightseeing. I
have been going through some of Mom’s photo albums and now wish to see Church
of St Mary-without-the-Walls where I was christened - http://www.stmaryschester.co.uk/. My baptismal record may be there to see. I
will also like to drive by the nursing home where I was born and is now for
sale, by the way - http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/18-hough-green/chester/ch4-8jg/4503551. We will also want to go to Chester
Cathedral and hope that someone is singing/practicing while we are there - http://www.chestercathedral.com/.
My
mother went back to visit places she remembered and friends she knew in Chester
in 1986. I can’t remember why I couldn’t go. It’s possible that I was in a new
job at CBC in Inuvik and couldn’t take the time or it’s also possible that I
just couldn’t afford it. It’s a very long way from Inuvik in the Northwest Territories
to England!
My
mother Elizabeth Ann Rannie and her father John Leslie Rannie (Les) arrived in
England in March 1940. My mother was in England to marry my father who had
already been in England since 1939 with a short break back in Canada in the fall.
Friends of friends of my grandfather had a room available in Chester. Mom and
Dad got married at St Margaret’s Church in Moreton Say, Shropshire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreton_Say not too far from Ternhill, where
Dad was based. He was in training there.
And so I
will be visiting the place where my mother and I lived for the first 5 years of
my life. It will be great to have Louise with me so we can share a part of our
parents’ life. It will be fun to be able to say things like – “Oh I wish Mom
were here to see this.” and “What a lovely place this is!” and “I wish we had
more time to see other places.”
