The Reasons for this Trip

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 16^th, 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.”