Recreation in Wavertree

Dad often took me out for a trip, always on a Sunday when his shop was closed. Among the things we did was to go on a train ride on the Overhead Railway to see the ships, Bidston Windmill, and the gorse-covered moors in the Wirral. Sometimes we listened to a brass band play in one of the parks.

A special trip was to Liverpool C. of E. Cathedral. A neighbour was Mr. Pitts, Clerk of Works, who took us all over that magnificent structure. The tower has very tall openings on all 4 faces, and projecting out from one of them was a narrow gangplank with temporary handrails. I nervously ventured out to the end and peered down at the cemetery below.

Like most boys in the 50's, I loved going to the cinema, one of the nearest being the Cameo on Webster Rd. I was shocked when a brutal murder took place there in 1949. Perhaps my reaction was affected by the fact that it used to be a church . . the very last place where one expects a murder to take place! Other cinemas I frequented were the one on Tunnel Rd, the Magnet, the Plaza, the Smithdown Rd Picture Playhouse, and the better-class Abbey Theatre.

Trips to the Picton Road Library were common, particularly as the Public Baths were next-door. It seemed strange to me that at these baths, the men wore a bathing suit, but at the Cornwallis Public Baths the men had to swim naked (ugh!).

Farewell to England

In 1956, my friend Don Coward and I were in the Locarno Ballroom, dancing to Victor Sylvester's strict-tempo music, and both rather fed up with life. At intermission time, Don made a comment intended as a joke "Let's go to Canada". I thought he was serious, and I leapt at the idea. Within a few months, Don and I were on a Furness Withy freighter heading for St. John's, Newfoundland. After 3 years in Toronto, I met a Canadian girl Barbara Howe, and we married 47 years ago. We now live in beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia.

In 2007, I wrote a 77 page book "Evacuated to Brook Farm". Copies are available for $18 Canadian. Email me for details.

JOHN CAMERON
Kelowna, BC, Canada.

October 2008