The Wavertree Society's website has received 5,600 'hits' during the past 12 months - and a total of over 20,000 since it was first set up in late 1999. As a result we receive a steady stream of emails from all over the world. Some of the questions asked by visitors to the site are relatively easy to answer, but others are more difficult. Among recent enquiries, for example, are the following:

Dr Doris Huggel of Pfeffingen, Switzerland, would like information about Dudlow Grange, Wavertree, which in the 1860s was the home of Rudolph Zwilchenbart - a citizen of Basel who lived in and acquired great wealth in Liverpool. Zwilchenbart donated two thirds of the costs towards a new church in his birthplace - Kilchberg in Canton Baselland - and Dr Huggel believes that its inspiration was St George's in Everton. We know that Dudlow Grange stood on the site of the present Dudlow Gardens, but was demolished many years ago. Does anyone have a photograph, we wonder?

Carolyn Birch of Nottingham is researching her family history and has found a branch of the family who were drapers in Wavertree High Street - at No.27 she thinks. John Almond (born 1848) and Lucy Almond (née Godson, born 1853) had three daughters: May, Nellie and Margaret. Do we have any information, Carolyn asks, on this family who settled in Wavertree in the early 1900s? At one time, she believes, John's mother and widowed sister lived close by.

Bob Kennedy of Canada, claims descent from William Smith who was - according to his researches - the miller at Wavertree Mill around 1750-60. His son, also named William (d.1804) married Elizabeth and had 7 children. One of these was Thomas Smith who married Jane Hinds, and had at least 7 children including another Thomas. This Thomas married Charlotte Moody and again had 7 children - including Bob's grandfather, William Henry Smith (b.1865 in West Derby) who emigrated to Canada. Surprisingly, Bob has so far been unable to locate any Smith relatives in England - but wonders whether we can help.

Elaine Hughes is trying to locate Tulfords Court, Wavertree, which she believes was part of Paradise Gardens (between the High Street and what is now the Mystery) in the 1860s/70s.

Finally, Tracey Conroy is trying to track a family who lived at 42 Alfred Street (off Picton Road) in 1960. The father was Thomas Battle, his wife was Elsie (née Roche), and they had three sons.

If you have any information regarding any of the above matters, please contact our Local History Secretary, Mike Chitty.