My Mum, an OWEN, was born in Goswell Street and my Dad, a LEIGH, in Colville Street, Wavertree. My Mum's family then moved to Bishopgate Street so they attended Hey Green Road School. My Dad's family moved to Eastdale Road so they went to "Holy Tripe and Vinegar" [Holy Trinity School -  nowadays Wavertree C of E School - in Prince Alfred Road]. The staff were kind enough to show me round the school some time ago, I was especially pleased to see that one of the classrooms had been kept as it had been built, with a fireplace and the basic brickwork, but equally pleased to see that is also a modern school achieving high standards. My Dad left school when he was 14 years old (his birthday was in June so he was possibly just 14). My Mum went to Arundel Avenue (which later became St Hilda's) - through Smithdown Road Cemetery - often running unless a funeral was taking place when they had to walk respectfully. It was not until my Dad and my Mum's brother joined the Liverpool Harriers that they met, married and moved to the new Longview housing estate in Huyton.

It was my Dad's family that had roots in Wavertree further back. Grandad Joseph LEIGH was born in Abyssinia Street 1883 and baptised at Holy Trinity Wavertree. They then moved to Everton, but his mother died shortly afterwards so Great-grandad and the children moved back as lodgers to Frederick Street in Wavertree, to my grandmother's uncle's house where they presumably met. Grandad and his father both worked for the Liverpool Gas Street Lighting Company (digging the trenches for the gas pipes) as did my Dad, but he was a fitter in what became the North Western Gas Board with the Mr Therm logo on their vans. When my Dad went to sign on for war service he was sent to work in Cammell Laird's because of his plumbing skills.

My Great-grandad Joseph was born in Sutton near St Helens in 1858, but he was living in Mylrea Place, Paradise Gardens off Grange Terrace, Wavertree, when he was 3 years old. My Mum's sister could remember visiting a family there and the lovely cottage gardens they all had. He then worked for a grocer on the High Street and married an Elizabeth GRACE in1877 at St Nicholas's Church at the Pier Head. They lived in the Apsley Buildings, near Goswell Street, in 1881.

(To be continued)