A very meaningful surprise!

Every Easter, Summer and some Whit holidays too from about the age of 4 to the age of 10yrs old I spent my school holidays not playing on streets in densely populated Anfield, Liverpool where we grew up, but playing in farmyards and fields in the idyllic village of Wooldale, near Holmfirth (subsequently made famous by Last of the Summer Wine).  My older brother and I loved our trips to stay with my great Auntie Millie where the world seemed, and was so different. My 1960s childhood collecting frogs and newts, cows horns, bilberries and looking high in the sky to spot the skylark in Wooldale was a different world to playing ollies in the gutter, collecting tar between the cobble stones, or playing footy on the streets of Anfield.

Time with Auntie Millie at her old two up two down cottage directly opposite the Coop in Wooldale shaped me hugely. It left me with a passion for the countryside and a yearning to recapture the freedom, peacefulness and beauty I felt. In part I achieved this through scores of YHA trips, and when we married moving from Anfield to West Kirby offered a chance to capture something a little more like Auntie Millies.

In 2011 we moved to New Zealand and soon after we bought our kiwi house and settled down I realise that in Waikanae Beach I’ve recaptured Wooldale!

About 5yrs ago I reminisced wondering if it might be possible to reconnect with any of the children I played with in Wooldale back in the 1960s, so I left a message on the Wooldale Junior School Facebook group.

I received a response a few year from someone who lived near the Quaker House in Wooldale, Lesley is a bit younger than me, so I'm not sure we ever played together, but she knew of my Auntie Millie and we were able to reminisce about childhood experiences in Wooldale.

Then out the blue last month I received a message from Lesley saying she had something Wolldale -ey that she wanted to pass on to someone who would value it, and she'd like to give it to me as a surprise. I had no idea what this could be, perplexed I suggested Lesley posted it to my mum in the UK. Yesterday I collected and opened the gift.

And here it is. A limited edition hand painted bone china plate of Wooldale main street featuring my Aunty Millies cottage on the right - the first set of terraced properties after the park. It captures and evokes so many treasured memories.  How meaningful and precious is that plate to me! Amazing! What a kind, thoughtful and generous gift to give to a stranger - the picture means so much to me. It'll go back with us to New Zealand and be displayed on the wall - a plate with vast memories and so many stories to tell.

I hope for all the thoughtfulness and random acts of kindness shown to us we manage to remember and do the same for others.