Where are they now? - Photograph courtesy of Harry Bletcher
Harry Bletcher, now living in Canada, recognised himself on a photo sent in by Peter Jones and e.mailed me .....
Hello Carol, I have finally got the photo scanned of the holiday that I had at Welbeck Abbey in 1934, the Duchess of Portland invited a group of children to stay for five days at the abbey and here are 26 kids and the teachers having a popsickle or a lolipop as a treat. I think there were 100 children taken there over one month in the summer time. I remember that we all slept in one long room and the teachers had a screened off area at one end of the room, it was not attached to the abbey but was an outbuilding, maybe the building in the background. We did some lessons each day but in the open air, we had to exercise every day and took walks around the property and we all had good meals.The Duchess was there all the time and may have taken the photo, not many people had a camera in those days. We were taken to the abbey by Baker Brothers bus and returned the same way, a bit of social service work by a local company.
Please wait for the picture to download...... Hetts Lane kids at Welbeck Abbey
I had forgotten about this photo until I found it again looking through some things I received after my mother had passed away, on the back it says Welbeck Abbey 1934, I took it to a local photo store to have it cleaned up but they said the emulsion may smear after so many years, it is a post card size.
The people on the photo - back row, Ruth Ball, Miss Hutchinson, ??? ,Miss Osborne, Miss Desforge, Miss Caunt, ??? , Miss Moakes, ???. Kids back row, ???, Kenny Hall, Harry Bletcher in front of Miss Moakes. Middle row, from left, #7 is Rita Smith whose father sold ice cream, I dont remember any one from the front four.
Carol, you can use this photo in any way you want, put it in the Warsop paper, I would like to know more names but I am sure a few of these children are not with us any more, there were three children from the 1932 photo who have died since christmas. I dont know the lady next to Miss Moakes but she reminds me of Miss Daisy Eastwood who collected the rent at Ridgeway Terrace. She is probably a teacher also.
I have to say the website is very good, easy to find anything now, I look at it every week and also the Mansfield website, it is the best way to find out what is happening back home. My email is free for anyone who wants to drop a line to me. Thank you Carol for all you have done for Warsop with this website.
You can contact Harry by e.mail - bletcher@csolve.net
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