My place of birth, the adventures of Conker Lane, the home of my friends, then, and still now, sixty years later. The resting place of my parents, grand-parents, three sisters, and a brother. They say home is where the heart is, but for fourty-two years now I had always seen my homes in Holland and Germany as my designated “home" and I must admit, im now just realising that West Derby never ever left my heart.
Seeing my old school photo’s, and sometimes taking a virtual journey on Google Earth, it’s as if I had never left it. It laid the foundation for my never ending desire for adventure. Where My forbidden exploration on Lord Seftons Estate, ended in the frozen wastes of the Arctic Siberian Tundra, the dunes of the Sahara and Takla Makan deserts, the Himalaya's Andes, Urals, Rockies, Atlas and many more mountain ranges. But it doesn’t really matter where I’ve been, my best memories of adventure, remain my childhood adventures, within the boundaries of West Derby.
I have a deep gratitude for Social Media, enabling me to reunite with my very first friends from sixty years ago, people, who whether they realise it or not, still bring great joy, smiles and laughter into my life, at a time when I really appreciate it. Natalie’s Jones's photo albums take me on a trip down Memory Lane, her love and devotion, her meticulous way of rendering perfection, showing all corners of West Derby, going back a century or more.
My gratitude goes out to all the humble residents who took some part or another in my childhood, whether it be a person completely unknown to me, after one of my morning to evening adventures, whose door I knocked on asking for a “butty" and a glass of water, or some of the equally poor mothers of my friends, who divided the already insufficient amount of food on the table, enabling me to join them for lunch.
I feel privileged having lived in West Derby, and even if the times were difficult, I’ll cherish them forever. I’m grateful for finding many old friends, reliving our bygone times as if they were yesterday. At the same time enjoying new friendships with many, one of whom, I’m sure, whose path crossed mine, on the roads, buses, churches, pubs and shops, and who has taken a significant part in my life.
Photo. Croxteth Hall Park
- Kevin Ryan
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