Joan Mary P was born in a nursing home in Dudley Road, Wallasey, on January 25 1925. Her parents were John Joseph and Winifred, and she had an elder sister, Sheila, who was born in 1923. The family lived in Hale Road, Wallasey. Joan attended Maris Stella Convent School, in New Brighton, from 1931, and its secondary equivalent, until leaving school in 1941.
A brother, Anthony (Uncle Tony) was born in 1932. After this time the family took holidays to the Isle of Man, travelling by boat, and later to Shropshire. They also had holidays in Prestatyn and Pensarn, on the North Wales coast.
The family was strongly Roman Catholic, and they worshipped in SS Peter & Paul in Hope Street, New Brighton. In 1935 this moved to a new location, one of the largest churches in the area, known as the “Dome of Home”. The older church was bombed and burnt out in the “Christmas blitz” of December 1940. At some point in the 1930s, Mum succumbed to diphtheria, and was in isolation hospital for quite some time; she maintained that she was lucky to survive.
When war broke out, her father John joined the Home Guard. The Wallasey blitz of 1941 meant that they were bombed out of Hale Road, and moved to Perrin Road, in Wallasey Village. This was soon bombed too, and they then moved to Gloucester Road.
While in convalescence in the early 1990s, Mum wrote an account of this period. I have begun to place excerpts on this site, with commentaries.
Joan Boughey Recalled 