Dick
Crowe (seen here (left) aged 12) visited Walsingham at the end of May
for the first time since he left in 1945. He was in the original party
of orphans which arrived in Walsingham from Fr Bernard Walke's parish
in St Hilary, Cornwall, in 1939. This was the nucleus of what we have
always known as our St Hilary's.
Six weeks earlier his daughters had written to say that they wanted to
bring him to revisit his old haunts, as an 81st birthday treat. Neither
they nor the rest of the family knew anything about Walsingham, nor the
story behind St Hilary's.
Pages
telling that story, and Dick's, with photographs and his reminiscences,
will link from this page soon after the next uploading on 12 July.
They spent two very packed and at times emotional days in Walsingham
- visiting old haunts, with Dick giving us all a fascinating non-stop
running commentary throughout. He met Fr Philip and many others within
the Shrine and gave out to us at least as much as we gave him.
 |
at the kitchen window of Fr Patten's Vicarage. The children lived with Fr Patten for the first few years of their stay. The house is currently being converted into houses and apartments, and needless to say the kitchen did not look like this in the 1940s.
this photograph of the children
from St Hilary was printed in
Our Lady's Mirror:
Miss Treby, the matron,
(second from right in the back row)
came from Corwall with them
and stayed as matron for several years
(above) Dick and his granddaughter
with Father Philip.
Dick explaining to the Senior Sacristan
how things were done in the 40s.