I love a good story, I used to sit and listen to my grandad tell stories about his life as a young man, particularly throughout the second world war. I’m still lucky to be able to chat with my 96 years old Auntie, who loves to talk about stories of my dad, her younger brother.

She was telling me the other day about cycling from home in Stretford Manchester to the leafy Cheshire countryside of Mobberley to visit my father, who was then an 8 years old boy. He was living on a farm there, due to being evacuated out of Manchester at the start of the second world war in 1939.  She didn’t know much about the area, only that it was a long way to cycle.

I decided to do a bit of research and found this website which has some interesting information about the history of Mobberley. I emailed them and was surprised to get a quick response from a very kind gentleman who gave me some information about which schools in Manchester the children had come from, the venue they were chosen by the local families of Mobberley at, and which school they attended during their stay.

We took a trip to check the area out and looked at a few of the important landmarks involved in Dad’s stay. Below are a few photos taken from our visit.

This is Victory Hall where the children, including my Dad were brought to and chosen by kind local families, to look after during their stay.

This is the school where Dad was educated while staying in Mobberley. Somewhat different to when dad was there. But great to see the school is still thriving after so many years.

Above is the church that stands across the road from the school.