Joan steps back in time

STOCKSBRIDGE resident Joan Doyle, 97, recently made a visit back to her birth place in Hessle with wonderful results thanks to volunteers working on a local community project.

Joan is currently recording her life story with community volunteer Samantha Devine, on the lottery funded TIME project.

Joan also has a relative in Hull that she had never met face to face. Their lives diverged years ago but had been brought back together through family history research.

It soon became clear that a visit to Hessle and Hull would be a wonderful thing to do.

Joan met long-lost relative Angela for the first time whilst having afternoon high tea at the Royal Hotel in Hull. Over coffee and scones, they were able to swap stories and catch up.

Joan then made the short trip onto Hessle to try and find the house that she had grown up in. The area has changed beyond recognition since Joan lived there, with what were open fields and a few scattered buildings now being a thriving Hull suburb.

Eventually they found their way down a tiny lane to the driveway of North Lodge, the house where Joan spent her happy childhood some 80 years ago.

On talking to a neighbour they discovered the house had recently been sold and was currently empty. As Joan stepped out of the car and walked down the drive she was aghast, the house had barely changed and was just as beautiful.

Joan stepped into spot where she had held her wedding party during the second world war in 1941. Joan’s new husband was on leave from the Navy at the time and their first child was born in this house.

A happy Joan told Look Local: “It was so wonderful, I never expected to see it like that. I expected it to have changed. It was so very special to me.

“Meeting Angela too has been a very special moment and I am so grateful to the two volunteers who helped it all to happen.”

Life Story worker Samantha said: “It is easy to go that extra mile for amazing people like Joan. I think we have proved too that sometimes having that little bit of ‘let’s do this’ can bring surprising results.”

Both volunteers carry out work for Stocksbridge Community Care Group which organises social drop ins, life story work, friendly visitor scheme, memory cafes and musical memory events in the area. More information can be obtained by contacting them on 0114 2830141.