Throughout her life my Mother has lived in nine different houses and flats. She was born in a terraced, rented house in Squires Street, Edge Hill, Liverpool and with other relatives living on the same street there was a great sense of community. Aged seven she was evacuated during the 2nd World War to a family in Shrewsbury and stayed at Number Seven, Severn Street for much of the war.
She married Charles, a refrigeration engineer, in 1954 and moved into a terraced house in Halisbury Road, Kensington, Liverpool. The house was rented, but because Charles’ parents were both sitting tenants, he was able to buy the house, at a cost of £1,100 (borrowing £50 for the deposit off a friend) after the death of both his Mother and Father. This was the house I was born in and as was the expectation Rita gave up her job as a telephonist to become a “housewife”.
Charles was promoted within the firm to a branch in Colwyn Bay and the family moved to a semi-detached house in Merrivale Road, Penrhyn Bay, North Wales in 1959 staying until 1964. Rita gave birth to her daughter Melanie in 1962.
Charles was promoted again to the branch of the firm in Bolton and whilst a house was being built in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, we all moved into a flat on Market Street, Hyde, Greater Manchester, above a Granada Television shop.
In 1965 we moved to the newly built detached house on Carr Bank Drive, Ramsbottom and stayed there until 1970. Charles was promoted again to become Service Director and then Managing Director of the same company he had worked at for twenty-six years since starting as a fourteen-year-old apprentice, and moved to the head offices in Marsh Lane, Bootle. Rita felt able, now her children were older, to start a job as a test shopper and part her role was to identify shoplifters.
We rented a house on Oakwood Drive, Ainsdale, while Charles realised his ambition to self-build a house on Tudor Road, Ainsdale.
We moved into this large, detached house at 32 Tudor Road in 1971. Total cost of the house build, including the plot of land, was £11,000. Rita started work as an auxiliary nurse in Southport Hospital and then in Queens Court Hospice.
Charles retired early, but died on Good Friday, 2001. Rita sold the house in 2002 and bought the detached house for £160,000 in Moor Coppice, Crosby. She lived there until her death on 27th May 2025
I made portraits of my Mother outside of each of the houses that she lived in apart from the house on Squires Street which had been demolished: I photographed her as close as possible to the location.
A short video of my mothers reminiscences was also made to accompany the photographs.