Formby Memories

 

 

Mrs. Jennifer Harrison, a member of the Formby family, has sent us greetings and the following contribution to our magazine which we are certain will be of great interest to our readers. The article was printed over two months, May and June 2005

Several years ago I became aware that in 2005 St. Luke's church would be 150 year old, and that there was a project to make 150 kneelers for the church. This, I thought, was something I could help with, since it was my Family who had built the church. I decided that six kneelers would fit into our pew 2nd from front on left hand side, beside the family memorials and that they should commemorate those Formbys who had been most involved in the building of the church and those who came later.

  1. Dr Richard Formby M D 1790 1865, who gave the land. His biography by Prof Cecil Gray has recently been published.
  2. Mary Formby 1791 1859 who gave the money for St Luke's to be built.
  3. Caroline Formby 1826 1914 who paid for the fitting out of the chancel and choir.
  4. In memory of Richard Formby MA 1815 - 1897
  5. In memory of my grandfather Jonathan Formby MA 1854 1944.
  6. In memory of my father Richard Formby RM 1908 -1940.

When Richard Formby (1760 1832) died and his grandson Lonsdale Formby went to live in Formby Hall, Dr Richard Formby with his wife Mary Formby and his 2 unmarried sisters Ann and Mary went to live at Shorrocks Hill, Formby Point. They must have found the long walk through the Village to attend St. Peter's Church as tiresome as I did years later. It had been quite a trek from Formby Hall. When one takes into consideration the state of any roads for which my family were responsible, and particularly on a wet day, it must have made the idea of building a church near their new home most attractive. There was the remains of the churchyard from the days when a church had served the village of Raven Meols - now where the sandbanks are when the tide is out - so the ground was already consecrated and the new church was placed beyond the encroaching sandhills.

In the days before the war Firwood, the house of my Grandfather, Jonathan Formby, is the only home I remember; now hardly anything is left but a few bricks and it is slowly being overtaken by the woods. On my visit in May last year I felt most at home negotiating the pot holes past Shorrocks Hill, nice to know some things do not change !
My father was in the Royal Marines and we led a peripatetic service life following my father from posting to posting. Occasionally the posting was overseas ; then my mother would leave us with our grandparents and go off to join him. So Formby became 'Home' and I and my brother Richard and sister Charlotte were often joined by our three cousins Bill and James Tulloch and Jane McNabb. I often wonder how my Grandmother coped. Not only did she have six small children but their nursemaids too, who did not always get on and from time to time their parents, not to mention their dogs.

My grandparents were cousins. Jonathan had married Alma Fenton, but sadly she died. However, the family arranged for his cousin Kitty to go and house keep for him, and this turned into marriage. They had four children Mary, Katherine, Richard [my father] and Roger. Roger died just before the war as the result of several car crashes that did not do his health any good. Mary married Derek Tulloch who was in the Royal Artillary. He had an exciting war as PA to General Orde Wingate in Burma and went on to be C.in.C Singapore. Katherine 'Kitty' married Seaforth Highlander Colin MacNabb, who was killed in 1943 and his memorial is on the top right hand windowsill in St. Luke's. My father married Pam Henderson. He was on HMS Gloucester when it was sunk off Crete in 1940. His memorial is on the wall next to Uncle Colin's. We added a memorial to my Mother in 1991, as her ashes had been spread in her garden. I had always promised her that she would not go into a Formby Box, but I liked to think of my parents together again. At the small dedication service, there was a hail storm that almost drowned out the vicar; afterwards my brother said "Did you hear Mum banging on the roof?"

After the war both my grand parents had died and Firwood was let ; we went to live in Trap Hill this is now a housing estate, and I once visited it and could not find my way out! Fortunately I met a cyclist who said "Follow me."

The other family house, that is also now a housing estate, was Kirklake Bank; this was full of cousins, somewhat older than us. A whole group were born in 1915, 16,17,18 and were known as 'Aunt Ada's war work' ! Anne, the eldest, was very musical and was a student at the R.S.M. in London. Bob was my father's favourite cousin; he married Pam Rollo and farmed in Norfolk. Philip was not very strong and lived at home. The other girls were Carol, Cynthia Norah, who is the only one still alive (she married Holmwood School's head master's son Ted Royds and eventually settled in Ireland) and Una, who. lived with Carol in Bury St Edmonds for many years. Of the seven only two married. Carol and Una joined the WRENs and I thought they looked so smart and good looking in their uniforms, but they all came back to Formby.

There is a photograph taken in about 1900 that shows the two houses of Shorrocks Hill and Kirklake Bank either side of St. Luke's Church. There is not a tree in sight. Soon afterwards thousands of pine trees were planted. There were several reasons for this,

  1. It was an attempt to stabilize the sand dunes and keep them from encroaching further in land.
  2. Under planted with beech, the combination of the leaves and pine needles made excellent mulch for the Asparagus beds, the only things that could be grown commercially in the sandy soil.
  3. The pine trees were intended to be cut down for wood pulp when they were mature. However the war came just as they were ready so the moment passed. They are now over 100 years old, and new trees should be replacing them.

As I grew up, left home, married and had children of my own, I always kept in touch with the Kirklakers. As time passed they died and are buried with all the rest of my family in St Luke's Churchyard. Now on the occasions I visit Formby, I walk through the pinewoods down to the shore picking the wild flowers in season and put them on their graves, as I know they would prefer them to anything bought in a shop. Though the thought of doing so in Darbyshires is tempting. I was pleased to see it is still there. Many hours when I was small, I stood outside and gazed at the highly decorated wedding cakes, that even I noticed deteriorated with the passage of time. The long walk to the village was punctuated by walking to the shops by the level crossing. Once during the war the owner said to my Mother, "Your the 3rd Mrs Formby i've served today". "Well I hope I get the same extras they received!". There was always some extras above the basic rations.

We were living at Firwood all during the bombing of Liverpool. A false Dockland had been built at Altcar which lit up during an air raid in the hope that the bombers would unload over that; they did and lots fell on Formby. Miraculously none fell on Firwood, but Shorrocks Hill got a direct hit and so did our school. I soon discovered lessons were much harder when taken by my Mother and Aunts, who discovered how behind the others I was.

The army took over the whole area from the end of our back road to the shore. Afternoon walks tended then to go past the small township of wooden huts that sprang up, and we never past the cook house without receiving a slice of bread and Jam. We once had great fun see sawing on two I unexploded' bombs one laid across the other. until an officer came up and roared at the guards and the bombs were moved elsewhere. After the war the army had left the red brick houses by the sea in such bad shape that they were pulled down. They had been built by accompany who planned a railway to go along the whole sandhills to Southport They built several houses until they ran out of money. Grandfather made an offer for them all which is how they became part of the Formby land holdings.

For a period my Mother lived in one when she was running the caravan site, which she was more or less forced into creating, as people tended to come down in all sorts of vehicles and cause damage to the vulnerable sand dunes. Giving them somewhere to go was the answer. I do feel somewhat resentful at having to pay Sefton Council to park my car where I once hunted natterjack toads for free. It came as a great surprise to learn they were an endangered species.

The other endangered species are the squirrels. Whenever the TV film of The Formby Red Squirrels is shown I am alerted by phone calls from friends and I always watch as it brings back such fond memories of these bright little creatures.

Once married I moved to Wiltshire and now live in Northamptonshire, but Formby will always be Home. I'd like to think that one day my ashes may join all my relations in St. Luke's Church Yard and perhaps a natterjack toad might spend the winter curled up beside me!

Jennifer Harrison [nee Formby] March 2005