Valerie Peace born 1910
Priory Avenue


Picture from the SWOP website                        Picture from family collection
Reference number HWS : 46605 (road outside)

This is the house where I was born,
'Ravenscroft' its name,
It seems the years have passed it by
It looks so much the same,
My grandpa was the owner
But he lived across the road
And my pa was quite indebted
But he rarely let it show.
My mother, young and pretty,
Had a really lovely voice
And she thought it such a pity
That she had so little choice
For she longed to be a singer
And perform upon the stage
Or a pianist of distinction
Who could earn a decent wage.
My father understood her
For he too, it's true to say,
Yearned to be an actor
Or a conjuror one day.
But dreams do not pay food and rent
A draper’s life was bidden
And so my father went to work
His dreams now sadly hidden.
He died when I was in my teens,
But I so miss him still,
I didn't want to lose him 
But the pain made him so ill.
My mother left the country
Soon after he had died
And went to see her brother
With my sister at her side.
And so I have relations 
Who are many miles away
And my sister's children's children 
Are still there to this day.

Valerie  lived here with her brother John (Jack) and sister Enid until they moved 'through the back garden' to The Dhoon below.  Her father, William Peace, died from cancer. Her mother, Florence, took her sister, Enid, to stay with their Uncle Frank in Rhodesia. Valerie married Ian Barton Wright.
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