Date:1947 - 2004 (c.)
Description:Janet Abbott lived in Lee Bank for 57 years. In Summer 2004 she took the time to talk about her life to the Digital Ladywood project... "I was born in the North of Italy on a farm in a village. Raised of course as a Catholic. It was hard during the war as we were occupied by the Germans. They were very cruel, I saw some terrible things but that was the war. I remember the Germans leaving our area and soon after the British soldiers coming in. We stood and waved and cheered as they arrived on tanks and lorries. The local bars celebrated and there were parties for the locals and the soldiers. I put my best dress on and went to a party in a local wine cellar. There were many British soldiers there, all very handsome, including my future husband who was the most handsome man there. I got to know him while the British occupied the area for about six months. His regiment moved on and he kept in touch with me. Eventually he sent me the money to come and join him in England. I came over in February 1947 - it was bitterly cold. I got off the boat at Dover with two other Italian girls. All of us had come to marry British soldiers. We had to get a train to London from Dover and we arrived at Victoria Station. I was met by my husband (to be) and his mother. She looked at me and said something to him which I couldn't understand so I asked him what she had said. He said she didn't know why he had gone for me when there were lots of Birmingham girls he could have had. I was angry and told him to tell her it was because he wanted "una signora con codice categoria" (a lady with class). I moved in with him and his parents at their house in Vicarage Road, Kings Heath and we got married at the Register Office on Brooad Street".
The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.
Another view of the trip from the Y Block area to Weston Super Mare. This presumably ...
Looking towards Nash House on Grant Street. To the left are the low rise flats and ...
One of the Y Block developments constructed in the nineteen fifties. The three blocks ...
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Janet Abbott lived in Lee Bank for 57 years. In Summer 2004 she took the time to talk about her life ...
Despite her language handicap - she was learning English still - Janet got a job in the casting section ...
Not long before their move out to Bordesley Green Charles Winn produced a commemorative paper detialing ...
The Bath Row Development was the working name for what became the creation of the Lee Bank estate. Prior ...
The Abbott family subsequently moved into Number 24 Nash House. The full official seal of approval for ...
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Donor ref:(67/8458)
Source: Mr Ron Butler , Mrs Gwen Hatton , Ms Angela Dyer , Mrs May Williams , Mr Arthur Sadler , Mrs Janet Abbotts , Ms Rose Pearson , Mrs Dolly Ray , Mrs Pamela Edwards , Mrs Betty Queen , Mr Ken Smith , Ms Julia Wagstaffe , Woodview Primary School , Ms Carol Woolley , St Thomas's School , E.R. Mason Youth Centre , Mr Bernard Allen , Mrs Gladys Russell , Mrs Pat Jones , Ms Angela Maloney , St Thomas Old Scholars , Mr Ken Bonham
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