From: Colin affleck [mailto:affleckgp@hotmail.com]
Sent: 22 July 2011 23:13
Subject: Home Farm
Hello
Just found the site. Hope it's still active. I have been to Chester where my mum, Beryl Dodd, originated, many times but I have never made it (yet) to Mollington. However, that error will be rectified on my next visit later this year. Here's why. In about August of 1940, my mum, four other girls and one boy were detailed off to agricultural 'war' work on a farm. The farm chosen for them was what Beryl and her friends confusingly referred to as "Kettlewells Farm" which was "near Mollington" though I could never locate it. A find of some old papers now suggests that Kettlewells Farm was in fact "Home Farm", located in the heart of the village. Presumably Kettlewell was an owner at the time. (Does anyone know that name?) Anyway, while my mum and her chums were working at the farm, they were joined by a curly headed boy (see attached photos) from the training ship Conway, then located in Liverpool. He was a Canadian, sent over from Canada by his parents to get a proper British schooling. His name was Hugh Affleck and he and Beryl hit it right off. Hit it off so well in fact that he wrote letters to her in Chester, courted her for the next three and a half years, and married her in December of 1944, while on leave from the Royal Navy where he was a navigating officer.
Anybody who knows any other parts of the story about Home Farm, I'd really appreciate an e mail. All the best.
Colin Affleck
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
affleckgp@hotmail.com
