Ormskirk Advertiser

Mum carried us away to avoid deadly blitz bombs

- BY IAN CROLL

IN the aftermath of the 1941 May Blitz a young mum kneeled in a street shelter holding her three week old twin sons.

Her home and belongings were gone and she was surrounded by burning ruins and rubble left by German bombs.

Accompanie­d by her husband, who was in possession of a case full of baby clothes, she set off on the long trek to Maghull, carrying both twins, one in each arm.

Making their way past bombed out buildings and smoking houses, passers-by were said to be in tears as they watched them trudge away.

The couple were Ann and John Dolan, who only three weeks prior welcomed twin boys, Brian and Peter.

It was a bitterswee­t period in their lives. The elation of becoming parents turned to fear due to Germany’s attempt to put a strangleho­ld on Britain’s war defences.

Bootle’s terrible ordeal had only just begun with night after night of German bombs dropping on factories and nearby residentia­l areas.

Terrified at the thought of another barrage of raids, the concerned mum made the decision to head to a friend’s house in Maghull.

Despite having lived in the area their whole lives, with family close by, the Dolans made the decision to get their twin boys to safety.

More than 1,700 died on Merseyside during the raids, including 1,453 in Liverpool and more than 250 in Bootle, the most bombed town in Britain, outside of London.

Entire streets of terrace houses became piles of rubble. Bootle and the surroundin­g areas were devastated.

Anne’s decision to move away at the time gave her sons a chance at life.

Not only did her sons survive, they flourished.

Brian and Peter, who were held in the arms of their loving mother following a night of bombing action, were born April 14, 1941.

Now, 80 years later, they have survived to tell their parents’ story.

On the 80th anniversar­y of the May Blitz, Brian Dolan, now a retired teacher living in Crosby, said his parents went through some “perilous times” due the German’s barrage over Liverpool.

He said: “In that period we were babies, only weeks old and our parents were worried with the bombs falling that we would be killed.

“So they left Bootle, where they lived.

“My dad was home from the Merchant Navy and he was on compassion­ate leave so he carried a case and my mum carried us.

“They were terrified, that’s why they left. My mother was close to her own parents who lived in Kirkdale at the time so it was a hard decision. It’s not like it is today being able to travel freely. Kirkdale and Maghull were miles away from each other.

“My mum had a friend in Maghull and from what she told me the journey was terrible.

“She said streets were filled with hose pipes as they made their way up from the docks to get to Walton, passing buildings that had been bombed. Smoke was pouring out all over the place. You could see why they wanted to get away.”

The daily bombardmen­t saw homes, factories, churches and hospitals left in piles of rubble. Enough devastatio­n and destructio­n to break even the most spirited of souls.

Far from dispirited by their desperate situation, Brian recalls his mum telling him about the sense of community and how caring people were to others.

He said: “The people around in the community were all nice people who felt sorry for her. She remembers them being kind people and sad when they left.”

On their journey to Maghull, Ann and John received a helping hand from a passer-by in a car.

Brian said: “They got up to Stanley Road past Walton, crossing all these bombed and smoking buildings and by pure chance, a sea captain from the Merchant Navy picked them up and drove them to Maghull. That was the type of kindness from people.”

Following their stint in Maghull lodging with a close friend, John returned to duty in the Merchant Navy, while Ann and her two boys were evacuated to Rainhill.

Brian recalls a moment the family were forced into a shelter due to an impending aerial assault.

He said: “A siren would go off on the radio and that was the signal to get out of the houses into the shelters, I don’t know if that’s a false memory or not but it’s something that they would’ve told us about.”

The Dolans survived to tell the tale and Brian and Peter went on to live full lives in the world of education and engineerin­g, respective­ly.

“They have married and had families of their own including children and grandchild­ren. Eighty long years have passed since the beginning of the 1941 May Blitz on Merseyside and Brian and Peter have their parents to thank for taking that long journey to Maghull to get them out of danger.

Brian added: “We’ve just celebrated our 80th birthday and we’ve been very fortunate to live because our parents like many thousands of Liverpudli­ans lived through that dangerous time in the second world war so we were fortunate to have come through that.

“We are grateful to survive. We have lived a good life, we have both been successful and it is all down to our parents who made a choice to get us all out of harm’s way.”

 ?? Ian Croll ?? Baby twins Brian (L) and Peter (R) Dolan who defied the odds to escape and survive 1941 May Blitz thanks to their mum (pictured) Mrs Ann Dolan and their dad John Dolan
Ian Croll Baby twins Brian (L) and Peter (R) Dolan who defied the odds to escape and survive 1941 May Blitz thanks to their mum (pictured) Mrs Ann Dolan and their dad John Dolan
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