A Home for the Children of War: Ken's Story

The Salvation Army has cared for its community at Strawberry Field for 90 years. From 1936 to 2005, Strawberry Field provided a safe and spiritual home for vulnerable children whose families could no longer care for them.

One of those children was Ken Cothliff, now 81. Ken visited Strawberry Field in February, where he told us the story of how he came to live there.

In Ken's own words

I was born in Highfield Maternity Hospital in Wallasey on 12th August 1944. My mother, Emma Murray, was widowed during the war when her husband, a merchant seaman in action with the Royal Navy, was on an armed trawler torpedoed off the south coast of England in 1942.

Emma subsequently took a job working at the Halifax bomber plant at Speke, working on the nose sections. There she met a young Canadian flight engineer, Bill, from Peterborough, Ontario. Their relationship flourished, and they had a holiday together in Southport in December 1943.

Bill had returned to aircrew duties and was in a crew active on Halifax bombers with 425 "Alouette" Squadron at Tholthorpe, north of York. He was killed when his aircraft, KW-U, was shot down over France, north of Paris, on 5th August 1944. All the crew were killed except the pilot and a gunner; it was the only aircraft to go down over the target on the raid that day. Bill's body was recovered by Resistance fighters and reburied near where he fell. Eventually he was laid to rest in the Allied Canadian Cemetery at Dieppe.

I was born so soon after Bill's death that it took a while for Emma to find out. She was comforted by a close friend of her late husband, Arthur Pye, and they struck up a close relationship. Emma was going to move in with him but could not take me, so I was put up for adoption through the Lancashire and Cheshire Child Adoption Council. I was initially moved to a house called "Beechwood" by Calderstones Park, before eventually ending up at Strawberry Field. I believe I moved there late in 1944, though I'm not sure exactly how long I stayed.

I was very lucky to find such wonderful parents. Mum and Dad gave me every opportunity, including a good grammar school education and three years at Liverpool College of Art. (I always refer to Malcolm and Hilda as Mum and Dad, and to Emma and Bill as Mother and Father.)

I've always known I was adopted — a chosen one! Since the change in adoption laws in 1977, I have met my Canadian family, while also retaining close links with my adoptive family. I moved to Yorkshire in 1989, and now I'm retired and living with my wife, Julie, in the Leeds area.