READING an article about the Poplars Sheltered Housing Scheme in SAM brought back memories to Timperley resident Jessie Davies.

As a child she visited the old house of that name which once stood in Norman’s Place, Altrincham.

Jessie said: “In the early 1940s when I was eight, my great aunt Jane (Janie Ward) was invited to escape the Liverpool blitz by her friends, three sisters whose family home it was.”

The Griffiths sisters and Aunt Jane, welcomed Jessie and her friend to visit them on the way home from Culcheth Hall School.

“Being single, the sisters had no children and so made a fuss of us, giving us a drink and a biscuit in their large Victorian kitchen.

“They always took us to see the Mulberry Tree outside.”

The four women had three grey cats and when one was having kittens, told Jessie she could keep one, and her mother agreed.

“Carrying my kitten, I called in at Smiths, then opposite the Post Office in Stamford New Road.

“It jumped out of my arms and ran around the shop.

“Eventually, my friend and I caught it and I took it home to Oakleigh Avenue, Timperley.”

Later on Bryn Mallion, 68, a Bowdon resident, lived in Normans Place.

He said: “In the fifties, local children went to sing around the piano every Friday night.

“The eldest, called Miss Griffiths, wore an eye patch and played the organ at St Margaret’s Church; the middle sister was known as Miss Audrey and the youngest, Miss Isobel, was a Quaker who didn’t like children coming.

“I always saw the silk worms on the Mulberry Tree.”

The sheltered housing scheme was built in 1977.