We recently published an appeal from a Mr Phil Cunliff from Vancouver in Canada, appealing for any help in finding more information about the Bury family that hosted Phil and his mother here in Bury during the Second World War. Several residents sent emails which we forwarded to Phil and he has now updated us.
He writes: “The information I received was very useful, particularly as I was able to determine the forenames of the Penfold couple who so kindly hosted my mother and I back in the early ’40s: he was William Stephen, she was Ann Rose, according to the 1911 census data contributed by the recent owner of Pyracantha Cottage, now known as ‘Tumbleweed.
One of your residents provided a link to the online ‘for sale’ listing, describing it as a 905 sq. ft, two-bedroom home, showing a couple of pictures which brought back fond memories of the cottage albeit prior to it being updated. That said, I admit to being stunned by the selling price of £511,000. Who’d have ever guessed!
While I was unable to learn more about the Penfolds themselves (beyond reading that they resided in the cottage for at least 50: years), knowing their names will allow me to continue searching, especially when the 1921 Census data becomes more widely available sometime this year.
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for reaching out to your parish residents and for forwarding the information they so kindly submitted. I am greatly indebted to dear old Bury!”
