Mrs. Bleby Kirkly Park Road

A Memory of Lowestoft.

My memory is of very happy days living at 35 Kirkly Park Road which was a children's nursery run by Mr and Mrs. Bleby when I was there from 1952 til 1957. There were around 20 of us children living there. Many of us like me were there because of TB. One of the nurses that looked after us was the lovely nurse Rosemary, who was the daughter of 'Jumbo Fiske', one of the most famous trawler fishermen of all time and who was awarded an OBE. She often took me to see him when he was in dock and took me to meet his boat The Suffolk Venturer.
Auntie Denie, as we all called Mrs. Bleby, carried on looking after unfortunate children, often terminally ill, until long into her 70s. She taught me to drive at age 11 in her 1937 Austin Seven convertible with a crash gearbox so that I could learn properly.
I often went back to see her and Nurse Rosemary right up until the house was sold as an old people's home in the 1970s.