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I was born on 9th March 1921 ---- Ronald Austin Rainford
The Rainford family originated in Denmark. The name was Ragensfiord but must have been corrupted to what it sounded like prior to reading and writing being common. Settling on land on the northern outskirts of Liverpool, England, after being wrecked at the mouth of the Mersey river near Formby, they held a number of farms between Southport and Crosby. I have traced details of my branch of the family back to 1750. As Catholics further records would have been concealed during the reign of Oliver Cromwell to avoid persecution. One member of the family is inscribed on the Roll of Knights of Richard the Lionheart who he served during the Crusades. He is shown as Sir Geoffrey de Rainford and was granted land at Tewksbury near Gloucester for his loyalty.
My birth certificate shows I was born in Alston Rd. Tuebrook as was my sister Eileen a year later. The photograph shows my parents and we both at that address. In 1925 my sister Sheila was born in Crossgrove Rd, Clubmoor. A new housing estate built by the council . I vaguely remember the distruption of the move but my first real memory is my mother insisting I take Sheila for a walk pushing her pram around the block. That house had a nice front garden but when I took a photo of it in the year 2000 it had been concreted for use by cars. Something we rarely saw in those early days'
Other memories are of my mother always being busy in the house. No electrical appliances those days so washing, cleaning and cooking was a full time job for a housewife. My father was a clerk on the railways and used to work a 12 hour shift. Daytime for a fortnight and then nights for the next fortnight.
Although the 1920's were turbulent years, as I discovered later, as a child life was not concerned with it and although we had none of the many toys, TV and the internet games I can only recall a happy time. No fast food outlets meant a healthy diet and despite my father earning a low wage my mother was an excellent cook so we ate well. Cheap rail travel because of my father's job meant we could afford to go to the beach on summer week ends and school holidays. Most years we also had a holiday in Wales, the Isle of Man or Ireland.
Countries I have lived in
England 
France 
Iceland 
Germany 
New Zealand 
Australia 
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