Our Katie. A Family History

Welcome to this collection of fascinating memories from a lovely lady in the Rossendale Valley who always saw the best in everyone, never saying a bad word about anybody. The most important thing in Katie's life was her family. Born on 18th January 1909 she lived through a lifetime full of changes including two world wars and the sad demise of the Lancashire cotton industry and slipper works, at a time when the Rossendale Valley boasted of hundreds of cotton mills and dozens of shoe factories. Katie had such a brilliant memory and was able to vividly recall the Zeppelin bomb being dropped near Rawtenstall in 1916 during the First World War, dancing the Charleston at the Astoria ballroom along with day trips to the Isle of Man from Waterfoot. She well remembered life during the Second World War with the bombs straying from Manchester and then after the war the rationing and bringing up a family of three. She continued to enthral with her stories from a bygone age right up to her death in 2012.