Memories of Strawberry Field

Long read: approx. 14 minutes

Earlier this year we were visited by Karen and her daughter Liz. Karen's mother was a resident of Strawberry Field when it was a Salvation Army Children's Home and had fond memories of her time in the house. As a child, Karen would walk past the iconic gates, but it wasn't until much later that she understood what made Strawberry Field so special to her mother and many others around the world.

Following Karen's visit, she shared a document with us by email. With her permission, we have published that document to help her share her mother's story.

During the 1980’s, my Mother Barbara Butcher (nee Adams) gave a talk to her local Salvation Army Ladies Home League, recounting parts of her life growing up in the Salvation Army Children’s Home ‘Strawberry Field’ in Woolton, Liverpool from 1938 to 1945.

I found this talk, typed out on several sheets of paper, when sorting through her personal belongings after she sadly passed away far too soon in 1986 at the age of just 57.

When I discovered that Strawberry Field was to be renovated and opened to the public for the very first time, I decided to re-write her talk out and add a few photos, some of which are of my mother during her time at the Home.

I have done this as an act of love and also to preserve the memories of my wonderful mum and the happy childhood she had as a result of the devoted care of the Salvation Army at Strawberry Field.

"I discovered a book in my local library entitled ‘Strawberry Fields Forever - John Lennon Remembered’. In the book it says “Strawberry Fields was a big house in Liverpool”. Well it was more than a house, it was a home - and not any home but a Salvation Army Home for little girls.

There were 53 children aged from about 2 years old to almost 16 and it was run by 9 Salvation Army Officers and 3 Orderlies. I was one of these children for 7 years.

One Saturday afternoon early in 1938 I remember walking up a lovely gravelly drive with my Mother. It had become necessary for Mother to bring me to Strawberry Field because of various domestic problems, the main one being that we were now a ‘one parent family’ (as it is called nowadays) due to the very premature death of my father.

When we entered the lovely big old house, Mother had to go into ‘the office’ to talk to Matron. I was left sitting on a long, leather couch underneath the very large portrait of an elderly, kindly looking gentleman with very long whiskers. It was a sepia coloured portrait and I imagined it must have been very old. Of course it was a picture of William Booth - the founder of the Salvation Army.

Next to the couch there was a tall wooden rocking horse with a long main of stringy hair. I thought I wouldn’t mind taking a ride on him! (I was 9 years old at the time). Suddenly a little girl came out of one of the many doors in the big hall. “Hello” she said “are you going to live with us?” “Yes” I replied, happy that here was someone I could talk to. 

Eventually the time came for Mother to bid me goodbye. I don’t remember feeling sad, but I am sure she was. It seemed no time at all before I was taken upstairs by a lady in Salvation Army uniform. I hadn’t seen one before, but this was the first day of my new life in a brand new experience. 

The next day was Sunday and after rising early (I can’t remember what time) we all went downstairs after our ablutions. After breakfast we went into the playroom. There were plenty of books and crayons and of course, plenty of friends to play with, which was quite a new experience for me.

When we arose in the morning we each had duties to do. Jobs like making the beds, helping in the dining room, bringing up the dumb waiter from the basement and laying the tables with bread and butter. We used to accept these duties as a fact of life and it gave us all a sense of responsibility, I am sure.

After breakfast, all the schoolchildren would gather outside to walk ‘crocodile’ fashion to school in the village of Woolton, about 2 miles away. At lunchtime, we would walk home again and then back for afternoon lessons and then home again at 4 o’clock. We would be accompanied by an Officer and it isn’t until just now when writing this that I realise how much walking she had to do!

School days were fun, but we didn’t only learn at the village school, we had lots of learning at Home. We were kept very busy. We would have music lessons, practising our scales and learning new songs. We were a lovely choir (even though I say it myself) and we had good harmony.

Another evening would be taken up with physical exercise. We learnt how to swing clubs and could do some pretty nifty exercises with them!  

We also learned how to sew and embroider and held sales of work twice a year, when we would also give keep fit and folk dance exhibitions. There would also be a garden party once a year in the summer.

One year it was decided that we could all have a bit of garden of our own, so we chose partners and each couple of girls could have two sorts of seeds to plant in their own plot about six feet by six feet. I remember my choice was cornflowers and marigolds. They made a funny combination with tall, straggly cornflowers and the short, fat marigolds! but I could never forget their beautiful scent or their brilliant colours.

We used to go to the Liverpool Congress Hall on Sundays, where we often sang one of our new songs. We would travel by tram and used to love going upstairs and watching all the people going by. We travelled for about half an hour and sometimes we had to change trams at Penny Lane, another place about which the Beatles wrote a song. Sometimes we would give displays at the Picton Hall in Liverpool. 

The officers worked very hard and taught us a great deal.  There was the first landing Officer, the second landing Officer, the kitchen Officer, work room Officer (who did all the sewing and mending of the clothes and linen), ground floor Officer, play room Officer and nursery Officer. The Matron and the Home Officer used to see to all our little problems and looked after our pocket money.

Then there was one of the most looked forward to activities ~ The Tuck Shop! This was held every Saturday afternoon until sweet rationing came in during the second world war, then it was once a month and sometimes as an extra treat!

We were told how much money we had in our pocket money envelopes and all entries and withdrawals were kept written on the outside. We could draw money out if we wanted to buy a present for family birthdays or Christmas. In fact Christmas shopping was a lovely day out. We would go on the tram into town with an Officer and spend all our money in Woolworths buying little gifts. We didn’t have a great deal to spend but we enjoyed spending it in order to give a gift to another.             

All the holidays were celebrated with great ceremony, but we knew about Jesus. We learned about Him and He was a part of all these special days. The Officers made sure we had a lovely time.

On Easter Sunday morning we had boiled eggs for breakfast (the only time we had eggs incidentally as our normal breakfast was porridge and a ‘pile’ of bread and butter). On our eggs there would be a different Bible text on each one of them and we all had to read them out loud.

Christmas was very special and we had a lovely time. We would go to the Eventide home down the road on Christmas Eve to sing Carols for the elderly people living there. At Home we would hang up our stockings at the end of the bed. I remember one Christmas Eve I was sleeping in a room that the Officers had partitioned off and I could hear them behind the partition giggling and the sound of rustling paper. It was real magic.

After breakfast on Christmas morning we would receive our presents from our families and on Boxing Day we would receive presents from the Home. These were often lovely dolls dressed in beautiful outfits, knitted I am sure, by some of the members of the Salvation Army Home League ladies. Sometimes we would also receive a lovely hand-made sewing bag. I had one that lasted me until about 1982! It was almost worn to shreds by then so I reluctantly got rid of it.

Commissioner Catherine Booth (Granddaughter of William Booth) was a frequent visitor to the Home. I didn’t realise then what a privilege it was to see her. She used to send for me quite a lot during my last two years at Strawberry Field and we would have long chats together, just her and me. With hindsight, it may have had something to do with the fact that I was sixteen and I didn’t go into service as all the other girls did, but I was given a job at the Liverpool Headquarters of the Salvation Army as a junior clerk, but that is another story…

Suffice to say that no child could have had a happier experience of growing up than I did. Maybe at the time I did rebel inwardly or misbehaved, after all we were all girls growing up together and it was home!"

Thank you to Karen for sharing her mother's story with us. If you have a memory of Strawberry Field, we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch at info@strawberryfieldliverpool.com.