Dick Crowe:
return to Walsingham
Dick Crowe (seen here aged 12) visited Walsingham
at the end of May 2008 for the first time since he left
in 1945. He was in the original party of children
who arrived in Walsingham from Fr Bernard
Walke's parish in St Hilary, Cornwall, in 1939.
This was the nucleus of what we have always
known as our St Hilary's.
Six weeks earlier his daughters had written to
say that they wanted to bring him to revisit his
old haunts, as an 81st birthday treat. Neither
they nor the rest of the family knew anything about
Walsingham, nor the story behind St Hilary's.
Pages telling that story, and Dick's, with photographs and
his reminiscences, link from this page. Click here for his
reminiscences and here for the story of St Hilary's.
They spent two very packed
and at times emotional days in
Walsingham - visiting old
haunts, with Dick giving us all
a fascinating non-stop running
commentary throughout. He
met Fr Philip and many others
within the Shrine and gave out
to us at least as much as we
gave him.
Dick explaining to the Senior
Sacristan how things were done
in the 1940s
Above - Dick at the kitchen
window of Fr Patten's Vicarage.
The children lived with Fr Patten
for the first few years of their
stay. The vicarage was at the
time of Dick’s visit being
converted into houses and
apartments, and needless to say
the kitchen did not look like this
in the 1940s.
this photograph of the children
from St Hilary was printed in
Our Lady's Mirror:
Miss Treby, the matron,
(second from right in the back row)
came from Corwall with them
and stayed as matron
for several years
Dick and his granddaughter
Scarlett with Fr Philip in the
Refectory