大象传媒

My father, Harold Croft, enlisted in the Yorks and Lancs Regiment at the outbreak of WW2. At the time the family were running a small hotel in Blackpool. He was posted to the North African Desert, communications were poor and my mother heard little from him. One day she received a communication saying that he was reported missing. Naturally this caused considerable distress that turned to outright grief when some weeks later another notice arrived stating that he was now 'missing believed killed'
Some considerable time passed and she began to come to terms with her loss. To cheer her up a visit to the Palace Pictures, to see a Gracie Fields film, was organised. My mother never saw the film as the show started with a Newsreel showing troops boarding a hospital ship and there on the screen amongst the walking wounded was my father. She attempted to find his whereabouts but the first contact she had with him was when he walked into the hotel some weeks later. He had numerous shrapnel wounds many of which stayed with him until his early death in 1962, aged 42. After a period of leave he returned to Italy and spent the rest of the war transporting a stage for the entertainment corp and meeting many of the celebrities of the time.
My mother may have missed the Gracie Fields film but in 1978 Blackpool Borough celebrated its centenary and she was invited to a concert at the Opera House. The star of the show was Gracie Fields. In the early hours of the morning following the show the granddaughter my father would never see was born - Her name? Sally!

David F Croft

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