The Queen of Lawrence Gardens

The following is taken from an old Liverpool Echo newspaper clipping from 26 October 1970.  It has been treasured by the family of the late Jane O'Donnell, hence the folded creases on the image.  Story is by Margaret Farrell and photograph by Eddie Barford.  Mrs O'Donnell is the same Mrs O'Donnell who appears in the photograph by Bernard Fallon titled 'Shawlie.'  Rather than portray Jane O'Donnell just as a represented image, as the family of Mrs O'Donnell suggest that's what Mr Fallon did, the Echo article, they believe, treated Jane O'Donnell with the dignity and respect she deserved. (Original Copyright belongs to Trinity Mirror Newspapers this image ©2020 Pete Ryan)

Little Mrs Jane O'Donnell is known as the Queen of Lawrence Gardens. She is barely five foot tall, has silver white hair neatly tied back in a plaited bun, and greets you wearing her working pinafore and a cosy pair of blue slippers.

“What is it you want girl?” she’ll cautiously inquire before completely opening her front door. She has learnt to be cautious with strangers.

Lawrence Gardens is a dark red brick building, a block of flats erected in the 1930s, which now stands like a fortress in the midst of mud and bricks and boulders. It waits, in splendid isolation from the Scotland Road community for its final death knell and demolition. The people of Lawrence Gardens have no neighbours, just the workmen with their excavators, shovels and drills.

Mrs O’Donnell’s first floor tenement flat looks on to the cream concrete foundations of the new Scotland Road. And from her landing she has a clear view across the highway to Limekiln Lane and Burrough’s Gardens.

At the back of Lawrence Gardens is Cazneau Street. The tenement’s only adjoining roadway is Horatio Street.

MEMORIES

Mrs O'Donnell is 89 and knows the old Scotland road like the back of her hand. The new landscape is unacceptable to her. It represents the product of a mechanical giant that came uninvited into her sacred Scottie Road, ripping it apart and leaving only fond memories of the past.

Her mind is sharp and she is quick to remember; proudly detailing the fine shops that formed the solid framework of the community.

“I’ll list the shops for you girl," she says.
“Starting somewhere around Hornby Street there was Vernon House, a milliners and trimming shop; then Walker's tobacco works, Hughes's the grocers, Delaney’s the sweet shop, Kilburns the florist and after that Wess’s the herb shop.

Here she stops. “We used to go into Wess's on a Sunday afternoon for a jug of sarsaparilla. If anyone had a cold they called in there for a 'compo,' a special mixture made up while you waited.

“On the other side there was Breen's, the tobacconist on the corner of Cazneau Street. And Clarkson's, a great big linen shop – the best shop on the road."
Mrs O'Donnell loved Clarkson's and worked there as a cleaner for many years.
"You'll never get another shop like it. There were five floors in the building and only nice girls worked there. He was a good boss Mr. C. Clarkson, the best man I ever worked for in my life."

Mrs O'Donnell, who lived for most of her married life at 51 Rachel Street, had ten children although only five live today – along with her 60 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.

Her husband was a seaman and because he didn't earn a great wage Mrs O'Donnell had to go out to work to supplement the family income.

When days were hard she often had to resort to the pawn shop. “There was a pawn shop at the bottom of Bevington Bush, although I can't recall the name. There was another called Stanley's on Scotland Road and one by Horatio Street."

Although Mrs O'Donnell knew hard times she can still think of her special nights out with the girls.

"My friends and I would go up to the Delly Theatre in Christian Street. You could get in there for a penny.

“We also went across to the old Palace in New Brighton and of course the Liverpool Empire. We'd borrow 6d and go off to see Vesta Tilley on Saturday night.

PLANNERS

How does Mrs O'Donnell reconcile such a past with her immediate environment?
She mistrusts the councillors and the planners. “Why don't they start building houses and stop messing about with traffic? " she asks.

"They've done away with everything. God forgive the government of today. They're all right for themselves and to hell with the poor. I've got no time for any of them. It's disgraceful."

Mrs. O'Donnell was brought up in Holy Cross Parish, Great Crosshall Street. She was married there in 1906. Today she is technically a member of St. Anthony's parish but she has to resort to St. Joseph's, Grosvenor Street, because of the difficulty crossing to St. Anthony's.

Mrs O'Donnell sums up her feelings.
“They have made a mess of Scotland Road and they had no right to interfere. Whether they were old or not they were good shops and shopkeepers and good people. Now they’ve all disappeared.”