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.

Willliam and Jane O'Donnell

(©2020 Pete Ryan)
William and Jane O'Donnell at their home in Lawrence Gardens in 1970.  This photograph is by Bernard Fallon and was included in an exhibition of the photographer's work at the Conservation Centre in 2008.  It also featured in his book Bernard Fallon's Liverpool: Photographs 1966-1974. The family of the late William and Jane had no idea that such an image existed until the publication of the book.