Antiques Roadshow Treasure Hunt - Who was Catherine?

[AngelFish]

The episode of Antiques Roadshow is repeated on TV today. I wonder if they will give an update?

EDIT: No they didn't.

[scandude]

All very interesting.

Watched the roadshow today, its obvious that the lady that was on the show didn't come from the Black Country when she found the 'treasure' when she was 12 year old in 1980.

The '39 register shows only 2 Bullsmoor Lanes, and 1 with the address 64 (unless there are some bullsmoor lanes on the Known missing places from Register e.g derbyshire and Kent etc), its likely the one in Enfield is the correct place as this has a garage as mentioned in the clues and Google maps shows this 'likely garage' as shown in the image I posted.

I don't think this was a scam/hoax or whatever and I think this actual treasure hunt took place on the 15th April 1940, but even with the info that were in the clues I think it will hard to find 'Catherine' as we haven't got access to all the relevant records, ideally we'd need rent/rate books for the house on April 1940 to find any Shorts living there as certainly on 29th September 1939 when the register took place no Shorts lived there. It seem improbable that by the 15th April 1940 (6 months after the registration) that the Fells had all moved out and the Shorts moved in but not impossible.

Let's all try and put this to rest (unless someone else has done this already) and get all the relevant facts together:-

15th April 1940 the date the clues were written
Catherine Short the name of the person writing the clues
1928 The Approx date of birth as mentioned by Catherine as she was 12 in 1940
64 Bullsmoor Lane the address in the clues
She had a Mother, Father, and 1 Older Brother (obviously all alive)
Her Mum had a sister, who was in a relationship with a man (may not be married)
She may have moved to the seaside between 16th April 1940 and 31st Dec 1940 (Cath says soon)


Does anyone else have any factual or logical information gained from the clues?

[sleepybarb]

Watched the repeat last night,a thought occurs to me that maybe she was unwell and was evacuated. It was an area at risk
Barb

[scandude]

Probably

What age did they stop evacuating 'kids' 12?, 14?, 16?, also when did evacuations take place as ww2 started in 1939, did they start then or much later into the war?

According to http://bombsight.org/explore/greater-london/enfield/ there were 571 bombs dropped from 7th October 1940 - 6th June 1941 in enfield, so I have to assume no bombs were dropped prior or that the data for 15th April 1940 isn't available.

Thanks

[groom]

What age did they stop evacuating 'kids' 12?, 14?, 16?, also when did evacuations take place as ww2 started in 1939, did they start then or much later into the war?

Evacuation started the 31st August 1939, when 1.5 Million children, pregnant women and other vulnerable people such as the disabled, evacuated to safer countryside locations in just two days. As nothing happened for some time - The Phoney War, a lot returned to the cities. They were evacuated again when heavy bombing raids started in the autumn of 1940 - The Blitz - and then again later, in 1944, when Germany attacked Britain with V1 Flying Bombs and V2 rockets.

It was children of school age, which then was ages 5 -14.

[scandude]

So it's possible she was back in the house on the 15th April until the autumn of 1940, it's unlikely that the brother was evacuated then as he looked older than his sister in the picture. So if we look for the Shorts we may find the brother being there and then disappearing, maybe to goto war?

Are the electoral rolls available up to 1940 for Enfield? it wont show Catherine, bit it may show Mr and Mrs Short and maybe her brother, so we can get the names of the family as they were not mentioned in the clues.

[Viktoria]

Groom, my sister was six in 1940, and I was three.
She was at school,I was not.
I wonder why she was not evacuated with school in 1939 when she would be
5, her Birthday in April of that  year.
Mine in May when in 1940 I would be 3.
After the Manchester blitz of December 1940 we were both taken by our parents to my father’s family in Shropshire.
Could parents refuse to let their children go.?
My M in L brought her boys back as she was not at all happy with the conditions,the woman who fostered them was contemplating going back to work and M in L did not want them to be “ Latchkey children”, and other things as well,not washed in front of the fire ,head to toe for going to bed etc .Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.
Viktoria.

..

[stanmapstone]

Evacuation was voluntary.

Stan

[AngelFish]

Groom, my sister was six in 1940, and I was three.
She was at school,I was not.
I wonder why she was not evacuated with school in 1939 when she would be
5, her Birthday in April of that  year.
Mine in May when in 1940 I would be 3.
After the Manchester blitz of December 1940 we were both taken by our parents to my father’s family in Shropshire.
Could parents refuse to let their children go.?
My M in L brought her boys back as she was not at all happy with the conditions,the woman who fostered them was contemplating going back to work and M in L did not want them to be “ Latchkey children”, and other things as well,not washed in front of the fire ,head to toe for going to bed etc .Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.
Viktoria.

..

Yes it was voluntary.

My Granny was evacuated from Newcastle with her Mother who was pregnant. My Great Granny didn't like it in the countryside and went back taking Granny with her.