South Yorkshire Times, March 19th, 1960
Reunited for 2 years
Family Must Now Leave Temporary “Church” Home
A family of seven, who were re-united for the first time in three years when they were given refuge at Church House, by the Vicar of Denaby, the Rev. Frederick Herrington, have now been told they must leave by the end of this month.
This week Mrs. Hilda O’Connell told the “South Yorkshire Times”: “This is the last straw; my children have been in and out of homes all their lives, its worse than being refugees.”
Her husband, decorator Mr Edward O’Connell (39), said “we have nothing against the Vicar, he has been wonderfully kind to us. He has tried hard to help get us a home in the last few months, and we are sure that he has no alternative but to ask us to leave.”
He added “when we came here two years ago, we brought Terence and Kevin out of a children’s home and Janice from her foster parents.”
Mrs. O’Connell said her husband had tramped all over looking for a home. “It looks as though we shall be split up again. We love our children and we don’t want to lose them again, but it looks as though it will be the only answer.”
Mr. O’Connell said that he had been in touch with his M.P. Mr. Edwin Wainwright and Conisbrough Urban Council, but had been told that as they had only lived in the district for two years, they were not eligible for a house.
The five children are Marion (4), Kevin (8), Janice (9), Terence (13), and Celia (16)
Mrs. Herrington, mother of the bachelor Vicar, told the “South Yorkshire Times”: “when we first heard that the family had nowhere to live, we offered them the curatage as temporary accommodation. We thought that they would be there only a few weeks until they could find other accommodation. We told them as along as a year ago that we wanted them to leave.”