MW: From SPW's old diary; Maurice and Lalla once lived at; 212 Cromwell Road, Peterborough, Northants. After Maurice had died, Lalla moved to; near Meadow View, Hightae, Dumfriesshire DG11 1JT
From a newspaper cutting....
It was February, 1909, that the park received its famous statue "The sculpted figure of a girl" was offered to the Borough Parks Committee. The statue. known as "the girl with the stolen rose" was sculpted by Herbert Lee to depict his daughter Lalla. The family lived on Pevenl Road, Chesterfield, which was then known as Dark Lane.
Herbert Lee eventually presented the statue to the Park in order to avoid offending two of his friends, both of whom wanted to obtain it from him. Situated near the cricket ground, it remains a source of interest to the Park`s visitors. Sadly Lalla herself was killed in an accident many years later, while visiting her brother in Chesterfield Hospital.
[Dianna Bell](2007) The statue now stands in the refurbished greenhouse where Prince Edward unveiled the statue in its new home. [Dianna Bell]
Alice`s parents, Herbert and Julie Elizabeth Lee. Taken about 1900
Lalla and her brothers Laurie and Frank
Alice Weller 1944
Mum and Dad fled Peterborough together, staying first in a Monastery. Later Mum found other accommodation, none of us knowing where they were. At last letters with their address; Hightae, near Dumfries (folk remember Lockerbie because a plane crashed on the motorway there). Hightae was a delightful, proper village, with a local border collie habitually sleeping in the centre of the 'main road'. When we stayed there for a month or three we had glorious weather! Duncan used to, in absolute safety, ride his pedal car all about that same 'main road'. He and Tania attended the village school. Duncan learned more there in that short time than his elder siblings had learned in twice the time in Peterborough schools!
In 1975, Lala had been catching up with her brothers and sisters in Chesterfield. Her final visit was to Uncle Frank who was in Walton Hospital, Chesterfield as and she was hurrying to get into town and buy him some fruit she boarded the wrong bus. "Across the road", advised the driver. Mum hurried in front of the bus, straight into the path of an oncoming car. The driver had no chance to miss her. Mum lay in a coma for what seemed like months. Barbara and Eric collected me on their way up to Chesterfield to visit Mum. Next I knew was a phone call via a neighbour; the life support was turned off. It still hurts, brings tears.