The following true story, which took place in Liverpool, was related to me by relatives of the people involved in the tale.
In 1956 a pretty 21-year-old girl named Connie picked up the handset of a telephone and started to dial a random number. A woman answered, so Connie hung up. She dialled another random number, and a young man said, 'Hello? Blue Star garage.'
There was a very long awkward pause, and Connie went bright red, then she said: 'I'm being kept a prisoner in my own home.'
The young mechanic at the Blue Star garage - situated on Smithdown Road, said: 'Eh?'
Connie rapidly stuttered away, and said her father was keeping her under lock and key, and that she was 21, and that he wouldn't allow her to have any friends at the house. Anyone else would have slammed the phone down, but Ray the 22-year-old mechanic was very quixotic, very romantic, and he said: 'Do you want me to tell the police?'
Connie said, 'No, please don't. Look, could you come and rescue me before my father comes home?'
Within fifteen, Ray had driven from the garage to a certain house on Queen's Drive in his boss's car. He went down the alleyway to the backdoor, and saw the ladder in the yard, just as Connie had mentioned in the telephone conversation. Then he saw Connie's shy, serious face, looking at him from the upstairs window. She looked very pretty to Ray, and a lot younger than 21, but this was because she was petite, about 5ft 3 in height. Ray got over the wall and propped the ladder up, and Connie came down it. Ray explained who he was and Connie did the same. She said she had left a note to her father, telling him why she had left.
Connie said that her father was very domineering, and that after her mother had died, he had become so protective towards her, he had refused to let her socialise. Ray took Connie to Capaldi's café for an ice cream, then took her to his home on Nicander Road, where he lived with his mother and young sister.
Connie's father went to the police and said his daughter had left home, but as she was 21 years of age, and had left voluntarily, they said there was nothing they could do to. He then told the police that his daughter hadn't been well recently, and that he thought she might be seriously ill, but again, the authorities said they were powerless to do anything. A couple of lines, appealing for Connie to get in touch with her father were printed in the Liverpool Echo newspaper.
Ray's mother immediately took a liking to Connie, and thought she was the right sort of girl for Ray. She thought it was romantic how the two had met in the strangest of circumstances. Connie said she'd hatched the peculiar idea of dialling a random phone number that day, in the hope that someone would come and rescue her.
Connie was a talented girl. One day, Ray was moaning about the price of a jacket he wanted, as he was a teddy boy, and later that day, Connie and Ray's mother, Mary, returned from a shop called Yaffi's, which sold various clothing fabrics by the yard at very cheap prices. The two women carried what looked like curtains to Ray. Connie laid the material on the table, then measured Ray's waist, chest, arm-lengths and so on with a tape measure. The girl chalked shapes on the fabric, and cut the shapes out. She used an old sewing machine to expertly stitch the cut-outs together . Black buttons were the finishing touch to an immaculate made to measure 3 quarter length teddy boy jacket - in midnight blue. Connie had obviously learned the tailoring skills from her father.
Ray took Connie out that night, to the Abbey Cinema where a western was being shown called The Searchers. At the start of the film, a cowboy sings the words:


What makes a man to wander?
What makes a man to roam?
What makes a man leave bed and board
And turn his back on home?

Ride away, ride away, ride away



Ray kept singing "Ride away, ride away" after he and Connie left the cinema, and she joked and said to him, "So if you found another girl, you'd ride away and leave me?'
Ray smiled and shook his head. When the couple reached home, Connie was violently sick. She just got to the toilet in time. Ray and his mother thought something had disagreed with the girl's stomach, and Connie insisted she was okay, but over the course of the week, she had a few dizzy spells, but made out she was just feeling under the weather.
One afternoon, Ray showed his mother a diamond engagement ring he'd bought from the jeweller's and said he intended to ask Connie to marry him. Mary, his mother sniffled, and hugged her son. Shortly afterwards, Ray took Connie to a matinee showing of the old film Casablanca at a cinema in Lime Street. The girl had told him how she loved that film as it was so romantic. Halfway through the film, Ray put his arm round Connie and kissed her. He reached in his pocket for the ring, and then nervously opened the box. He turned to Connie. At first he thought she was sleeping. But she wouldn't wake up. It was later discovered that the girl had died from a brain tumour. Ray put the ring on her finger anyway, and said he would always love her and that no one would ever take her place.
About a year later, another girl caught Ray's eye, and he felt a bit guilty, as he remembered the promise he'd made to Connie. However, he attended a meeting at the spiritualist church in Liverpool with his auntie one evening, and the medium said a strange thing. She said: "Is there someone here called Ray?"Two hands were raised. Ray and another, older man, also named Ray. "Someone here called Connie, Ray, and she wants you to be happy."
The elder Ray shrugged and smiled at his wife beside him. But the Ray in the midnight blue teddy boy jacket was amazed. The medium said: "Ray, you must forget about Connie now, she's in the world of spirits. She keeps saying two words."
Ray stood up with tears streaming down his eyes and asked what the words were.
The medium said: "Ride away."



(Tom Slemen)

That's so sad and romantic! Wow so that's really a true story? That's really cool. I never used to believe that mediums could contact spirits but maybe... Well anyway great story Titor.

You know sometimes you hear or read in this case, a story that tugs at your heart strings. This one did mine, thank you for posting it Titor! I'll have to tell this story to my best friend, and my husband. Thank you!!

That's so touching! I was close to tears on that one. Always love a sad story. It was really sweet and romantic. I loved it. Thanks for sharing!

Cya!

That story is so sad, but in a way it does have a happy ending, he's told to move on and be happy.

Blimey yet another liverpool tale, if only I had a map of Liverpool (and wasn't bone idle ) I'd plot out all of these Liverpool tales.

That's beautiful. A story well-written.
I can't believe it's a true-story.

It's so romantic, I love this story. So much love and romance...and sadness...

It's fantastic

~ Semono - K