P ATRICIA Brown was just a toddler when her father, Harold Grocott, was killed in an accident at Sneyd Colliery.

It did not happen during the disaster in 1942, in which 57 men and boys died, but it was devastating for Harold's young widow Joyce.

He and a friend died in 1949 when an underground wagon became uncoupled.

Joyce was left with Patricia, then two years old, and her brother Raymond, aged 10 months.

The tragedy indirectly led to Patricia briefly becoming a resident at Hanchurch Homes, the council-run children's home near Trentham.

About five years after her father was killed, a doctor became concerned about the youngster's weight.

The girl, whose widowed mother had struggled to bring up two children on her own, was considered to be too thin.

"I was always naturally thin, but the doctor decided that I needed to be built up, so I was sent to Hanchurch Homes," says Patricia.

"I was there for three months and I missed my mother and my little brother terribly.

"The regime there was quite strict, but not cruel.

"Staying there was not an unpleasant experience at all, and I made many friendships.

"But I missed my mother and I vividly remember how hard it was being allowed to see her only once every two weeks on a Saturday afternoon."

Staff at Hanchurch Homes were apparently anxious to ensure their charges were well fed.

And that meant they insisted the children finished all their meals.

"All of the children had to sit at the table and we were expected to eat everything that was served to us, no matter how long it took.

"It used to take me a long time to finish my meal and I remember not being allowed to save a chair for my mum's visit until I had finished.

"It used to fill me with anxiety that there would be no chairs left for my mum and she would have to stand during her visit.

"I also worried about daily tablespoons of cod liver oil and malt we were given, because I took so much longer than the others to take the medicine."

But there were pleasures, too, for the schoolgirl who remembers feeling far from her home near High Lane, Burslem.

"I'll never forget walking through the woods on a Sunday, being taken to Sunday School and seeing all the bluebells.

"I have loved a walk in the woods ever since."

Patricia was sent home after three months.

She says: "I'd put quite a lot of weight on, but I lost it all after a few months and was back to being as thin as ever, although much healthier for my stay at Hanchurch."

Patricia is now 63 and lives with her husband, William, at Torville Drive, Biddulph.

A former registered nurse, she spent five years at the Douglas Macmillan Hospice at Blurton before retiring.

She and William have a daughter and two granddaughters.