In the evacuees from Manchester, 13-year-old Vera Littlewood has discovered that she has a gift she would have known nothing about had she not been evacuated to Hawkshaw, a little village in country near Bury. On a ramble with her schoolfriends she visited the farm of Mr Lincoln Tootill of Harwood, who is a well-known water diviner. All the girls were given Mr Tootill's forked stick to try. It was then that Vera Littlewood discover that she has the divining power. She has found a spring in a local farmer's field which has been lost for many years. The headmaster of Hawkshaw School has written to Manchester Education Authority with a view to her having tuition in water divining. Photo shows: A farmboy pauses in his work as he watches Vera practising with the Hawthorn stick. 30 December 1939