Old photo used on front of history leaflet

GREAT grandmother Peggy Isherwood has been revealed as the bathing beauty from 1937 whose photograph was used for a new local history leaflet in Severn Beach.

Mrs Isherwood, now 89, was pictured as a teenager at the popular Blue Lagoon swimming pool.

It is one of many photos in the collection of Pilning and Severn Beach History Group, whose members chose it to grace the front of their heritage trail leaflet called

But they had no idea who the young woman posing at the pool was, so asked the

We ran a story last month, which was seen by Mrs Isherwood’s brother, John Scully, at his Weston-super-Mare nursing home. He contacted his sister in Surrey, who was amazed that people were asking about her.

Mrs Isherwood said: “It’s a scream isn’t it? But do you know, I can’t remember that picture being taken at all.

“I do remember another photograph though of me diving into the pool and I think that picture was used in the

“I love swimming and still go once a week because it’s very good exercise.”

The pictures chosen for the leaflet were among 200 that appeared in a book,

Group member and local councillor Peter Tyzack said: “It’s really lovely that we now know about Mrs Isherwood and hopefully she might be able to help us identify some of the people in the other pictures.”

Mrs Isherwood was born and brought up in Clifton, the daughter of Thomas and Maud Scully, but the family later moved to Severn Beach.

Her father had a city- centre printing company, Scully and Sons, which was bombed during the Bristol Blitz and the then Miss Scully joined the army.

She served as a lance corporal and it was during the Second World War that she met and married James Isherwood, who went on to become accountant to The Beatles.

They moved to Weybridge and had four children – Patrick, Diana, Mark and Annabel – but later divorced. Mrs Isherwood also has 12 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

She said: “We used to go to Severn Beach often. It was a lovely little place. Then we moved into a bungalow in Osborne Road before moving to Weston.”

Daughter Diana Isherwood Stone said: “My mother was clearly a beauty in those days and still is. She is still a character, is very social, attractive and much loved.”

Diana’s daughter, Camilla, has just graduated from Bristol University.