Update (5/31/05)

Update (1/18/05) IC Liverpool reports the staff at Strawberry Field have undertaken a campaign to keep the facility open. About 30 workers at the home have already met with Garston Labour MP Maria Eagle to argue their case. A petition signed by over 1,000 locals is also circulating. More than 1,000 people have also pledged their support by signing petitions over the weekend. (1/13/05) The Liverpool orphanage that inspired the John Lennon composition "Strawberry Fields Forever" is closing, reports the Scotsman. The Salvation Army, which runs the building, announced the closure Wednesday. The announcement is a two-year advance notice. No official closure date has been announced, reported the Scotsman, though the Liverpool Daily Post/IC Liverpool reports it will close in March. The staff will meet with representatives from the Liverpool City Council later this week. They said to be concerned about what will happen to the 27 children who stay at the home on the weekends in the program's shared-care service.

The building, which now only houses three orphans, is being closed because of the preference today to put orphans in foster homes rather than in orphanages. The staff, which numbers around 30, will be re-located, if possible.

Strawberry Field, which was often visited by a young John Lennon during his boyhood days in Liverpool, was the inspiration for the 1967 song "Strawberry Fields Forever." Strawberry Field was only a five-minute walk from Mendips, his home, reported the UK Independent. No decision has been made on whether the building will be taken down.

Both John Lennon and Yoko Ono were financial boosters of Strawberry Field. Lennon left money to the orphanage in his will. Yoko Ono later herself contributed money to help keep it going.

(Comment: The one word we found often in the emails that came in about this subject was "sad." In a way it's not, though. Placing orphans in foster homes is a better solution than orphanages. Hopefully, though, the Liverpool fathers will find a way to keep the building around and make Strawberry Field if not forever, but more lasting.)