Star letter: A wartime story of a more simple life...

Correspondent • Published 12 Feb 2010 13:14 0 Comments

I would like to share this true wartime story with readers, it took place in my childhood in the 1940s.

It was at the beginning of World War II. I was the eldest of four sisters and we lived in a smart semi in Surrey. Dad arranged and helped to build an Anderson Shelter which looked like an iron dining table but it was much more comfortable to dive under than going to the outside bomb shelter when the Buzz Bombs went off.

I was about 14 and every weekend we would be visited by Auntie Hilda who spent a wonderful two days with us. She was trained as a children's nanny and worked with three delightful children, John, Nina and Linda.

The children's mother was called Toni, an attractive Jew. Her family owned a smart hotel on Lake Como, Italy. Toni escaped from the Nazis, fleeing to England in a small fishing boat. She had a wonderful collection of precious gems and jewellery which she had managed to secrete in her clothes and luggage.

After settling in England, Toni sold her jewellery to put a deposit on a small house and had a successful career working in Bentalls department store in Kingston, where I got my first Saturday job as Father Christmas's fairy - which lead to me having a wonderful career as a display-dresser in a large retail store.

Auntie Hilda, Toni and the family went back to Lake Como and Auntie Hilda used to visit us for her holidays, coming home with the most beautiful hand-made pure silk dresses which made us very envious indeed!

Gloria Torpey

Mayfield Drive, Caversham

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