After lots of phone calls and emails (it appears to be a Bletchley Park generation thing that the nonagenarians are tech savvy!), we finally managed to meet Beryl Howe, Gran's wartime friend. She now lives in London (Ontario!) in the swankiest retirement place I've ever seen. We were entertained by a pianist in the lobby whilst also admiring the decorative fountains and hotel-like surroundings, before being met by Beryl, who has the most amazing electric wheelchair with incredibly smart steering.
We had a lovely few hours with Beryl in her apartment, learning a bit more about her Canadian adventure. After marrying her wartime airforce sweetheart, she came over to Canada on a boat full of war brides, diverting via the Azores because of bad weather. She and her husband have lived in Vancouver and all over Ontario, in the meantime raising five children and skiing every winter (well, Beryl said she would watch but not participate!). Her husband passed away some years ago and she moved to the retirement place in London to be nearer to her only daughter, who lives about 15 minutes away.
We talked fondly of Gran, known to Beryl and co as Tig. I hadn't realised that the name came from Winnie the Pooh - Gran apparently always wanted to be Tigger as a child, and the moniker stuck. Beryl has also recorded her war story for the B.P. archives as Gran did and has been on Canadian TV talking about her experiences. She recalled that when they (Beryl, Gran, Marian and Connie) moved to Bedford, a cooking rota was suggested with each doing food for a week at a time. After volunteering to go first, Beryl ended up doing all of the cooking all of the time! Chimes with my memories of Gran and her fondness of the microwave...
In turn, we told Beryl a bit about the next generations and compared notes on grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is in incredible form, more so mentally than physically after suffering a stroke some years ago, but sharp as anything. I wasn't too surprised - BP must have had some inkling of the smart young women they were picking.
We decided to make a weekend of being in south-west Ontario for the first time and after seeing Beryl went to a riverside park in London on her recommendation. The river is called the Thames! In the evening we had an amazing (and huge) Greek meal before seeing a Brothers Grimm spectacular performed by the local young people's theatre group. On Sunday, we went out in the countryside to learn about how maple syrup is collected and sampled some of Ontario's finest on pancakes! We then drove down to Lake Erie as it is my ambition for the kids to swim in (or in this case, just touch the freezing cold water!) all of the Great Lakes whilst we're in North America. Photos below...
We had a lovely few hours with Beryl in her apartment, learning a bit more about her Canadian adventure. After marrying her wartime airforce sweetheart, she came over to Canada on a boat full of war brides, diverting via the Azores because of bad weather. She and her husband have lived in Vancouver and all over Ontario, in the meantime raising five children and skiing every winter (well, Beryl said she would watch but not participate!). Her husband passed away some years ago and she moved to the retirement place in London to be nearer to her only daughter, who lives about 15 minutes away.
We talked fondly of Gran, known to Beryl and co as Tig. I hadn't realised that the name came from Winnie the Pooh - Gran apparently always wanted to be Tigger as a child, and the moniker stuck. Beryl has also recorded her war story for the B.P. archives as Gran did and has been on Canadian TV talking about her experiences. She recalled that when they (Beryl, Gran, Marian and Connie) moved to Bedford, a cooking rota was suggested with each doing food for a week at a time. After volunteering to go first, Beryl ended up doing all of the cooking all of the time! Chimes with my memories of Gran and her fondness of the microwave...
In turn, we told Beryl a bit about the next generations and compared notes on grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is in incredible form, more so mentally than physically after suffering a stroke some years ago, but sharp as anything. I wasn't too surprised - BP must have had some inkling of the smart young women they were picking.
We decided to make a weekend of being in south-west Ontario for the first time and after seeing Beryl went to a riverside park in London on her recommendation. The river is called the Thames! In the evening we had an amazing (and huge) Greek meal before seeing a Brothers Grimm spectacular performed by the local young people's theatre group. On Sunday, we went out in the countryside to learn about how maple syrup is collected and sampled some of Ontario's finest on pancakes! We then drove down to Lake Erie as it is my ambition for the kids to swim in (or in this case, just touch the freezing cold water!) all of the Great Lakes whilst we're in North America. Photos below...
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| Hurray for Gran! And hurray for Beryl! |
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| Photo in Beryl's apartment by Aliya |
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| It's Max! On a rock! By the Thames! |
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| Aliya by the Thames |
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| LOTS of delicious Greek food in London, ON |
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| Giddy up! |
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| Horse ride out to see maple syrup being made |
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| Sampling the maple syrup |
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| Extreme close up! |
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| The essence of Max |
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| Family selfie at Port Dover |
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| Port Dover, Lake Erie. Squint hard enough and you might see the US side. |
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