THE SADDEST PHOTO…

…I know. My mother (on the right) with her younger sister and brother, taken on the day of their mother's funeral. Mum's mother died quite suddenly of influenza, aged 36, when Mum was 10. She remembers that nobody explained to the children what was happening or discussed anything with them, and it wasn't thought suitable that they should go to the funeral. Her uncle Horace, who took the photo and who she remembers as being a really kind and funny uncle (he had been a pilot shot down over the trenches and then gassed in the First World War), looked after them and played with them while the other adults were away. Within six weeks of this, Mum had turned 11, the Second World War had started and she was evacuated with her school from Essex to the Midlands, while her brother and sister went to her grandparents in Westmoreland. Their experiences after that were extraordinary (though probably not unique, given the circumstances), and we've realised that we have to record them while there's still time.

A couple of backblips start here.