Ludlow

In the summer of 1971 we moved to Ludlow, a picturesque market town in Shropshire, the heart of England. The job I had taken was ideal, to introduce Geology at 'O' and 'A' level to a school which lay in an area which was the 'home', not only of British geology, but of world geology. It was like putting a small boy into a sweet shop.

Using the money we had received as a gratuity and what we had saved in Rhodesia we were able to buy a small chalet-dormer-bungalow in a new development near the River Teme, which flowed through the town. 1, Temeside Gardens was perfect for us, an easy house to run within walking distance of the school, though the mortgage and the dreadful state of English teachers' pay left us with a tight monthly budget.

At an early point Gill was admitted to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, to have an operation on the ear that had been so badly damaged by the surgeon in Rhodesia. That she was able to  see Mr Walsh-Waring, one of the top surgeons in the field, was through the good offices of my Aunt Noel and Uncle David, she a doctor, he a surgeon in London. The operation was a miracle, restoring a good proportion of hearing to the ear.

We had another brief storm to weather: Elizabeth went down with a bad attack of croup and was sent to a Shrewsbury Hospital to be treated, where she was kept in for several days. It was a miserable experience for her, even though Gill drove up to see her every day.

We quickly settled in to our new life. Lizzie and Gill found friends, mainly through Lizzie's playgroup, and we acquired....

....a cat called Daphne. Ludlow was a pleasant little town with all the amenities one could ask for, including a disproportionately large number of butchers shops and pubs. It would have been so easy to have settled there permanently.