Fab four’s cracker of a time
Longtime Cairns Post employee Nikki Knight (above, right) has turned back the clock and ventured home to the UK for the first time in 54 years for a reunion with her sisters.
LONGTIME Cairns Post employee Nikki Knight has turned back the clock and ventured home to the United Kingdom for the first time in 54 years for a reunion with her sisters.
The four sisters – two from the UK and two from Australia, ranging in age from 67 to 78 – reunited on the Isle of Man. The four shared an early Christmas complete with crackers and a tree.
Second eldest sister Pam Fee, who lives in the picturesque coastal town of Ramsey, said their first shared Christmas since December 1962 was a big success.
“Turkey and roast beef and my sisters and my family – 14 of us around the table, crackers pulled and such fun and laughter,” she said.
She said the visitors had the full tourist experience, taking a tram to the top of Snaefell Mountain, learning about the island’s history at the House of Manannan and Cregneash, and enjoying the views from The Sound.
“My sisters were most im- pressed with the island, especially Nikki, who had never been here before.
“The weather was good and they didn’t get frostbite.”
Pam described the reunion as an “amazing experience, planned about a year ago, but wondered if it would actually happen”.
She said the sisters had shared “memories of the past, growing up together and how all our lives had panned out”.
“Then making memories for the future to add to the joy and fun. What is most evident is neither time nor distance can change the fact we are sisters,” Pam said.
After spending a final Christmas with her family in 1962, Nikki left the UK in November 1963 for South Africa with a husband and child.
She arrived in Australia nine years later with an additional two children.
While Brisbane-based sister Pat Johnson has been back home four times in the 40 years since she made Australia home, the reunion was Nikki’s first trip back to the motherland in nearly 55 years.
She is the front counter operator at the Cairns Post, where she has worked for 24 years.
The eldest sister, Val Alliez, lives in London.
Nikki’s trip has also taken in Ireland, Wales and London, where the four sisters grew up. — Isle of Man Newspapers
WHAT IS MOST EVIDENT IS NEITHER TIME NOR DISTANCE CAN CHANGE THE FACT WE ARE SISTERS
PAM FEE