MY MEMOIR: A BOUQUET OF MEMORIES, REMINISCENCES OF EIGHTY YEARS

“When our grandchildren started to ask questions about World War II – because they were learning about it in school – I realised that every year there are fewer and fewer people alive who actually lived through the war”, wrote Mary Goodhind in the preface to her memoir, A Bouquet of Memories.

So to mark her 80th birthday, Mary decided it was time that she set about writing it all down: her experiences of being an evacuee, of wartime privations, including rationing and blackouts Mary Goodhind, Theotokos, £6.95 ISBN: 978-0-9574969-0-3

and the enduring friendships she established both during and after the war.

It is candidly written including episodes that recall events in much detail such as the terrifying V-1 raids, otherwise known as the flying bombs.

“As long as you could hear the engine you were safe. It was when the engine cut out that the bomb dropped, sometimes straight away, or sometimes it would glide for miles before falling on its unsuspecting victims.”

The second part of the

book moves away from the war to things Mary did as a young woman: there are accounts of numerous holidays, pilgrimages and horse riding and, as Mary

mischievously admitted, “Even our children might be surprised by what I got up to.”

Sadly, Mary Goodhind is no longer with us, but her honest and engaging account of her experiences as she grew up remains a lasting insight into a vital period in our national history.

Whether a trip down memory lane or an eye-opening new experience, you’ll enjoy this journey back to a different time from the innocent perspective of a young girl who lived through it all.