ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barbara Kelland is a retired teacher. She lives in Dorset with her husband and spends her
spare time water colour painting.
At Barbara's request the publisher has agreed to donate the book's royalties to the RMIG Endowment Trust.

Barbara appreciates how fortunate she was to have survived the war and will always be grateful for the sacrifices made by her mother, in a difficult age before the extension of the Welfare State.

Bravely staying on to work in London during the Blitz, Barbara's mother faced unemployment both at the beginning and end of the war. Yet despite adversity, she carried on quietly like so many other women of her generation, never making a fuss.

Barbara is also eternally indebted to the anonymous generosity of the Masons, who funded the Junior and Senior schools.

This book was written as away
of saying thank you to both her mother and to the members of an organisation, whose good works have frequently gone unnoticed.

Now a wider audience can read
at first hand account of what it was like being brought up in the care of the Freemasons, during a unique period in Britain's history.