Charles made the application without telling either Mother or Father. He’d seen a documentary on the television and thought it would be interesting to be a host.

The young ladies who boarded at St Winifred’s Grammar School for Girls were expected to chip in with various chores.

The Pensioner’s Palace Club has always existed. However, until the late seventies it had no official home. It met on Monday and Friday afternoons in the Parish Hall.

Last weekend I completed my 2020 reading challenge. Sleeping Murder - Miss Marple’s Last Case, was the final crime fiction novel of the 66 Agatha Christie wrote in a publishing career which spanned six decades. I managed to complete all 66 in around about 11 months. I have to admit I feel a little bereft now.

Arthur thought it was important to be honest with the children. There was no point trying to protect them from life’s harsher realities.

This morning I woke with the distinct feeling that today was going to be the day.

Occasionally there was a certain amount of logic to Great Aunt Andrea answers; a stopped clock, as the saying went, would still tell the time twice a day.

We thought she’d have grown out of it by this stage. It’s the sort of thing little children do. Babies, I mean, and toddlers. They’re inquisitive when they’re young, and always hungry. Babies are forever putting things in their mouths. Marbles. Cigarettes. Leaves. Great, filthy handfuls of soil and sand.

Sticker books were all the rage when I was in upper Primary School. All my friends were collectors. We’d gather in the corner of the playground and arrange our doubles along the wall, negotiating our swaps and trades. Some stickers were harder to come by than others.

Personally, I’ve never managed to make it past the six month mark. Once, I was only able to hold out for a fortnight. That, I can assure you, was a dreadful mistake.

It was the wardrobe that worried Canon Pennyfather, you see he could’ve sworn it had been much closer to the sink yesterday evening.

They argued in the taxi on the way over to the Mitfords. Alison knew Fred was already planning to do it, but when she asked him, please not to put her through it again, he snapped and said he intended to perform a card trick he’d picked up from a television show.

We each got our own bedroom. We drew lots to make the process fair. Gwen got the big room at the front. I got the small single at the back and Mary, who we’d found in the classifieds, ended up with the attic room, which was a decent size, but hopelessly sloped on either side.

Mama came up from the country this morning. Marjorie’s flying in from Madrid tomorrow. The other six bridesmaids are already here. My sister won’t make it ‘til the evening before the wedding. I’ve assured her that I understand.

Deep down in the bowels of the Ministry, the research team are celebrating. After three long years of trials and failures and test-runs and tweaks, they’ve finally managed to deliver the goods.

All contact was forbidden for the first three months. No phone calls. No letters. No visits or play dates. The children needed time to adjust to their new families.