On Monday 10th November I was privileged to join Joe and members of his family at a Tea Party in honour of his 90th birthday, hosted by the Lord Mayor of Norwich, Councillor Judith Lubbock.  The Parlour is a beautiful Art Nouveau room with Canadian Maple panelling, her own facilities, a little kitchen and a wonderful view over the Market Place and up to the Castle.

The walls are covered in old paintings of Norwich landmarks.  The Mayor had baked a delicious lemon drizzle cake and some flapjacks, and as ever the tea tasted so much better out of fine porcelain cups.  Joe had a lovely time as patriarch and the conversation was wide reaching.  I am only sorry that my book will not be published while Councillor Lubbock is still Mayor, but with Joe’s long time connections with the City Council, I am trusting that the next Mayor will be as supportive of the project.  It was a lovely afternoon.  Thanks to the Lord Mayor for her hospitality.

For you Twitter fans out there, have just opened new site to share my research and publishing journey with even more potential readers….  Am inexperienced at the Twitter thing so bear with any teething problems please!  And now back to the freezing winter of 1947…..

Today I am looking at Joe’s time in Portsmouth with his wife and new baby.  I found this wonderful photo of Joe as a fresh faced young soldier and thought I would share it with you.  Following Joe’s recent 90th birthday celebrations I have found so many other contacts and photographs – this biography is getting out of hand!  Just today I have sent a collection of photos over to the publisher at Pen and Sword for the cover design despite there still being over a year before publication.  This is certainly proving a learning curve!