An elderly woman's hands, holding knitting needles and working on a project. Photo: By Ahmet Ayar on Unsplash.
Pass it on: Chris Rose’s Thought for the Week
‘What were they to do about little Thelma?’
Remembrance Sunday always reminds me of the story told by an elderly relative of mine. Thelma died some years ago, having lived to be nearly 100. She told me of her early life, born in Scunthorpe just after the end of the first world war. Her young father had been called up to fight, and, when he returned from France, he was suffering badly from shell shock. According to Thelma ‘he had lost his nerves’. As a result, he was unable to work and spent much of the time upstairs in bed. The young family were desperately poor, and the only solution was for Thelma’s mother to go out to work. She found a job with a local grocer, but what were they to do about little Thelma, who would need to be looked after? There was no immediate family who could help, and the father was too poorly to look after a lively young toddler.
