A pilgrimage to salute a brave mother

It was that time of year, the Christmas anniversary of an astonishingly courageous mother in the second world war who late in pregnancy had been repatriated to Salisbury.

The plan was to get her away from the daily bombings in her home city so she could give birth in a place where attacks were not quite so prevalent.

She and my father were moved to a house where another pregnant woman would be giving birth at around the same time.

I believe the plan was for the new mothers to act as midwives, to help each other through the process in the absence of medical professionals.

Medical amateurs

The mothers-to-be were complete medical amateurs, and added to the challenge was England’s unavoidable social standing.

The two were from very different walks of life - my mother a top professional shorthand typist, the other lady from a provincial background.

Hopefully, the government at least gave them some sort of training. Christmas Day passed uneventfully for my heavily pregnant mother, but on Boxing Day the birthing process began....

Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at SailingToPurgatory.com