I would like to take you back to 1956 when I was 16 years of age, living in Horsforth and attending St. James' Church. We had a very good youth club, and the youth club of St. James’ was invited to join with the youth club from Burley-in-Wharfedale Church, to go on a holiday to Germany. We were going to go to the Sauerland, to a small town called Soest.

My friend, whose father had been very sadly killed in the war, was told very severely by her mother not to ask if she could go on this holiday. But I still felt I really wanted to go. After thinking about it for a while, I spoke to my mum about it and she said “It would be lovely if you could go, but I don't know if we have the money for you to go.”

In the meanwhile, my friend's uncle, who lived with them, said to me one day when he came home from work “I hear you want to go to Germany? Pat isn't going to go, but you still want to go?”

I said “Yes, Uncle Clifford. I would like to, but I can't really.”

So he said “Well, I've been thinking. You see that cupboard over there? Every Friday, I'm going to put five shillings on there for you.”

And straightaway I said “No, you mustn't do that. My mother wouldn't like me to have money in that way. It'll be fine, it’ll be fine.”

He said “Well I will do that for you.”

So Friday came and it was there, five shillings. I didn't take it - I left it there. Another Friday came, two more half crowns were there. The pile got quite big, when he said “That money is piling up, what are you going to do with it?”

By that time, I had a conversation with my mum. She said “I’ll have to think about things a bit, Jean. I don’t know. You've got into a very difficult situation here.” And then she came back to me and said “I've thought about it, I’ve prayed about it, and I think it would be the right thing to do to take the money and say thank you so much Uncle Clifford.”

So I went and the money was there, and I took it, and I brought it home and we put it in the bank - we saved it. And when the summertime came, I set off to go to Germany with the youth club from St. James' Church, Woodside.

We went to Soest and I was the guest of a lovely girl called Erica, who lived in a beautiful flat - part of her building had been very severely damaged by the war. I was really well-received by her mother and father, and we spent about two days going to school very early in the morning, because they start earlier than we did, and we had a wonderful experience through the school. Then we started to do everyday ordinary things, and then we had certain celebrations - meetings and parties. And then we all went up to see the area near the Mӧhne dam where the Dambusters had come across, and all the damage which had been done up there - we saw another side of the destruction of war.

We experienced so many things that I can only say that it has been in later life that I’ve realised the value of being allowed to go almost into the mouth of the storm really, but to be met with kindness and goodness, and to take away the bitterness and the destruction of war. It gave me a more balanced view of how to live and let live than anything else would ever have done.