I met Barbara last week, and asked the questions that you'd sent in. Here is the recording of the second half of our chat. (Subscribers, if you can't see the player below, please view it on the website: http://gwulo.com/node/19021)
Below the player I've listed the time when each question was asked, so you can jump straight to it if you like.
If you'd like to ask Barbara any more questions, please leave a comment below.
Finally, thank you to everyone who sent in questions, and of course a big thank you to Barbara.
Regards, David
| Time | Questions & topics covered | Asked by |
| 00:00 | How much did people mix in camp? (How people mixed. Barbara met people through work in hospital, putting on plays, attending classes, and teaching. Evening talks in quarters.) | David Bellis |
| 02:39 | Do you recall anything about James Hill, Police Sergeant A93, who was interned in the Stanley Internment Camp? (No) | Martin Heyes and Andrew Hill |
| 02:54 | Did you meet Nora Hill and her two children, Norman (my father) and Helen, during your evacuation from Hong Kong to the Philippines? If so, can you tell me anything about them during that time, the name of the evacuation ship, where it berthed in the Philippines, and where the evacuees were billeted in the Philippines? (The 1940 evacuation) | Andrew Hill |
| 03:50 | Do you have any record or recollection of John and Yvonne Charter?(Memories before and during camp, and at the re-union in 1997.) | Bill Lake |
| 04:59 | Do you have a good picture of (or list of people mentioned on) the Day Joyce Sheet? (Bernice Archer) | Bill Lake |
| 05:38 | I would be interested in any memories Barbara has of my great-uncle Walter Scott. (Worked with him pre-war.) | Hallie Sullivan |
| 06:22 | Any memories of John Pennefather-Evans, my husband's grandfather? (Only knew him by sight.) | Jenny Pennefather-Evans |
| 06:44 | What ways can listeners find out about people in camp? | David Bellis |
| 07:31 | Any info on Margaret Eager & her 4 Children (H block) ? I am her son now aged 73 & born in UK Embassy in Shanghai. I was told a camp doctor saved my life-who was he ?? Family often told me I was the only child in camp able to raid commandant's veg gardent. The guard never chased me away. True ??? (Barbara remembers the family well, both in camp and after the war.) | Cyril Thomas Eager |
| 09:50 | I am trying to find out ANYTHING about my mother, who arrived in HK around 1946 by ship. Her maiden name was Linda Shephard, she married Jack Cater and then Vernon Roberts. I am Vernon and Linda's daughter. I know she was a journalist and a radio broadcaster. (Linda Cater) | Rhianon McGeoch nee Roberts |
| 10:25 | Did Barbara ever come across either of my parents when she was in HK after the war? If she was there until 1959 she may well have met them. (Her late husband probably knew them. Also talked about men who had to leave the HKVDC, the Ladies Recreation Club, and Billy Tingle) | Ron Rakusen |
| 12:03 | Any memories of Mr. Edward Irvine Wynne-Jones? He was the Postmaster General at the time, and planned to produce a Victory Stamp after the war was won. (No) | Ron Rakusen |
| 12:15 | I wonder if you would be able to ask Barbara if she knew the Tarrant family? John Arthur Tarrant worked for A&S Watson and he married Cecilia Millar. They had a daughter who was a near contemporary of Barbara's, Mary Ethelberta Cecilia Tarrant, who was born in 1906. Specifically I am trying to find out if Cecilia's family, the Millars, lived in Hong Kong,there are several people listed of that name.Cecilia died and was buried in Hong Kong , which makes me wonder if her family were local. John Arthur and Mary both died in England much later. I have just found Cecilia's inscription;Barbara may have known Mary as 'Bertha'.'In loving memory/ of/ Cecilia/ the beloved wife of/ John Arthur Tarrant/ beloved mother of/ Bertha Cecilia/ died 23rd Jan. 1940/ aged 62 years/ In hoc sieno vinces' (No) | Elaine Henshaw |
| 12:31 | Any memories of HSBC staff in camp? (No) | Sharon Oddie Brown |
| 12:44 | How did the Japanese guards treat you in camp? (Mostly they left us alone. There was one time they chased us. Black markets and the guards. Selling cigarettes to make money.) | Cynthia Murphy |
| 17:54 | What are your views on the behaviour of the Japanese military towards the local civilians in Hong Kong and can this be likened to how they behaved in mainland China? Also, looking back over the 72 years from those days to this, do you think that the Japanese Government has properly atoned to the people of China for what their troops did to local civilians during that time? (Ex-internees receiving compensation.) | Neil Maidment |
| 19:47 | In the China Daily interview, you finished by saying "You only hurt yourself if you don't forgive." Is that something you've always believed, or did your views change over time? | David Bellis |
| 20:20 | Any plans to publish your diaries as a book? | Diana Fortescue, and Bob Tatz |
| 21:23 | What were the initial postwar years like - how did society regularise itself again? (Camp life wasn't talked about. Accommodation was a problem initially.) | Ann White |
| 23:28 | What is your fondest memory of HK, occupation era or not? (Hong Kong's scenery & having an amah to help with housework! Developing religion. Catholic club post-war. Writing and directing childrens' plays. Meeting her husband-to-be.) | Cynthia Murphy |
| 28:41 | When you went back to the UK in 1959, you'd spent more than half of your life in Hong Kong. What was it like to move back? (Repatriation then returning to Hong Kong.) | David Bellis |
| 32:36 | Thank you's | Joan Barst, Anne Marden, & C M Shun |
| 33:25 | What would Barbara like to ask for? | David Bellis |