1940s Geoff and Hazels' young lives like millions of others were caught up in the havoc of WW2. Geoff was in transport in the western desert. He never talked about his experiences very much but I recently came across a whole handful of photos he took in 1942, presumably after the victory at El-Alamein. Hazels' brother George was also in the battle and wrote an award winning book about the battle. Geoff enjoyed visiting the Middle East as part of his tour of duty. At the same time Hazel was doing her training with the ATS (The Auxiliary Territorial Army for women) in Northampton














Hazel went on to follow the liberating troops across Europe


Her letters writen from 1944 Brussels are historic documents in their own right and we'll put them on another post along with some more photos. I think that this photo is from Brussels where Hazel made friends through her fluent French.







After the war there were thousands of young men and women looking for partners. Geoff and Hazel met on a walking club in North Kent which Geoff co-organised. One of the features was the tea-van which turned up at convenient spots. Geoff has his back to the camera with his arm upstretched, Hazel is hovering hopefully on the left. (Just after Dad's death in 2000, we were travelling in North Kent and Mum suddenly pointed out the spot where they first met)















Many romances blossomed and Geoff and Hazel were married at Boughton Monchelsea church near Maidstone in July 1948