Family and childhood
Donald Bethell with son Drew 1925
Kathleen (Kay) Bethell, Robin's grandmother
Drew and Tony: Gibraltar 1933
Brigadier Drew Bethell 1967. Aged 44
Pam Bethell 1968. Aged 46
Robin aged two and a half. "1953 we are in the British garrison town of Hildesheim, on the North German plain. We are standing with our nanny, Heidi" Page 35
Robin, aged six after eighteen months in Canada "the happiest years of our childhood"
We went to the local school but then it burnt to the ground and so it seemed that the summer was uninterrupted: swimming, boating and enjoying the seemingly constant presence of my mother. Page 69
, I find another photo, at exactly the same time and place, in which you are larking about without a care in the world. I had to put that one aside; it didn’t match my narrative. .
Since my birthday falls in the middle of November and by the following year I was to be at boarding school, I was never to have another birthday party at home. Robin, on the other hand, was born on the 1st of September, in the school holidays, and so wherever we were, his birthday was always celebrated with fun and games.
During the school holidays, Robin had the run of the house and direct access to my mother and father. For me, school holidays had none of that allure. Could it be that he got a better deal between the age of 16 and 18 than I had had?