It is with great sadness that we received news this week of the death of Patricia Wilmshurst (nee Hollis), the cover girl for our book “A Schoolgirl’s War”. Pat was a pupil at MGGS during World War Two and remained a great friend to the school throughout her life. We are particularly grateful to her for her invaluable contribution to the research that led to the publication of our book about the school in wartime.

Pat had a wonderful memory and was full of anecdotes about that difficult time in the life of the school. She was always full of praise for the wartime staff. She told us about the spade and the pickaxe hidden in the underground shelters – “to dig us out if we got stuck down there. I didn’t know that at the time. The staff were wonderful. They took us down there knowing that they might have to dig us out.”

She paid tribute to the kitchen staff too, remembering meals in the tunnels: “The cook – she was tiny – used to stagger in with a huge pot full of hot stew or casserole. Then the other maid used to bring in the plates and we had to get off the benches so they could line them up on the bench and dollop out the plates of food. They were absolutely wonderful people to go to and fro, bombers or no bombers. We were jolly hungry and it was beautiful food.”

The painting of Pat on the cover of “A Schoolgirl’s War” shows her sheltering under her desk during a doodlebug raid. She told us that, as Miss Keen the art teacher was sketching her, she was completing a Latin exam paper on the floor. “I don’t know how the poor examiner managed to read my writing,” she said, once again showing her praise of others.

We are enormously grateful to Pat for the vivid and fascinating memories she contributed to our wartime story. We remain inspired by the sparkling energy and enthusiasm she brought to the task, and by the unfailing generosity of spirit she always displayed. We are privileged to have known her, and send our condolences to her family.