Jill L. M. Birk

Born in London in September 1934, the author started school during the week that WW2 was declared. With her mother and siblings, she was evacuated to Bournemouth in 1942. They were re-united with their father on their return to Surrey in 1946. When leaving Nonsuch school, she was employed at the head office of Thos. Cook & Son in Berkeley Street, London. With an eagerness to travel and a basic knowledge of German, she was sent to Switzerland as one of their representatives. It was there that she met her future husband, a Bavarian. A further two years followed in Austria before they returned to the UK for their wedding and where they managed their own hotel till retirement.