Aged just 20 my mother and her friend Gloria arrived in the UK from Germany on 3rd March 1947…..
Read MoreThe Flight from Latvia
By the autumn of 1944 the Red Army was pushing south and rather than face life under a second Soviet occupation my Latvian family decided to join the many thousands of their compatriots and flee the country……
Read MoreLeaving Riga
In early 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Latvia my grandmother, step-grandfather and mother left Riga to go and live in Tervete, a village south west of Riga…..
Read MoreOccupation
In June 1941 Latvia was invaded by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Barbarossa - code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union…..
Read MoreA Second Chance
After my grandmother’s divorce she met Arturs Abeltins, a young man eight years younger than her….
Read MoreDivorce
After my grandparents separated my grandmother left the theatre never to return…..
Read MoreFamily Life
There are just a handful of photographs to record my mother’s early years in Latvia…..
Read MoreYoung Love
Some time during her stint at the Liepaja Theatre my grandmother Mirdza met and fell in love with a young actor - Evalds Valters……
Read MoreTreading the Boards
As a child I remember very little talk about my grandmother’s younger years in Latvia…….
Read MoreA Question of Identity
In the aftermath of Brexit I have found myself re-examining my European roots even more closely…..
Read MoreA Handful of Photographs
Orphaned at the early age of eight, my Latvian grandmother was then brought up by an aunt…….
Read MoreThe Maternal Line
It seems that acting runs in the blood in my family as both my great grandparents and grandparents were actors on the stage in Latvia…..
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