Letter from a former Westleigh student

[Rosie's husband posting this]

We received a letter in the mail from Dr Margaret Stewart, a former Westleigh student, and thought it deserved a place on this blog. Many thanks to Margaret for sending it to us:

"I was a pupil at Westleigh from 1938 to 1942 when my parents moved to the country. At the time I started all state schools had been closed because polio epidemic.

It was very exciting to go to school on a bus, which picked me up. As I remember it, Dorothy Good and Roberta Mott were picked up in the same area. I caught up again with Bobby Mott at the Royal Melbourne.

I was in Thornton House. I remember learning French, like a game of bingo, with a master card and lots of little coloured cards to place on the master when a French object wsa named, - but no prizes.

When my mother told Misses Everard that we were moving to the country they said they would be happy to have me as a boarder but by that time I knew my mother was pregnamt and didn't want me to miss out on any of that.

Miss Everard said to me, "You have a voice - make sure you use it!" And so I have sung all my life, not professionally but solo, choirs, and madrigals - and I am still.

When I googled Westleigh I was sorry to have missed the reunion last year.

My maiden name was Margaret Abrahams, but now I am Dr Margaret Stewart."

 We appreciate you sharing your story with us Margaret!