St Stephen’s Tavern is where they met

Back to Dad and the whole DDay thing .
Geoffrey loved water ,he was in the Royal Navy, then worked on the river and then ran a launderette!
When I was around 8 , he bought a little dinghy with an outboard motor. Before launching it on the River Thames at Weybridge , he painstakingly painted it’s name on the side ‘ Utah’. He then explained why he gave it that name , I wasn’t that bothered at the time , just wanted to pull that cord, start the engine and steer the dam thing. I think he only took it out twice – sad really.
Mother on the other hand viewed the war differently. She found it liberating .
In 1939, she was 18, had left home and was living with her Aunt Rene and Uncle Bill in their pub, St. Stephen’s Tavern, opposite St. Stephen’s Tower , otherwise known as Big Ben. She worked behind the bar and volunteered for The Red Cross. She told wonderful stories of how her and her friends would take leftover food and beer from the pub and picnic on Parliament Square after 11 pm closing time during the blackout . I asked her once if she was afraid as she was living in such a targeted area – she said it never really crossed her mind.
Geoffrey ,on the other hand,said nothing