At 18 Barbara joined the Civil Service as an Executive Officer in the Ministry of Works. She worked in offices across central London, living in women’s hostels in Elephant & Castle, Baker Street and Primrose Hill, where she made some lifelong friends.

At Primrose Hill – her favourite lodgings (though not as chichi as it is today!) - she shared a ground floor room with 3 others. One night a man tried to get into their room, but they managed to frighten him off by throwing their shoes at him, and shouting in some very unladylike language!

Civil service work was often dull, and Barbara dreaded managing older and sometimes fearsome colleagues. She particularly remembered Miss Jones, a Higher Executive Officer – a noisy, sarcastic bully, who reduced even some of the men to tears at times. She had been reported to her superiors, but none of them cared to tackle her, perhaps because she was a member of the rifle shooting team at Bisley!

At Lambeth Bridge House she was given an office by herself where she felt bored and isolated, so she amused herself by repeatedly drawing the Houses of Parliament directly across the Thames.

Sadly, her dream job in the Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings Section never materialised.

In 1950 Barbara moved into the top storey of a house in Woodford, shared with her parents, cousin Alfred and his wife Audrey. A few years later she met Charles Abdy at a play-reading group, instantly feeling ‘at home’ in his company...