Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2010 | Page 34

interview

Island Life - October/November 2010
Photo: Judi at
Buckingham Palace
receiving her MBE with
Dickie, Katherine and
Izzy

a special treat was to ride through

and steal a piece of bread, because I

Brocks Copse to Woodside beach with

knew the breakfast was put out the

my father, light a fire, boil a kettle

night before.

and have a cup of tea. You didn’t have
barbecues in those days.”

parents’ idea.”
Judi is proud of her strong Catholic
upbringing, saying: “One of my great

“During one ferry crossing after a trip

grandfathers was a farmer at Ingrave in

home I met a girl from the Island who

Essex, and married Emma, whose family

worked on a boat, moored on the River

had worked for many generations at

Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Ryde.

Seine. Suddenly my life changed. We

Ingatestone Hall, home of the Petre

Bill left for boarding school and Judi

had really good times when I ‘escaped’

family, cousins of the Duke of Norfolk.

attended Sandown Grammar School.

from the convent.

They kept the Catholic faith throughout

She and brother Bill attended St.

When she was 15 her father had a

“No longer did I want to obey my

the reformation. I love to think that

stroke and was unable to run the shops,

parents. It opened my eyes that there

my great, great, great, grandparents

so she was taken out of school to help.

was a big world out there. I wanted to

knew about the priests hiding in

travel the world. I just loved it. I never

‘priest-holes’, and kept the secret

wanted to become a nun – that was my

despite the gruesome death awaiting

But her head teacher insisted she
went back to school to take her ‘O’
levels, which enabled her to gain the
qualifications required to get into the
Civil Service, and day release entrance
to Southampton Technical College to
take ‘A’ levels.
Then at 16, Judi was sent to a convent
in Paris. She said: “My parents wanted
me to become a nun. I was terribly
homesick, but fell in love with Paris. In
the convent I lived with the nuns and
worked in the school for my keep.
“I learnt embroidery as well as all my
prayers and hymns in Latin and French.
I was lonely, couldn’t speak a word of
French, and had to abide by the rules
of the convent, with a silence at certain
times. I didn’t like the food so I used
to creep down to the refectory at night
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Photo: Judi with brother Bill and sisters Mary, Pauline and Monica
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