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I have given this Wren lapel button in memory of my mother Elizabeth (Betty) Watson.

Betty was born in Durham into an impoverished mining community at the height of the depression era of the 1930s. She was the eldest of

10 brothers and sisters.

Betty was determined to escape the poverty of her surroundings. As soon as she was old enough, she left home and embarked on a new exciting life as a Wren.

She met my father, a Naval officer and they married and settled in Cambridge. 

Although Betty left the Wrens when she got married in 1955, she was a life-long member of the Wrens Association. She continued as a member until her death in 2011.

My mother’s favourite bird was a wren. Wrens are shy birds, often heard, but rarely seen. They usually skulk and creep under cover close to the ground. 

But on the morning of my mother’s funeral a wren appeared outside our window. It danced and pranced along the fence for some time.

I never again saw a wren in our garden, until the day my father died. On the morning of his death, a wren appeared again in our garden. It came right up to our door and jigged and danced about on our doorstep for some considerable time. 

Deborah Curtis

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Always a Wren
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