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> Etel Shephard
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Young Asylum Seekers
Individual Reminiscences
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Etel Shephard
I was born in East London. My father was a left wing, secular communist and very anti-religion however he still fully identified himself as a Jew. At the time, in the 1920s to the 1940s, Jews throughout the UK felt drawn to a certain type of idealism and international humanitarianism, believing it would eradicate anti-Semitism.
During the Second World War, our family was evacuated to Luton, which is where we remained and I grew up. My family was on the fringes of the synagogue community – all the Jews we knew were also ‘left-wingers’.
I visited Cambridge for the first time in 1950, when I was 16. I was invited to stay with a cultured non-Jewish family on the outskirts of town. I felt I was surrounded by books.
I won a scholarship to Luton Girls High School and was offered a place at the London School of Economics (LSE) in London, but could not accept as I still needed to complete my A-levels. So I returned to Cambridge to finish my A-levels and it was there I first met a young man named Bill.
After my A-levels, I went on to attend LSE, but stayed on only a year as I fell ill.
In 1954, Bill and I were married whilst he was a student at Cambridge. After he graduated we travelled all over the country and then returned to Cambridge where I became involved with the Jewish community and worked as a social worker.
My Name
Etel is a Yiddish name and I was named after my mother’s mother. Her father, my great-grandfather named her Etela. When she went to school they wrote it down as Ethel. She then changed it back to Etel. My mother was not fond of her own mother; although she was a very kind lady and looked after others, my mother thought my grandmother did not look after herself.
Etel means noble, coming from the Yiddish word edela.
My mother kept a lot of family photos but neither she nor my father liked each other’s families and when they rowed my father would tear up my mother’s photos. I thought my mother’s brothers were a lot classier than my father.
When my parents passed away all I wanted from the family home were photos.
I feel my grandma Etel looks out for me as I am named after her; once during a driving incident I really felt that she guided me and helped to bring me home safely.
My Object/Images
This is a photo album of my three eldest daughters when they were young. I think the happiest time of my life was when my little girls were very young – even though at the time, I didn’t realise it.
I always had a very open house and the girls always had friends round to play with.
I was chair of the Parent Teacher Association in a school with disadvantaged children. I started an after-school club which ran successfully for 10 years. I was often used by the head teacher as a social worker. I didn’t have a paid job at the time as I was home looking after the family.
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Click images to enlarge
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Click images to enlarge
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Click images to enlarge
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In the late 60s a local councillor asked me to be a warden in case of a nuclear war. I refused because I was a member of the CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmarment).
I also brought in this Denbyware pint jug because it brings back happy memories of the days when I had lots of friends who would come round for tea and meals. With this jug I would serve them either milk, water or sometimes juice.
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Food
If I was still able to, I would have made fish balls from pink, tinned salmon, mixed with egg, chopped onion, tuna fish and matzo meal. I would use salmon rather than cod. My parents were from Russian descent and I made these fish balls as a child to help my mother. My mother had a large family and fish balls featured on the menu quite a lot!
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