ÌýListen again in full
As far back as Ann Nosowska can remember her family have received Christmas cards from three Belgian families although they have never visited each other…until now.
 Ann's regular correspondent is Lillian (young girl, front right) |
When Ann's dad died 30 years ago, she found among his possessions a letter which he'd written to Ann's mum from Belgium.
He was among the troops that liberated Belgium in September 1944, and on New Year's Eve that year he and his mate Ernie had a pass for 48 hours leave and set off to find a party in Brussels.
In his letter, Ann's dad Frank describes dancing to a brass band at the Town Hall. After the dance he was approached by a man, woman and 2 teenagers who invited him to a party. He was apprehensive at first, but they kept asking until he relented.
The party was "unbelievable". The daughter was sent out to get black market food from the peasants in the countryside and they opened their best pre-war wine. During the night there was a German bombardment and they all took shelter. But the next day the party continued.
Frank wrote home to his wife who was about to give birth to Ann: "I've met some wonderful people here in Belgium and I'm going take you back to see them." It didn't happen.
But Ann has continued to send Christmas cards to the three families, until this year when she received a phone call…Listen again to find out what happened next!
More Information
