My name is Betty Freedman. I am now 76 years of age. Born 6th June l932 in the Mari Celeste Ward of the Royal London Hospital Whitechapel in the of East London - possibly making me a cockney.

1939, at the tender age of seven I was evacuated with my school to a small village in Cambridgeshire to avoid the scare that world war number two brought to England but this was not a happy period of my life, although I did start taking piano lessons, at the grand cost of one shilling and sixpence(15 pence new money).

On returning to London in 1943 I continued studying music and at the age of sixteen against my wishes I went to Pitman’s College to do a secretarial course, as my father thought it was necessary for a girl to have a profession behind her. I wanted to do something more artistic. I also enrolled in the London School of Music which I did not particularly enjoy because of the music I was made to study, so I only stayed for two terms.

Whilst at Pitman’s College I developed severe pains in my hands and was advised to give up music and typing etc for at least 6months to allow my hands to heal, which I did.

I got married in 1953 when I was 2l years of age to a wonderful guy named Leslie and together we opened our first gown shop in the City of London and together eventually had 5 shops.

Unfortunately after being married for 7 years Leslie developed an eye infection and he went blind at the age of 35 years old, so we swapped over roles, him having a driver and seeing to the needs of our two children. Together with his help and advice, I was able to run our fashion business.

Until Leslie lost his eyesite I continued studying music with a wonderful musician and teacher named Jules Ruben (who later received the Queen’s award for his contribution to music). Every week I travelled over to North London to take lessons. Then after a period of time Jules encouraged me and arranged a number of tunes I had composed, next he got professional singers to come in and eventually we the music on tape. And that was the beginning of a musical show called “Plain Jane”. I then decided to see if I could get interest in my work but I was very green. There were so many people who showed interest but later I would find it difficult to retrieve my work - (but that is another whole story).

I must have become disillusioned at the negative response I received even though everyone had said that they liked my music and that I should try to write singles as I was aiming too high to expect someone to finance a musical, which I did, but having so many responsibilities I let things slide.

2004 was a sad time for me as Leslie passed away after 50 years of marriage and I thought to myself if I do not do something now all my work will die with me.