By Thelma Banks | Special to the Courier
This is a photo of some of the members of the “Tea Aholics,” a British women’s club. My name is Thelma Banks. I’m originally from England, having arrived in the U.S. in 1954. Sixty years ago I met a small group of gals from England and Scotland in Claremont. We all had small children and we became friends. We decided to form a British women’s group meeting once a month for tea. Each member took a month to serve as hostess. We called ourselves the Tea Aholics.
We had all been children in Britain during World War II, and shared memories of the bombings and hiding in bomb shelters with lots of people. There everyone sang as loud as they could to drown out the sound of the bombs.
In Claremont we helped each other and watched as our families matured. Eventually our daughters joined us. Several of us are in our 90s now, but we still meet once a month for tea. I am in front wearing blue with my hands crossed.
