The photo above is of Susie and Sandy befriending a calf in Norwich along the old railway track
Images of Childhood The Harrison Girls
I am Susie, born in Fontainebleau in France, south of Paris, my first home being a caravan in the forest. My sister Sandy was born in Colchester in England. With there being only a year and a half difference in our ages, we would always be close. We were the Harrison girls, British raised, being a quarter Welsh, a quarter Shetland Scottish, and the other parts a mix of English and Irish, but our family travelled a lot all over Europe. For as much as four years we lived in Berlin, in Germany, where our father was a Russian translator.
Joanna Inkster, my mother, who had me as her first baby when she was only 19 years old
An English babe in France, little Susie
New baby Sandy is added to the family
Travels in Europe were extensive, to Venice, the Austrian lakes, up north to Scandanavia, and south to Nice and Barcelona.
Relaxing on a Northern European beach
The Harrison family - David Harrison & Joanna Inkster with Susie and Sandy
Out of me and my sister I was the one who looked like a boy! Well, I was a tomboy, that is for sure. My parents were a cool couple, attractive and clever. My father had lovely red hair, and my mother was beautifully blonde.
Sandy, mum and me on the famous 'Sound of Music' bridge in Salzburg, Austria
Making friends with the pigeons in Vencie
Of all the places we visited on our travels, Venice made the most memorable impression on me. Especially I recall the beautiful but eerie Bridge of Sighs arching over the gondola's canal. Sandy and I often wore matching clothes, handmade by our mother, although when in Venice, as can be seen, we wore our derndels (which I loved), looking like children from the Sound of Music, these being a souvenir from our travels in Austria. I have always loved the Sound of Music, as did my mother, who was so keen indeed that when I was little she took me seven times to see it!!! I've been known, even as an adult, to run through hills singing 'The hills are alive with the sound of music...'
Susie as a bridesmaid aged 4 at her Uncle John Inkster's wedding
Settling in the outskirts of Norwich, in England, for our schooling, Sandy and I had many days of youthful playing and adventures in the countryside.
Sandy and I making friends with a calf, wearing our matching clothes handmade by my mother
Sandy and I were best friends with the half Dutch Bliss sisters, Rosalynde and Rosanna. Together we all our own nature gang, which we had named The River Children and the Nature. We had many adventures. We built dens in the woods and in old broken down farm houses, built ourselves a raft and mended an old boat, for play on the river, we herded escaped cows back into their fields, put out a countryside fire we came across, and so much more. We had mythological names for ourselves - I was Aphrodite; Rosalynde was Pan. We had specific talents, I was the brave one who tried out the dangerous things first, like finding paths through marshes and stinging nettles, and Sandy was the brains, clever girl that she was.
Photo booth picture of Susie and Sandy
We were also, along with the Blisses, brownies and girl guides. In the girl guides I was the leader of the Bluetits and Sandy was the leader of the Swallows. We promised to do our best, to do our duty to God, to serve the Queen and help other people, to keep Britain tidy and always be prepared. It sounds all angelically idyllic, but there were naughty times as well, cheeky times, one daring phase I went through of walking high up on the narrow girders of high up railway and river bridges, a time of shoplifting, being chased by police while running along the rooftops of a building site, daring each other dares for fun, even selling fake raffle tickets door to door in our girl guide uniforms to collect for a pretend new church, and another time climbing through the back window of the girl guide hut for a stone throwing fight against the boy scouts.
Teenage Susie, photographed by friend Dale
Our family, and the Blisses family too, were politically active, so that we were raised to be young socialists, putting up Vote Labour stickers here and there, and being anti-Nazi campaigners, going to demonstrations in London, shouting out along with the crowds 'Black and White, Unite and Fight, Smash the National Front'. We were brought up to believe in equality of all peoples and to be atheist (religion being a silly illusion for needy people). I was one to be popular with the boys, having a few boyfriends while growing up, firstly Stephen Day when I was 8, Chris Lee in teenage days, and Henry de Salis once I was in the sixth form. Never more than kisses would we ever explore, as nothing else did I allow.