Brenda Mentz: Hazel’s memoirs:  She writes that mother’s efforts were as varied as they were imaginative and always involved the children. Knitting squares for blankets for the troops; collection boxes for money towards tanks and aircraft (with Hazel and Ingrid dressed patriotically in red white and blue striped dresses made by Gwen) and helping organise and take part in concerts to raise more money. One of her more ambitious efforts was when news reached Mombasa that large groups of Polish refugees were being shipped out to camps in East Africa. There were stories of the terrible hardships these people had suffered at the hands of the Germans and then the Russians and there was a tremendous amount of sympathy and concern, especially for the children. The families were due to transit Mombasa station in groups of about a hundred at a time en route to camps in Tanganyika.  Gwen decided that a gesture of welcome should be made and for several weeks appealed for toys and books.  Local people were very generous and things poured into our house.  Gwen spent hours cleaning and repairing, dressing dolls if necessary. There were more than a hundred assorted toys which she divided and labelled for different age groups.  When the train was due she took Hazel and Ingrid and two friends to the station where the toys were laid out on trestle tables, the idea being that a toy would be handed to each child. Things did not work out quite as planned. When the train doors opened out came a mob of shaven headed, runny nosed children, very dirty and covered in sores. As soon as they realised the toys were for them they charged the tables and grabbed everything they could reach, the biggest children taking the most. Mothers were hard on their heels grabbing as hard as the children.  Within seconds all that remained were a few books which had been trampled underfoot.