Emma Mary Nicholls (1925–1998)

Emma Mary Nicholls was a friend of my mother and father's during WW2. She was always known as Nick to my Mum, but was also known as Nicki. My mother referred to both of them in her letters to my father,

In 1944 she married Frank Cyril Pilbeam (1920–1991). My mum attended their wedding. She is second from the left in the photo below.

I am delighted to say that I've heard from Nick's daughter, Valerie Griggs, and I have been able to pass on some photos and identify some of the people in them.

In this photo the bridesmaid is Florence Daniels, Nick's best friend since they were four, later Mrs Frank Hyde. The two young girls on the right at the back are Nick's friends, sisters Olive and Joan Chapman (Olive was later Bowler? and Joan later married Freddie Meadows). Olive and Joan's father 'Dobb' gave Nick away, as her own father had died when she was a baby. The ladies on the right may be some of Nick's aunts, or relatives of Florence. Nick's mother was known as 'Kit' to all her friends. Her maiden name was Davis, and she was born 1884 in Deptford. Nick's daughter thinks that these wedding pictures might be the only surviving images of her.

Unfortunately Nick and Frank divorced in the 1960s. They both remarried, Nick to Sidney Leonard Griggs, and Frank to Kathleen A Gailey.