Audrey and Aline Boundy

It was 1949, I was 19, unmarried and expecting a baby. Such things didn't happen in 1949. Not in my world. My boyfriend Ivor and I had such a good relationship. We had both left school the previous year and I was working in the local council offices. Ivor had gone on to do a crammer's course for his O-Levels, which he had previously failed at school. We were very happy in each other's company and needed nobody else. Then he was called up to do his military service. It was such a blow because he was sent to the south of the country, miles away from home and our only contact was through writing letters. There were no telephones, let alone mobile phones or text messages to stay in touch. I wrote to him every day, although now I wonder what on earth I could have to say every 24 hours. I used to go to his parents' house on Saturday nights to visit his mum and dad. He would phone while I was there.

After three months, Ivor got some leave and came home. I went to meet him at Newcastle Central Station together with his brother Eric. It was like all my Christmases had come together. We were both so happy. We spent nearly all his leave together and on his last night - that was when it happened. We couldn't bear to be apart and together we created our baby, David.

The next three months went back to the same pattern. If I suspected that there was something different about me, I put it aside. When I finally realised that I might be pregnant, I wrote to him. He replied that, of course, he would stand by me. My mother took me to our GP who confirmed that I was three months pregnant. It was nearly February and I was to be the chief brides-maid at his brother's wedding. Ivor was coming home to be best man. The wedding went off very well and later that night he walked me home. I told him again that it has been confirmed I was pregnant and again he told me that everything would be OK and that we would be married. That was before he told his parents.

I was summoned to his house the next day and from then on it all went downhill. I was made to understand that he couldn't marry me because he

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