Velma Smith was born in South Shields in County Durham in 1934. In 1939 she was evacuated to Crook in the Lake District. When her father started work at the Short Brothers factory at White Cross Bay in 1941, she and her family moved to 80 Calgarth Road. She attended Calgarth School when it opened in 1942 and was taught, for a short time, by Mr Heighton.

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