Aidan Hartley Aidan Hartley

My Aunt Beryl’s zinc-lined trunk revealed extraordinary family secrets

Out of an envelope fell an original poem scribbled and signed by Rudyard Kipling

Topical Press Agency/Stringer/Getty 
issue 26 September 2020
Bexhill-on-Sea

My Aunt Beryl taught me to love books and paintings. When I’m at a loose end in London, lonely, or even rather boozed up, I still nip into one of the galleries she raised me on to say hello to pictures that have been my lifelong friends.

Out of an envelope fell an original poem scribbled and signed by Rudyard Kipling

Beryl never missed birthdays and Christmas, she wrote postcards and adored her nephews and nieces.

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