My Mum and Dad often took Penny along with them on their dates for days out

Penny was never short of friends. Here is another picture taken of Penny with her friends, taken by my Mum. We think she would have been around 11 and coming out of Sunday school as she was wearing her best coat

My Mum Maureen was given an old camera for her 16th birthday, so she took photos of Penny growing up and on holiday with her and later her fiancé, Terry

Images of her growing up in the East End

Penny aged 2

Penelope McLean was born on 9th December 1947 in Poplar, East London. She was the second child of Millie and Mac McLean and had a brother Peter.

When aged around 3, my orphaned mother, Maureen, ten years older than Penny joined the McLean household to live under the care of her eldest sister, Penny’s mum.

Penny remembers Maureen reading her bedtime stories. The two became very close, a bond that would last a lifetime. Penny’s friends always referred to Mum as ’Auntie’

She was a bright, charming, imaginative child who loved reading and art. Although not particularly academic, she passed her 11+ and went to the local Grammar school, Colborn School for Girls in Stepney. One headmistress remarked of the young Penny that “She is an imaginative girl, full of ideas and has a pleasant personality. She should do very well in the future”