I lived in Kitwe from 1967 to 1972 with my husband and two daughters. My third daughter was born there in 1971. We lived on Geddes Street. Got quite nostalgic reading all the names. There were some streets in alphabetical order called after Irish towns and cities.

We loved it while we were there and had the opportunity of visiting Southern Rhodesia as Zimbabwe was then and also Mozambique, Malawi, Durban, Cape Town etc. We used to shop sometimes in Mufulira. In those days the further up the railway line you went the cheaper goods were.

I worked in Barclays Bank for a while and then I went to Cooper Bros (Coopers & Lybrand) on Kaunda Square. Loved it. Hope everybody there has a good life and that the Zambians are doing well. They are a lovely people.  Kaunda was a good president while we were there. I had some ladies who used to sit around Kaunda Square crocheting make me some little things for the baby when she was born. This daughter actually used them for her daughter’s christening.  They are beautiful.  Love to all in Kitwe.

I had a lot of photos from our trip to Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia then) and the photographer who was developing them had a mishap and they were all destroyed.  I was very upset. We had about 3 films of 36 each and they were all ruined. We flew over Victoria Falls. Such a sight. I will never forget it.

After our meal one night we asked the waiter for 6 Irish Coffees.  He never heard of them. So I told him what I needed and I would make them myself.  He duly brought the coffee, Irish whisky, cream and hot water. Quite a few of the guests also asked for them so I introduced the Victoria Falls Hotel to Irish coffees.

We also stayed at the Kariba Dam Hotel. It was off season and we were told we could choose whichever rooms we liked. All the bathrooms were different colours and the children had great fun running through the rooms deciding by the colour of the bathroom!

We also stayed at Leopard Rock Hotel in Zimbabwe which we got to by driving up the escarpment. It was terrifying. But worth the drive. Queen Elizabeth II stayed there when she was a princess. There was a plaque commemorating her visit. Seemingly there was a lot of leopards in the area but none to be seen when we were there. Just lots of baboons.

We all got such a shock when we jumped into the pool. It was freezing – so high up and fresh water being pumped in to it all the time from a mountain stream. That area was called The Highlands. I must have reminded somebody of Scotland.

We also drove down to Beira in Mozambique and had a wonderful time there. On our way back to Ireland we drove down to Malawi and on to South Africa. We stayed with friends in Durban for a couple of weeks and then got on board the ship and stopped off in Cape Town for passengers and then up the west coast to I think Dakar and then Rotterdam, Lisbon, Southampton and home. A wonderful trip. Never to be forgotten.