As this weekend marks the 83rd anniversary of the Niño’s arrival at Southampton I would like to share a story which links them with those sailed to the Soviet Union on the Habana 3 weeks later.

My mum Maria Luisa & her brother Alvaro sailed on the Habana with their elder sister Mari Vi staying with their mother in Spain. After the fall of Bilbao the two lived in the chaos that was Barcelona before a long and hungry walk to France as the Nationalist forces closed in.

When peace came Mari V & Granma faced an uncertain future being considered a “Republican family”. The family farm in Loyola had been confiscated and given to Nationalist supporters so it was decided that the niños would stay in England.

Via the good work of the Red Cross the family were able to track each other down and exchange letters. Initially these had been destroyed by the censor but persistence paid off and the letters started to make it through.

In Donostia a family friend, a widow whose only child Anna Mary had left on the second Habana sailing and had settled in the Soviet Union, asked how they had managed to stay in touch. She had had no contact with the daughter since she had left Spain.

Maria Luisa asked the Red Cross for their assistance & they managed to track Ana Mary down in Moscow. Franco’s regime would not accept mail from the Soviet Union so Anna Mary would write to Maria Luisa who would then repackage the letter in a fresh envelope with a British stamp.

News of this “service” spread around the Soviet Niños & soon Maria Luisa was spending all her spare money on envelopes & stamps! Many of the Niños did not where they families now lived but the ever resourceful Mari Vi would receive the letters and track the families down.

However the letters soon attracted the attention of the police, the censor picking up that they had originated in the Soviet Union. The police soon visited and Mari Vi, not yet 20, was facing some challenging questions.

The fighting spirit she was to display throughout her life came to the fore, the police left and the letters continued.

Mari Vi left us in May 2001 with Alvaro following 9 years later. Maria Luisa is still with us & remains the happy, compassionate soul who did whatever she could to reunite families all those years ago.

Maria Luisa on her birthday last year.