In February 1940 Eileen Stone received a court summons for riding her bike without lights in Littlehampton, West Sussex. The summons was written by solicitor’s clerk, Leslie Speller, who admired Eileen and, after recognising her name, included a note in the summons asking her to go to the cinema. Their ‘date’ was finalised when he sent her a letter notifying her of her fine. They went out together many times before Leslie joined the RAF in May 1940 and left for his training. Eileen joined the Land Army and they started to write to each other. They wouldn’t see each other again for four years.

After his training Leslie was posted to the Middle East, where he was shot down over Libya in May 1942. Wounded, Leslie was taken as a POW to Stalag Luft III, near Sagan, on the border between Germany and Poland. During his time as a prisoner Leslie was involved in a number of escape activities including writing coded letters. He was able to continue writing to Eileen, and her letters supported him during his three- years imprisonment. Leslie was liberated by US troops on 29 April 1945. He returned home on 9 May 1945 and was reunited with Eileen.

They were engaged immediately, and Leslie chose a blue sapphire ring to give to Eileen because it reminded him of the Mediterranean Sea he’d seen for the first time in 1941.

Eileen made her own wedding dress from one of Leslie’s parachutes. After the wedding she cut up the dress, dyed it brown and used it to line a coat. She kept a piece of the un-dyed silk to make an embroidered handkerchief. She also dyed a piece of the parachute cord and used it to bind a wedding album she’d made. The other pieces of cord were kept and used regularly for family camping trips.

Leslie and Eileen were happily married for 52 years.