Memoirs of GD Fell

After we had been in Cyprus for a few months Margaret informed me that I was about to become a dad again and on the 12th June 1961 Nicholas George was born at the British Military Hospital in Dhekelia.

BMH Dhekelia

Margaret with Lindsay and the new arrival Nicholas

Shortly after we brought Nicholas to number 10 Spetson Street I heard that number 1  was shortly to become vacant. This was a much larger bungalow than number 10 with four bedrooms and a garage which was underneath the bungalow. It also had a private garden and was detached. The tenant was the French consul (Jimmy Murat) and he was a partner in the same firm as Andreas Toufexis so I was able to register the accommodation, have it assessed and consequently assumed the tenancy before anyone else knew it was on the market.

Not long after we had moved to number 1 there was quite a severe earthquake during the night. It was so severe that it shifted the cot that Nicholas was sleeping in from one side of the bedroom to the other, a matter of about twenty to twenty-five feet. I would like to say that I jumped into action to save the family but unfortunately I stayed asleep during the earthquake and didn’t know anything about it until the morning.  There wasn’t any structural damage to the building.

The next day we went to the Anchorage Club to see if there had been any damage there and found that there was a big split in one of the walls and lots of crockery and glasses had been broken. Lots of our neighbours went up the Kantara mountain range for the next three nights as they thought that there was a possibility of further quakes for that period of time. As it happened there was no further disturbance.