MY husband Gerald and I loved the energy and commitment of QE School’s recent production “Titanic”. Thank you.

We knew an 11-year-old who was on the “Titanic”: Gerald’s father’s older sister, Eileen Lenox-Conyngham. She neither swam, nor drowned, nor was rescued.

But she did survive.

As a special treat, Eileen sailed, with her mother, an aunt and a brother, Dennis, from Southampton to Cherbourg.

While the adult passengers were organising themselves in their cabins, Eileen and Dennis began exploring the ship and getting to know the crew. Eileen also wrote a letter to her “nanny”, aged about 14, back home in Lavenham, Suffolk.

At Cherbourg the Lenox-Conynghams disembarked for a holiday in France.

While there, they heard the news of the sinking. Eileen felt shock and grief for members of the crew she had known.

Many years later, when Eileen’s “Titanic” letter was auctioned, she bought it back for a huge sum, and donated it to Springhill, the former Lenox-Conyngham home, now a National Trust property at Moneymoor, County Derry, Northern Ireland.

Eileen had no grandchildren, so took a great interest in our sons. Here is a photo of her in 1992, in Crediton, with Matt and Danny.

Laura Conyngham

Old Tiverton Road

Crediton