„I met my husband there. It was fun. Do you want to hear that too? Two girls were subordinate to me, both named Mary. One asked me: ‚Lilly, don’t go for the first train home.‘ – I had to take a train from Stratford home. – ‚I can’t go today and can't go alone because my mom would be worried.‘ Therefore the next day after work, we strolled, one Mary on the left, the other on the right. In Stratford there are beautiful bridges. Three soldiers were walking towards us. As they got closer they stopped and the last one saluted. The one in the middle said: ‚Please‘. And signed that they would like to dance. They wanted to know where would that would be possible. I pointed to a large building. He saluted once again and walked on.“
„A man came from behind with a basket of bread. Seeing that I was first he asked me what I wanted. I said: ‚A bread please.‘ – ‚Which one?‘ – ‚Pants please.‘ – He gave me a weird look. – ‚A round one please.‘ – As I studied at night, I took the dictionary and wrote down words starting with ‚K‘. And thus said ‚kalhoty‘ (pants) instead of ‚kulatý‘ (round). People would then say: ‚Do you still go to get pants bread?‘ – But one is learning, isn’t one?"
„Mary and Mary said that the hop would end at half past nine, the train leaves at ten to ten and that we’d also go dancing. We hadn't even thought of the three Czech soldiers. We walked into the hall when one soldier approached me. He asked me whether I’d go dance with him. So I did. He spoke English well and told me he was married. Then he asked me whether I’d dance with his friend. I said yes, as much as he wanted to. We danced about three times before it was a quarter to ten. "
„ ‚Didn't your husband think of joining the Party, asking for membership?‘ – ‚Not at all. I said: ‚Hey Joe, if that lady outside by the window wants to be a communist, then let her be but that doesn’t mean that we need to. We had no interest in that ever. And, we were prosecuted because of that.‘“
„He told me that I didn't need to speak Czech. My husband taught me a bit while we were still in England, but just such things as: ‚I like you, give me a kiss.‘ That wouldn’t help me out here, now would it?“
Lilian Schořová, nee Pipps, is one of the few „war brides” (still living), who came from Britain to Czechoslovakia after 1945. Lilly stayed with her husband, Josef Schoř, a Czech tankist from an armored brigade, even though her life was quite hard. She was born as Lillian Pipps in 1920, in England, near Shakespear’s place of birth at Stratford-upon-Avon. She worked as a civilian inspector for the British navy stocks during the war. In 1940, she met a Czech soldier, Josef Schoř, and married him a year later. In 1944 she gave birth to their daughter, Anna. Lilian moved with her family to Prague in the Fall of 1945, initially with just the intention to meet her husband’s parents. However, due to her husband’s health issues, she ended up staying in Czechoslovakia. Her husband went on disability retirement. For language reasons, Lilly had to work as a coal-sorter in Lom by Most. After that she was employed as a postwoman in Lom and Most, where she worked for 25 years (1951 - 1976). Between 1981 and 2005, she helped out in a local library in Lipno-upon-Moldau. Currently, she once again lives in the hometown of her husband, Lom by Most.
