Fay was born in Gilly, Belgium in May 1932. She lived with her parents Israel and Rivka and older sisters, Lily and Mariette, and had a very happy early childhood. Fay remembers the German army bombing Belgium as they fled their home for France in a little van.
The family sought refuge in a little town near the Pyrenees called Lisle-sur-Tarn. However, when the situation in France became unstable, they decided to return to Belgium. It was a perilous journey which involved travelling at night on foot and being helped across the border. They were caught by the Germans and sent to prison twice. They managed to escape and eventually returned to Gilly.
By 1941-1942, when the Germans started taking Jews to concentration camps, the Resistance wanted to save people. Fay’s sister Lily joined the Resistance, and Mariette and Fay were each placed in hiding in a different village. Fay was placed with a retired teacher in the Ardennes, before moving onto an orphanage where she was desperately unhappy. She was later moved to a farmhouse near Tamines in Belgium, where she remained until the end of the war.
Fortunately, Fay was reunited with her family and her parents decided to move to London. Fay spent a brief time in the US. However, when her mother sadly died, she felt she had to move back to England to support her father.
Fay married Len in 1955. They settled in Stamford Hill and had two children. Their son later married and settled down in Manchester. After they had had their first child, Fay took early retirement and she and Len moved to Whitefield to be closer to them.
Fay and Len were very happy in Manchester. They have six great-grandchildren.
