ALUMNAE IN THE NEWS
Wing Walking at Nearly 90-years-old Sheila Hallas, MBE, Class of 1948, really lived up to the LEH motto – Hope Favours The Bold – as she displayed her pluck wing walking for charity a few months short of her 90th birthday. The sprightly daredevil undertook the challenge to mark the 50th anniversary of her fundraising initiative, the Combined Charities Christmas Card Shops, which Sheila founded in 1971 and has since gone on to raise over £5.5m for good causes. She says: “2020 was a disaster for all charities. The pandemic prevented us opening our five pop-up Christmas card shops and stopped all fundraising. “As this is our 50th year, I wanted to make a special effort to raise much-needed funds for our charities. It was a wonderful experience. I’m so glad I did it. It was exhilarating but scary, as despite straps, you don’t feel tethered!” For more information about Sheila’s fundraising initiative, please see her website: www.christmas-cards.org.uk
One Moment Could Change Everything The debut novel from alumna author Caroline Khoury, who attended the Junior School from 1982-86, is published this month and is already being lauded as the most romantic read of 2022. From London to Istanbul, Paris to Beirut, It Must Be Love is a heartwarming story that will leave you believing in the power of fate and destiny. Caroline says: “It’s a dream come true having my book
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published. I’ll never forget my LEH Junior School years, seeing my creative writing being displayed in the cabinet outside Mrs Braithwaite’s office. She instilled in me a belief that anything is possible if you work hard and believe in yourself.” When Abbie met Oz, they were young, idealistic students from different backgrounds, but their connection was unmistakable. Then Oz went home to Istanbul and life moved on. Now Abbie is with the man she thinks she’s going to spend the rest of her life with, until she meets Oz again – a chance encounter that might change everything.
recently returned to the UK after more than a decade living in Hong Kong, Japan, and America.
Caroline Khoury was born in Beirut to a Lebanese mother and Welsh father, and grew up in suburban London. She
It Must Be Love by Caroline Khoury was published by Penguin in February 2022.
