Barbara Stenning, left, who emigrated to New Zealand with her family 56 years ago, is pictured with daughter with Anne Cameron and cousin Ruth Sarahs, right. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0775390)

WHEN Barbara Stenning left Guernsey for New Zealand in 1953, she was determined to return one day.

More than half a century later she achieved her wish.

‘I have to pinch myself to realise I am actually here,’ said the 75-year-old. ‘It has been my dream to come back.’

Mrs Stenning was born in Castel in 1934 to local builder John Le Prevost and his wife, Sybil.

She remembers her father building their home near Petit Bot and attending St Martin’s School. At the outbreak of war she was five years old. She was evacuated to London and then Lancashire with her younger sister, Pamela.

She did not return to Guernsey until she was 11.

‘I remember celebrating Liberation Day in Guernsey,’ she said. ‘I have got a Liberation medal, and I have treasured it.’

She attended Vauvert School for two years before starting work as a nanny for young boys Jonathan and David Castle near Cobo.

When she was 19, the entire Le Prevost family decided to emigrate.