Wartime refugee Dame Stephanie Shirley thanks Oswestry as she unveils blue plaque
A woman who arrived in Britain as a wartime refugee and went on to become an international entrepreneur and one of the first women in the computer industry says it is painful to see the horrors of the crisis in Afghanistan unfolding in the news.
Dame Stephanie Shirley, Companion of Honour, has been in Oswestry to unveil a plaque in her honour.
She arrived in the market town as a terrified five-year-old, a Jewish child escaping the horror of Nazi Germany.
And she said the town and particularly the Oswestry Girls High School were she was a pupil, gave her the years of calm and stability that she needed.
At a civic reception hosted by Oswestry mayor, Councillor Mark Jones, Dame Stephanie, now 88, was joined by former class mates and also other refugees who have found safety in Oswestry.
They included Ibrahim Yousseph, who with his family was rehoused in the town from Syria, and Julie Miah, co-owner of the Simla Restaurant, whose family had to flee Idi Amin's Uganda.
Dame Stephanie said: "This latest and dreadful refugee crisis shows that there will always be nasty people in his world.
"The love for an adopted country is something that only those who have lost their human rights can feel.But there will always been human kindness.
"I know the people of Oswestry will welcome Afgan refugees as they welcomed me when I arrived clutching the hand of my nine-year-old sister.
"I was traumatised and, in Oswestry I found the years of peace and a refuge that I really needed.
"It was a close knit community in quiet countryside and those in authority did the right thing in welcoming us.
"It was only on a Wednesday when it became busy. I remember the cows walking through the streets to the market in the centre of the town.
"The people here were open to a new culture, I think because it was a border town."
As a girl interested in mathematics, Dame Stephanie had to go to Oswestry Boys High School for her lessons.
Her interest in maths led her to become fascinated in the world of computers and she went on to found a billion dollar 'tech' empire which brought women firmly into the world of work during the 1960s.
In her later life she has become as well known for her philanthropy as for her entrepreneurship.
Her book, Let it Go, tells of how she is living a life of giving away the fortune that she has made, setting up charities and foundations dedicated to the computer world and to autism.
"My late son was autistic," she said.
Her love for Oswestry, she said, was so deep that she even named her cat, Oswald.
During her stay in the town Dame Stephanie was visiting her old boarding house, Oakhurst, which is currently being restored to a family home by its new owners,
