The Tea Room and the Hotel

How did my grandparents, Leslie Keith Ashton O'Toole and Eda Elizabeth Elecia Shoobridge meet?

Nanna's parents, George William James Shoobridge and Hannah Maria Amelia Pearce, ran the Valley of the Waters Tea Room in Wentworth Falls. It was owned by someone else, but George and Hannah ran it and Nanna worked as a waitress there.

Grandview Hotel, Wentworth Falls

Grandpop was an accountant. He was from Balmain, NSW, but seemed to be going to various towns to do the books. Les was in Wentworth Falls because he was doing the books for the Grandview Hotel. It isn't a long walk from the Hotel to the Tea Room, and the way Grandpop told it, he walked in for a cup of tea and a slice of cake and was served by the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. After that, Grandpop went back every afternoon in the hope of seeing the lovely waitress. Nanna was quiet when Grandpop told me this, kept her head in her crossword dictionary, but I think she was pleased. The Tea Room has been demolished since to make way for a Tourist Information Centre.

Mum says her parents would talk about going to dances at the School of the Arts in Wentworth Falls, which she assumes was while they were courting.