 
MR PANAYIOTIS MAVROMATIS
Date of birth: 3 April 1946
Place of birth: Aradippou, Larnaca
Year of arrival in the UK: 1947
My name is Panayiotis and I am the son of Evanthia and Christakis Mavromati. At a very young age we left our native island for a land thousands of miles away. We travelled with ‘The Empress of India’, a ship which was bringing troops back from Burma. We arrived at the port of Liverpool and the journey took around ten days. There to greet us was Stelios Stylianou, my godfather, who at the time had a restaurant in Blackpool. According to my mother ‘The Empress of India’ was crowded with soldiers. They were very helpful and they were even playing with my brother.
My godfather arranged for us to take the train and after a few hours we were in Euston, London. My father was waiting for us. We stayed at 76 Hansen Street. In order to keep warm we used coal fires; there was no central heating. Neither did we have a proper bathroom. Instead we used a tin bath and even that ‘luxury’ was on a weekly basis. Snow was plentiful and the winters were bitterly cold. Our younger brother was born in England. Homer Habibis was our doctor and Mrs. Kyprianou, our teacher. My parents bought a house in Hornsey and we stayed there for five years. In 1964 we moved to Redstone Road, London N8. Life in London was certainly not easy. Half of all the houses were destroyed during the war.
 Something about our family: We are all married. Vasilis is now Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Wales. His son, Nicholas studied Mathematics in Oxford and is now with the Inland Revenue. Chrissy, his daughter is a renowned violinist. Andreas, my younger brother spent most of his working life in the rag trade.He was based in the West End and he traded as ‘Evanthia of London’. His son Theoclitos is a car mechanic and his daughter Evanthia works in the media. I married Maria, a refugee from Ayios Epiktitos. I also studied mathematics and was for years employed as an accountant. We have two girls. Christina is an accountant and Evanthia studied law at university and is now set to become a solicitor.
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