On Friday, 10 October 1947, the Union Castle line ship Durban Castle left Capetown in South Africa, bound for Southampton. Amongst the passengers was a young actress, Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson, known as Gay, who occupied a first-class cabin, number 126 on B deck.
Gay Gibson was twenty-one years old. Born in England, she had gone to a shorthand typing college immediately after she had left school. Once she was qualified she took a position as a typist in Liverpool before turning her hand to teaching the skills necessary to be a good secretary. It was whilst she was teaching that she discovered a love for the stage and began to take small parts in various shows in and around Liverpool.
At the time, Gay lived with her mother in Bebington Road, Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, but when the war broke out in 1939, she joined ENSA and began working on shows for the serving troops. She spent some time in the Intelligence Corps and, after hostilities were over, she travelled out to Johannesburg where her acting career blossomed. Now it was time to return to England where there were more opportunities for an up and coming actress.