that she would like to paint a portrait of Gladwyn `Doc' Hall.

About ten sittings later, the portrait was complete and presented to Mr. Hall.

To his astonishment, she refused payment. "I think it's a quite wonderful painting,'' enthused Mr. Hall who, as a former Member of Parliament, remains one of St. George's best known personalities. "One of the things that thrills me is that it seems to depict my life as `an open book' because Mrs. Wardrop has detailed my political career through my Commonwealth Parliamentary Association necktie, and the two Police Medals I received.'' He told The Royal Gazette that he had "always dreamed'' of having his portrait painted. "It's really a dream come true for me.'' Mr. Hall, who was MP for St. George's North for eight years (retiring in 1988), also served for 28 years in the Bermuda Police Service, reaching the rank of Inspector.

"He had an interesting face, the kind of face I like to paint,'' the artist explained. "Now, if someone comes and asks me to paint them, I would consider that to be a commission.'' Mrs. Wardrop now lives in England with her husband Jim who, until his retirement, was superintendent of public works at the airport. He and Mr. Hall have been friends for 20 years.

This year, the Wardrops celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. "We're not likely to forget our wedding, as we got married in the eye of a very bad hurricane, in 1948. The other really bad hurricane I remember here was in 1926 -- because we were all sent home from school. I can clearly remember struggling along Cedar Avenue and the fact that the roof blew off our house.'' After attending the Bermuda High School for Girls, Mrs. Wardrop attended school in Boston where, for the next three years, she also attended the Scott Carbee School of Arts in the evenings. "I was only 13, so it was a very long day for me. I can remember doing my homework on the streetcar as I travelled from one school to the other,'' she recalled. Noting that she began drawing at about the age of four ("on the walls at home!'') she said it was her aunt, Miss Irene Hallett, who encouraged her and paid for her to attend art school.

Later, she trained as a nurse, returning to work at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Bermuda. "No, I didn't feel upset that I couldn't pursue art as a career. In any case, I would say I've been lucky as I am still able to work at my painting and I'm busy catching up on all the art I missed doing then.'' A long-standing member of the Bermuda Society of Arts, one of her works was selected for the exhibition of `Bermuda Painters' staged at the famed Mall Galleries in London several years ago. Since then, the Galleries have accepted another of her paintings and she is also a member of the Society of Women Artists in London and the Hesketh Hubbard Society.

Now, besides her studio in England, Mrs. Wardrop also has a studio in Italy.

Her work has even been exhibited in a show that was held in the home of the great painter, Giotto. "We have a little home in his village, near Florence,'' she explained.

In the 1980's, Rebekah Wardrop did a series of 12 charcoal portraits of St.

David's Islanders. These have since been presented to Masterworks, and next week, they go on exhibition in the Gibbons Walkway in Hamilton.