But then lack of parental approval never stopped Carola expressing her artistic talents.

Born in Hyde, Cheshire, the daughter of Dr David Livingstone, Carola had wanted to proceed from Manchester High School to drama school. But her parents disapproved.

Nevertheless Carola, who at 64 still sings with the Bentley Operatic Society, found her life revolving around the theatre and performing arts.

Besides being a member of the Manchester University Theatre Group, the Experimental Theatre, Park Place Players, and later in Liverpool, Maxine and Friends, Carola worked as Manchester University Theatre assistant manager, as well as being a BBC and Granada TV production assistant and Manchester Royal Exchange publicity officer.

Despite her mother, by the age of 18 Carola had developed a passion for cake decoration.

She recalled: "I spent the whole summer before my sister Sandra Dwek's wedding piping roses and creating trellises for her cake."

And she has continued to this day, successfully recovering from glaucoma when she was 30.

She now has a thriving business creating wedding, barmitzvah and birthday cakes for Jewish and non-Jewish customers.

Now a grandmother of five, Carola can still work on delicate flowers in the middle of the night, especially when grandchildren come to stay.

She says: "I am not the best sleeper. I like to be creative and work when I can concentrate."

Carola decided to decorate cakes professionally more than 20 years ago when Granada TV news went computerised. As a production assistant it would have meant Carola would have had to master computers at the age of 42.

She decided on a different challenge, studying education at Liverpool John Moores University and teaching cake art and design at Liverpool Community College.

She also set up her cake decorating business, now under Liverpool Beth Din supervision.

Property developer husband Harold helps out with digital printing for photographic cakes and shaping cars when necessary.

Carola pipes by hand the verses of a barmitzvah boy's maftir or haphtorah, as well as of the multifarious designs she has created for Jewish and non-Jewish occasions.

Harold and Carola have just purchased a second home in Radlett to be near daughter Rosalind Jacobs and son Jonathan and their grandchildren.

When five years ago, Jonathan married Betti of Sao Paulo, Carola shipped the wedding cake over to Brazil and even studied Portuguese for the occasion.

Elder son Dr Louis Daniel is fluent in Mandarin, necessary to treat his Chinese patients in Soho.

Carola, who chaired the Liverpool 35s, edited the WIZO newsletter and campaigned for a play area in Calderstones Park, is now learning bridge and tai chi.