I entered this world on June 23rd 1956 in a tiny back to back house in Tipton, West Midlands. As the third child in a house that consisted of two bedrooms and one room downstairs I was promptly placed in a washing basket, there being no room for a cot.
I Hear Your Calling
I have a passion for all animals, but especially dogs. In my day job I make a lot of home visits and usually return to the office wearing stray hairs of varying shades as memories of the cuddles I have demanded from the dogs I have met that day.
I have been a Spiritualist for over 30 years and was the first secretary to the Spiritualist Aid charity. It was this role that took me out to Croatia to deliver medicine to the orphanages and refugee camps. That trip was certainly the most humbling experience of my life.
Last year, at the age of 60, I accomplished my life long ambition when my first novel “I Hear You Calling” was published. I am now working on my second.
Although I hear you Calling is my first published novel it is not my first completed one. Like another author (much more famous than myself) I lost my first ever completed manuscript on public transport. “The Danny Jackson Story” was written by hand in 8 exercise books with all the passion my 17 year old self could muster. I penned the final full stop whilst baby sitting at my sister’s house and caught the bus back home feeling very proud with my bulging carrier bag of work. Why then did I forget to pick it up when I got off the bus?
I could not exist without caffeine and Cadbury’s chocolate.
As an ex-teacher I now work as an Education Officer dealing with school exclusions. (A role that I bestowed upon my main female character in I Hear you Calling.)
I started my family early in life and had two children by the age of 21. They have gone on to give me three wonderful grandchildren between them and now I find myself about to become a great grandmother at the age of 61.
My holiday passion is Florida. Every third year (it takes that long to save up enough) we hire a villa in Orlando and spend 14 glorious days in the sunshine; shopping, eating and, of course, visiting Mickey Mouse!
And finally: a confession to my Mum in the Spirit World.
“Mum, you know when we moved from that awful old house into that brilliant council house when I was 10? With a kitchen, bathroom and three bedrooms as well as a separate living room? Well, it was all a bit exciting. Do you also remember how someone pulled the false drawer off the sink unit and you blamed the removal men and complained to the company? It was me. Sorry, I never knew false drawers existed you see. Love you Mum x