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| St Mary’s Upper 5 dorm 1966. Back row left to right: Anne Grobecker, Vicky Freer, Gerry Dibsdale, Liz Gould, Alison John, Janet Langford. Front row: Suzanne Wigginton (wiggy), Prue Redfern, Judy Clark, Meryl |
My talent was languages and, even though she was an eccentric woman, I was quite fond of Miss Howarth and did well at German, French and Latin. I kept in touch with her in her retirement in the Lake District with her sister - they were both friends of my grandmother. I hated Dr Mac with a vengeance, as she never missed an opportunity to put me down and she seriously affected my confidence for years.
I boarded from L5 onwards at St. Mary’s and relished the experience and made lots of friends in addition to my day girl friends. We had lots of fun – Ouija boards in the dorm after lights out, April fools on Matron etc..
Since then, I got a degree in modern languages and library science at Aberystwyth and worked in academic libraries for 10 years. I then moved to Esso where I learned to manage teams of people and was given a fair amount of responsibility in running their buildings (facilities management). After Esso I was with a major commercial property developer, then outsourced facilities management finally looking after Europe, Middle East and Africa for an international firm of architects. In my spare time I sailed, skied and played tennis. Ill health (rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia) took its toll and I eventually had to take early retirement in 2003. Since then my health has slowly improved and I am managing to lead a relatively normal life.
I married Brian in 1994 and have 3 stepchildren and 4 step grandchildren who are all wonderful. We had 10 years of retirement living 6 months of the year in south west France, which was terrific. Sadly, Brian died of pancreatic cancer 2 years ago and I am building a new life and making some new friends. My step daughter, Charlotte, lives near me and I am very involved in her charity funding education for children in Madagascar. I am a keen gardener, I have a beach hut at Calshot and volunteer at the local museum and art gallery. I am travelling a bit more – some of my family live in Oman – and I mustn’t forget to mention my 2 lovely dogs, a French rescue Yorkipoo and a corgi.
I still see Joanna Baldwin, Julie Moore, Dunja Daniloff and Liz Gould. Liz and her husband, Sandy, moved to Lymington last year and I am really enjoying their company and our fortnightly pub crawls!
That’s a very abbreviated version of the last 50 years. I look forward to seeing other tales.
