Page 53 - She's One Crazy Lady!

be useful – in my case typing and shorthand. Typing has proved to be invaluable, but I cannot remember any of the squiggles of shorthand. The art room was my sanctuary as I really had developed a passion for photography and screen printing and, with excellent tutors, I would often have to be sent for to attend the less glamorous subjects. I went on to do many more art courses at the Tech. even after I had left.
With O Levels and A Levels out the
way my next challenge, in 1973, was
to get a place at the newly opened
Nene College in Northampton who
offered Teacher Training Courses. The desire to go out of county was never on my agenda, even though my friends said I should spread my wings and live away from home. I was playing county tennis and county table tennis at this time, and was having a great time, so there was no way I was going to give this up. I was also aware that Mum and Dad were going to have to partially support me financially, so I felt duty bound to stay and carry on helping with the business at weekends and in the holidays – I had to earn my keep and earn some money. It worked well, although Mum and Dad never really understood what it was all about, until I invited them over to an Open Day. They were always going on at me for not keeping my bedroom (which was my haven) tidy and despaired of the constant piles of art materials strewn everywhere. They even moaned about it to one of my highly thought of art lecturers, Mr Hill. I remember him looking Mum and Dad in the eye, telling them to leave me alone because I was doing well. He was brave! Even Dad didn’t retort, and I wasn’t nagged at again.
I loved everything about those days. I learned to drive so that I had more independence. Mick Rafferty, my driving instructor was a character and we bonded well. He nagged me a lot, but in a fun way. I used to buy him toffees to shut him up. When I passed my test, in my wonderful brown Hillman Imp, I felt free and was glad to be able to help friends and family out with lifts. It was ironic when several years ago, I received a letter from Mick’s wife to say he had sadly passed away but had left a request in his will for me to read a tribute at his funeral as he knew it would be lively! I hadn’t seen him for many years but felt so touched by his wishes; it was a privilege. I hope I didn’t let him down.
The academic side of college was much harder as we had to study so many basic courses that covered the history of education, the psychology of education, the laws of current education... and we also had to take on additional subjects. Mine was a new one – biogeography, a mixture of biology and geography. I often wondered what relevance
“
I learned to drive so that
I had more independence. Mick Rafferty, my driving instructor was a character and we bonded well. He nagged me a lot, but in a fun way. I used to buy him toffees to shut
im up. h”
53