1978 - 1985 My Childhood

Now I've set the backdrop I will tell you about my childhood. It was a good childhood, I had everything I needed. We didn't have a television until my father won one in a raffle when I was about nine. I used to swap goes on my swing for watches of someone else telly. But it was good, I played out a lot and was inventive. I climbed the willow tree, made dens and mud pies. I made dandelion curls by tearing the stems into thin strips and putting them in water so that they curled up tightly. We always had animals, there was Scruff, who was a fantastic dog to grow up with. He came from a farm in Wales and had attitude as so often Jack Russels do. We would put him in the dolls pram with a biscuit under the pillow, he would lie there in the pram with his head pressed firmly down on the pillow to prevent anyone from removing the biscuit. But he had a line, that you learnt not to cross. I grew up with a healthy respect for animals and an understanding that they to have a limit to what they can take.

My father not only taught at the school he was also the manager of the farm and was involved heavily with it's day to day running. For many years he had sole responsibilty and worked very hard. Even at the weekends he was usually gone before we got up and more often than not, especially when I was small, didn't get home until after I was in bed. Because of this we didn't see much of him at home, so as I got older I spent more and more time at the farm. This was a wonderful opportunity and one I am grateful for. I used to help bring the cows in for milking and help to milk them, I helped feed the pigs and taught calves to drink from buckets. I played in the haystacks, building dens and such.

Many of memories from childhood revolve around that farm, especially the ones with my father in. Like when I used to watch the cows who were due to calve, and at the first sign of a hoof being to appear I would run and tell him it was happening. He would tell me i would be hours before the calf was born, but I would race back just in case. One day I was with him when a calf got stuck and needed help. My father tied rope around the calf's legs and I stood in front of him and we pulled the calf out together.

One day when I was about seven and I was exploring the farm, I earnt another couple of scars. I was behind the old chicken sheds, clambering over some old pieces of wood that had been dumped there. I slipped and fell onto one that had a rusty nail sticking out of it. The nail went into the side of my knee, and as I got up it also scraped another gauge out of my knee. The blood from the two ran together so we thought it was only one. My father took me home and mother cleaned me up. I was then whisked down to the hospital and needed stitches. Because the cuts were so close to the bone they couldn't give me any anaesthetic so I squeezed my father's hand as tightly as possible.

They got to know me by name at the casualty department of my local hospital. I was in and out of there on a regular basis. I was usually greeted with 'what have you done this time?'

My sister bought goats when she was fourteen and although they took up a lot of the garden it was a pleasure to have them. We raised several kids and had goats for many years. We were always surrounded by animals and it's a passion that has lived on.

My brother had a tough childhood, he had a lot of health problems right from the start. He was born with a squint and club feet, both of which had to be put right. He suffered meningitis when he was about two, which left him with quite bad hearing loss. As he grew he suffered from a 'sot hip' which meant he had to wear a caliper, which whilst learning to walk on, he broke his other leg very badly and ended up in a wheelchair for a while. He had his appendix out one Boxing Day and also suffered from Pluracy.

My mother on the other hand, I saw all the time. I don't remember her being a particularly cuddly mum, but she was always there when we needed her. She would sleep on the foot of my bed if I was ill and comfort us if we were hurt. But my mother is not very open with her emotions even to this day. Maybe the problems that my brother had toughened her.

Overall my early years were fun and fulfilling. I did well at school and was fairly well behaved. I did have a knack for wandering off and I was a bit of a tomboy, but basically just your average kid.