I was born on 22nd March in Nazeing Essex. My brother was born when I was three. I attended Nazeing County Primary School when I was five. My friend Jane and I started at the same time. We arrived with our P.E. bags and satchels. Jane’s Mum had made us both a smart bag with our names embroidered on. I stayed for lunch but Jane was being collected to go home. One day I also went home for my lunch. This of course got me into trouble and I always stayed for lunch after that. School was enjoyed and I passed my cycle proficiency test, learnt to swim and joined the stamp collecting club. Many school trips were enjoyed especially to London Zoo where we enjoyed a ride on a Water Bus and site seeing. My dad worked in Stoke Newington for Kembles and commuted each day. When I was nine we were told that Kembles were moving to Bletchley and we would have to move. I was not pleased and we spent many weekends travelling up to Bletchley to look at houses. We saw many houses, but I was not happy. One bungalow my parents were very keen to buy was in Little Brickhill but when we visited it had thousands of frogs crossing the road and you had to tread on them to cross. This caused me nightmares for weeks. Another house in Bletchley was found to have a leaking roof after I switched on a light switch which caused sparks to fly across the room. Eventually a new house was found in Olney which had not been built and would allow us to make some changes. We travelled up to Olney over the next few months to watch the house being built. We enjoyed fish and chips every time we visited. We left Nazeing at the end of July with my little sister being just three weeks old. I was allowed to take my baby sister out for walks around Olney and went out on my bike. I found another girl living nearby who took me to the local school as the pool was open during the school holidays. In September I started at that school. We were not popular because we were newcomers and treated very differently from the other pupils. As soon as there was any trouble in the town we were despatched to the Headmasters office to be severely told off. I only had a year at this school before moving up to Ousedale in Newport Pagnell. I started Brownies and then moved up to Guides. We completed lots of badges and enjoyed many camps. I achieved my Queen Guides Award and then moved up to Rangers. I successfully passed my Young Leaders Certificate by helping with a local Brownie pack. At Ousedale I also started my Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. I completed my Bronze and Silver and with the help of Rangers I also completed my Gold Award. My family and I enjoyed a trip to the Guide Headquarters and Buckingham Palace to receive my award. I continued with my Guiding and achieved my Adult Leaders Certificate and took over the 1st Sherington Guide Company. I then passed my Campers Licence and have enjoyed taking girls away on camp. The Company was then joined with the 1st Stoke Goldington Guide Company and I still help each Monday evening. In 2004 a trip was organised to Abelboden in Switzerland to visit ‘Our Chalet’. My daughter and I really enjoyed the experience of visiting Switzerland. Last year we enjoyed an International Camp at Thornton College in July. The weather was fantastic and the girls enjoyed activities such as boating, climbing, and pioneering plus many others. We also joined the Bletchley Swimming Club at the Queens Pool. This meant we had to travel to Bletchley on Monday and Thursday evenings. I achieved many badges and swam in lots of races. Unfortunately the Queens Pools was demolished to make way for the Bletchley Leisure Centre. I then joined the Newport Pagnell Swimming Club which was an outside swimming pool. I was really interested in Life Saving. The class was held early on a Sunday morning. Once the Bletchley Leisure Centre pool was built we spent the dark winter evenings training in the new pool. Being a figure of eight pool made training not as easy as we had to do laps and not lengths. Trying to get a casualty out of the water was not easy either. I achieved my Bronze Medallion Badge. This badge needs to be renewed every three years. I retook this badge many times to use with the Guides. On leaving Ousedale I attended Bletchley College. I took a secretarial course for one year. We learnt typing and shorthand. On leaving the college I secured a job at Bonarts in Olney as a clerk typist. After a few years I moved companies to Francis E. Collingwood in Olney to become a secretary. I was made redundant in the April just as I was getting married in the August. I spent several months temping and painting our new house. I found a new job at Amway UK at Kiln Farm. The company finally moved to Tongwell which cut down the commuting time. My husband and I made plans to build our own home at Weston Underwood. We purchased a piece of land and had the plans approved. Our house was sold and we planned to live in a prefab bungalow on the site. The bungalow was moved on telegraph poles. The floor was rather wobbly but was fine to live in. Unfortunately at work my boss was made redundant and I was moved to another department. I was on the lookout for a new job. Mercedes-Benz was just moving into the area and I was successful in getting a new job in the Organisation and Planning Department as Secretary. All the offices were open-plan with all new furniture. Some staff had moved with the Company but a lot of new employees were being recruited. While working at Mercedes we continued to build our new house. This was done mainly at weekends and evenings. The bungalow was very cold to live in so when the office needed someone to cover Christmas holidays etc. I always volunteered taking my husband in with me. My boss transferred to Germany and a new one arrived. Once the house was finished after nearly five years I left Mercedes on maternity leave in June. My son was born in the September. I declined to return after my maternity leave and enjoyed being a mum to my son and later a daughter. My son and daughter now attend Ousedale School. This year we celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and my son celebrated his eighteenth. I still keep in contact with my friend Jane who lives in Nazeing. I now consider Milton Keynes as home.