I was born in Birmingham and  just about scraped into that generation they call ‘Baby Boomers’, though I doubt my parents were attempting to boom the post- war generation by having me.  It was more the desire of my dad who wished for a daughter after having a son seven years earlier.  He got his wish. 

They soon moved from their two bed council house, into a three bed on a new estate in south Birmingham where I spent my life until I left aged twenty to be a wife and mother to two children; a daughter and son.  After being a stay-at-home mum and finally dying of boredom, I persuaded my parents to look after my 3-year old son for each afternoon and my neighbour to collect my daughter at the end of the school day, allowing me to obtain a part-time job as a secretary.  At the same time, both Rob and myself returned to study, he as an electrical/electronics engineer and me as a teacher. 

It was hard keeping the part-time study, part-time job and mum balls in the air, but eventually the hard work paid off and we both went on to have successful careers.  Never happy with the status quo, I accumulated additional qualifications by taking courses in teaching exercise to music and photography.   My career ensured further study as technology became mainstream, leading to the abandonment of teaching nice young ladies business and secretarial skills. I can still touch type at speed (useful) and read and write Pitman shorthand (not so useful).  I eventually found myself teaching Information Technology to intermediate and advanced students at my college in the West Midlands, becoming a senior teacher in my later years.