In 1965 my family moved from Nottinghamshire to Dunbar; I remember being disappointed that although I was at school in England I was not able to attend my new school until I turned five. Although I loved school and grew up surrounded by the headmaster, headmistress and several other teachers I did so look forward to those long summer holidays which seemed to be much longer than they probably were and also the weather seemed to be hot and sunny every single day.
Dunbar at that time was a very pretty little seaside town and seemed to have a certain charm and innocence about it. During those long hot summers we would get involved in any local activities and attractions. I remember my brother winning the treasure hunt on the main beach, whilst my sister and I won chocolate bars for having the best “put up hair style”. We also won a few sandcastle building competitions.
One particular summer when I was in my early teens I was asked to participate in the local competition of “It’s a Knock-out”. I had to swim, be in a row-boat, put on silly clothing and eat sticky buns – all in the good cause of entertaining the locals and holiday makers. At the end of the fun there would have been live music and some type of barb-e-que.
My family was particularly keen on days out into the countryside where we would find an idyllic little spot by a small stream where we could attempt to catch fish with out little nets. We would climb any hilly areas and play for most of the day until we were exhausted and hungry. Our mother made the most wonderful picnic food and I can remember chilling the fruit juice in the river in floating containers.
My sister and I loved to paint, draw and make things, I used to make dresses for all my dolls and would make them for my friends’ dolls as well (it probably came as no surprise that I ended up with my own fashion design business). We used to make mosaic pictures from shells we collected from the beach. We painted outside from time to time capturing the warm summers and all the flowers that would bloom growing wild in the countryside.
As a family we would all attend the summer fete held in Lauder Park, where we would watch Scottish country dancing on the main stage whilst at the same time having one eye on some of the other attractions.
During my years at Dunbar Grammar School I won the sports cup four years consecutively and as a result of this represented my school at the county sports each year. I so enjoyed being part of a team and felt proud to win for our school.
Although as a family we were quite sporty we did also like to read and would often sit on the beach in the summer with our favourite books. Our dogs loved to go for a walk along the beach which resulted in us often spending a lot of time there, we also loved to watch the waves roll in the winter changing the sea from a warm inviting place to swim to almost wild and dangerous with its cool grey blue tones.
I was in the brownies at primary school and then progressed on to the girl guides and loved nothing more than the challenge resulting in another badge to sew on the arm of my sleeve. I always enjoyed attending any outings no matter if it was a nature trail where we would identify local trees and birds or a team building exercise.
I once brought a new friend home and later on my mother said she often wondered where I found the time to accommodate all my friends and many hobbies’.
Although I am now in my forties I do not seem to have changed as I still have many friends and hobbies. I get up four mornings a week to go to the health club where I participate in the early morning classes (body step, aerobics, circuit training, Kung Fu fighting) before going off to my business. I also do Hip Hop dance on Sunday morning.
I have several friends that are artists and regularly go to art exhibitions and have from time to time got involved in organising some joint ventures with art and fashion. I have designed outfits for stage, television, movie stars, famous authors and many interesting people who have all either become friends or just memorable one-off situations.
As I have a fashion design business which has been successful for 20 years, it has enabled me to travel and attend various interesting functions, charity balls and other celebrity evenings. I often provide a fashion show where the proceeds will go to my two most favourite charities and I was honoured to attend a lunch and meet the Duchess of Kent who is patron to one of the charities I have helped a lot in the past few years.
I think growing up in an age where society was more relaxed and we were left to develop our talents in a natural process rather than feeling “pigeon holed” or over pressured suited me and certainly I feel as though I had a well balanced childhood.
Although Ian and I are not married we have been together for nineteen years and both have varied circles of friends and activities which we feel helps keep us young in mind and we are always keen to meet new challenges in all areas of our life. We very much look to the future with determination to do well in business and continue to enjoy both existing hobbies and find new ones to experience.