My mother was born just before Christmas in 1945. She was always a little bit miffed about the fact that she was born so close to Christmas. Well-meaning and usually generous people would tell her that they had bought her a ‘nice joint present’ – that injustice was something we were always made aware of! My mother’s sister Kathleen told me of her excitement as her little baby sister came home so close to Christmas and at just eight-years-old she was allowed to hold the baby before nearly falling baby-and-all over her mother’s suitcase. The family all lived at Sunny Hill Cottage, Minnott’s Hill in Barkston. There was no electricity and no indoor toilet. The austerity of the post war years would shape her as she grew. I remember her talking about rations – a way of life that youngsters nowadays would find hard to believe. She could still get quite excited by a very occasional ¼ of sweets much later in life. It was in the family home that her lifelong love of the ‘wireless’ was formed. She always spoke of fond memories of listening to ‘The Archers’ whilst sitting on her father’s knee. Right up until the last few weeks we knew never to phone home between 7.02 and 7.15 on a weeknight! She attended the St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School. Bridget O’Sullivan, Rosemarie’s cousin, who was in her class throughout those years, recalled paying a penny to get on the Bluebird bus that took them to school. Mr Murphy taught her all subjects. They had their First Communion together, and enjoyed playing tennis on West Street. From there, having passed the Eleven Plus, she attended the Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School (KGGS). She was bright and performed well in the A stream. She took pride in her academic attainment. It must be remembered that opportunities for a daughter of Irish immigrants were limited in England in the early 1960s: she would have to fight hard to create opportunities for herself. Despite my mother achieving a very respectful set of ‘O’ levels, she left education at this point to join the civil service, where she worked in the tax office for 3 years.