I was born in Mount Street Hospital in 1946 and have lived all my life in Preston, being very proud to be a Freeman of the City.

I started my church upbringing at Emmanuel church, moving to Broughton St. John’s, before arriving here at Fulwood in 1983.

My formal education started at Roebuck St primary then at Broughton C.P. school with my secondary education at Queen Elizabeth’s at Blackburn.

Leaving school, I chose to enter the family business (in 1963) of wholesale footware. In the 70s we diversified and eventually specialised in tea and coffee, importing and blending, and am still there, blending nicely.

I have responsibilities for four children -

Emma 27 - now conducting training procedures in nursing homes

Patrick 22 (stepson) - taking a year out from university working for Intel at Swindon

Hannah 15 - studying at William Temple

Lucy 15 - studying at William Temple

I am proud to have raised my family as a single parent and hope, one day, to spend time sorting out my own life.

I am privileged to be asked to become a Steward. I am originally from the West End of Glasgow where I trained to become a medical secretary. I moved with my husband, Alan, 20 years ago to Huddersfield, wherewe lived and worked for 4 years. We moved to Preston in 1987 when I was expecting Andrew (he was a Sharoe Green baby!). I have worked with Preston Health Authority, the FHSA and have also run my own secretarial business. I now work with Alan in the Health and Nutrition Industry, working from home, helping people with weight management and optimum nutrition. We live in The Pennines in Fulwood. Andrew is now 14 years old and attends Lancaster Royal Grammar School. I look forward to serving my stewardship, with some trepidation, and hope I can live up to the work undertaken by my predecessors.

In May this year I was appointed to a second term as a Church Steward at Fulwood. My first ‘stint’ was in the mid 80s under the reign of Geoffrey Warburton when I served with the likes of Ray Armstrong, Hilda Porter, Kathleen Speight, Ron Black and Fred Rowland (in those days we coped with 4 Stewards at a time!) I owe a lot to Geoffrey for asking me to be a Steward because it was whilst on duty on a Sunday evening in July 1986 that I met my future wife Gillian – I offered her a Polo mint during the sermon and we’ve never looked back. Our family is now complete and we have three children Ben (11), Rachel (8) and Bethany (2) and, if you hadn’t noticed, we sit on the front row by the Worship Band.

I have worshipped at Fulwood all my life and have seen many changes over the years. I feel honoured that I have been given the opportunity to serve again in this capacity and look forward to the exciting and challenging time ahead as we strive to further our witness in the Community.