I worked in the NHS in England for the best part of thirty-nine years. My initial training was in Leicester in the late 1970s and this training was the focus of my first memoir – Hurry up Nurse: memoirs of nurse training in the 1970s. This book has been a consistent kindle bestseller throughout 2018 in the USA and at times in the UK.
I moved to London in 1980 to undertake a specialist cardio-thoracic nurse training course, working at the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green. My time in London is covered in my second memoir – Hurry up Nurse 2: London calling.
I travelled around Asia for three months in 1982 before moving to Berkshire. I later trained as a midwife and worked as a sister on the labour ward. After this I worked for a time in the pharmaceutical industry as a research nurse and then moved on to train as a district nurse, obtaining a BA (Hons) in community health studies at Reading university. After this I completed an MA in Education for health and social care.
My father became ill in the early 2000s and I moved back to the Midlands, living in Derby. I worked as a community matron and an advanced nurse practitioner in my latter years, leaving to pursue a writing career in 2016. More nursing and midwifery memoirs are in the pipeline.
I never confined myself totally to nursing, I have been an amateur photographer for around forty years and ran a photo restoration business for a few years. I have taught youth groups and children’s groups as part of my church life.
I am embracing life as an author and write across genres, more recently focussing on a cosy mystery series based around my love of cruising. The first book in this series, A Cruise to Murder (dedicated to my mum who died 30 years prior to this publication) hit the bestseller list in September 2018 following a Kindle Daily Deal which of course made me very happy. I am continuing to focus on writing and have plans for a PI series once the cosy mystery series is established. I love to hear from readers, so please get in touch.
I believe there are no limits to what a person can achieve if they set their mind to it, no matter what background we are born into, we should not be restrained by boundaries. I was born into a working class background where there was no money and life was a daily struggle for my mother. In spite of this she did her best and taught us that the most important thing in life was to be honest and earn respect. She once told me that it takes a lifetime to develop a good name and only a moment to lose it. I have never forgotten this. I left school with hardly any qualifications but I was determined to make something of my life, if it hadn’t been nursing, it would have been something else. I don’t believe that your background dictates who you are. I hope that my memoirs demonstrate this. I hope to engage readers from every walk of life through my writing. Please enjoy – if you do, tell others, if not, tell me and I will work hard to improve.