Living on the Alcester Road, which was a long road and being an only child of older parents, I didn't go out a lot, but the back of the bungalow where we lived went right back to the canal, so my dad would take me over the field and we would play in the haystacks with the farmer's children

My first job was putting rivets into teapot handles at N C Josephs, on the Birmingham Road. This was during the summer holidays

When I left school, I wanted to do Technical Drawing, because my dad painted after he'd got to a certain age ... but it was very hard for women in those days.