Hello, Mike!
It is wonderful to have the opportunity
to all be in touch again, and I thank you for the website, which
has made such interesting reading! I have always remembered the
story about you when you first went walk-about with your guitar,
taking the day off school, and boarding a certain train.....And
the words ( were they Beefie's?) ...."Going anywhere, Murray?"
Little did he think that it was to be but the beginning of so
many adventures!!
My lifestory is compacted below. I greatly
look forward to being with you all in August! Will be bringing
my chum, Catherine (Mackenzie), and, if she can do this in time,
will forward her story to you a.s.a.p.( as she does not -as yet!
- have a computer.
Incidentally, Jean Grant ( my other chum
), became "Nurse of the Year" in Dundee Hospital, then
she followed me to London, and lived with us till she married
my brother -in-law, a Doctor, and they settled in Watford. He
does not keep well, and Jean would rather contact us herself when
she can. She has 4 children, all grown-up, but no grandchildren!
She teaches music in her home, and her personality is as bubbly
and warm as ever! I will give her all the news of all of you when
I can.
Well here goes, folks.......
After graduating from Jordanhill in '64, became engaged, and after teaching for 2 years in Alness, married a Highland-born, but London-reared, Public schoolboy, and moved to London and taught there whilst David completed his Law Examinations. Promotion for him brought us to Maidenhead and to Oxford subsequently, but, whilst in London, I specialised in Special Needs teaching, and, it was to become my life's work! After the Warnock Report, Oxford., being her city, was first to put her ideas into practice, and I was head-hunted, and with the aid of a Welsh lady, we set up, in Oxpens Further Education College, the first Further Education Unit for Adults with Learning Difficulties, in the whole of Britain, obtaining much publicity as a result!
SADLY, I had to leave with the 3 little ones a year later, as my marriage had broken up....And I wanted back home....But it had to be in instalments.....And a mere 6st. 12lb. of me was to recross the border, and, meningitis and our sadness had caused my childhood hearing difficulties ( did anyone know that I was born deaf ? ) to return...... Requiring 2 hearing aids, but no time to collect these for the next 18 years!!....
A new job was to take me to Dumfries and Galloway College of Further Education, where, again I initiated these same courses for this area, and loving every minute of my life there with the children.... and in a 17th Century Hostelry... and was nominated for "Homes and Gardens"...
Everything complete with job and house, and one brilliant child off to University to read Law at 16 years of age, saw me heading in the right direction again, and, would you believe it! ....for the third time initiated all these courses again for our wonderful highland Region!!
It was difficult to follow the old hostelry, and I moved 7 times in 2 years before stumbling accidentally across the house I've always loved!! So here, I am, dear classmates, retired from teaching now 4 years, and running a Guest House ( with hundreds of others! ) here in Inverness! Our website is http://www.ivybankguesthouse.com
I do hope you'll come to visit or to stay
one day!
I look forward to seeing all of you in August!
THANK YOU all for coming - and from so far
! - to our Reunion!