About Me
I was born in 1944, war was still raging in Europe, I personally have no recollection of this of course.
My father was in the Army, he was away fighting in Germany and Holland, doing his part for the freedom of this country. He didn't see me until I was 18 months old.
I came from a very humble, working class background, my mother later was working two jobs, and my grandmother had three cleaning jobs just so that we could survive.
My parents divorced when I was 10 years old, it was then we went to live with my grandmother.
I passed the 11 plus and attended Ribston Hall Grammar school, where I received a very good all round education.
After leaving school I attended night school, taking a secretarial course, this was advantageous for me to work mainly in administration.
At the age of 16 years I became a young Socialist. I was entered into a youth speaking contest, where I won the 'best chairman' in the county. In the finals of this competition in London our team came second.
After I married and had my children, I went back out to work, I was secretary for local companies before I decided to become a nurse. Later I worked for Victim Support, this consisted of visiting victims of crime to see what help we could offer them. I was also a carer to the elderly, visiting them in their own homes and helping them to live out their lives in dignity and with respect.
Having a severely mentally handicapped child it was very difficult for me to remain in work for any length of time, it meant that it was necessary for me to take a great deal of time off work to look after him.
When he died at the age of 9 years, I was able to rethink my future career. I decided to go back to administration, I became assistant Export Manageress at a local health food company.
Now that I am 64 years of age, I have become very aware of the hardships the pensioners and disabled suffer on a day to day basis. I am very passionate about the pensioners receiving their rights in an aging society. We have become the forgotten generation, I wish for this to change, my intentions are to be the voice of the people who unfortunately are living below the poverty line. In many countries, the elderly are revered and treated with the greatest respect. There are approximately 11 million pensioners in the UK, many of whom will suffer this winter because they will have to make the hardest of choices on whether to 'heat or eat'. There sadly, will be deaths of some elderly this winter from either hypothermia or the lack of a substantial diet. Is this the way our Governments show gratitude to those who paid all of their working lives into the system and fought for their country?
I believe that 'Grey power' can make a difference, so let us show this Government that we are demanding that we live out our days in dignity, we deserve this at the very least.
The pensioners and the disabled are the only members of our society who don't have a choice about how much money we get to live on, it is a fixed income, decided by men in grey suits. It is time for us to stand up and be heard. Governments should take heed that we are a force to be reckoned with.