ABSTRACT
When I left school I went to teacher training college at Bognor Regis. I chose this college because I read that it had an equal number of men and women so I thought I stood a better chance of getting a boyfriend there! I chose the career because I had seen a film about the education of a deaf girl: the film was called Mandy and it had a big effect on me. I decided that was what I wanted to do, teach deaf children, but I had to qualify as a teacher first. I applied to Bognor and went for an interview. I remember I had to read a passage in which there was a conversation between country folk. I put on a West Country accent to read these conversations and this raised a smile from the woman interviewing me. I was accepted at Bognor and started in October 1960. On arrival, a group of six of us were shown around by a second-year student, a young woman. A man called Mick Wilson, another second-year student, came over to our group and invited us all up to his room for coffee. The young woman showing us around said, “Mick Wilson never does that.” We went for coffee and, whereas everyone else was given a normal sized mug, my coffee arrived in a giant beer mug. This was the man I was eventually to marry, but at the time I was completely unaware that he was making a statement. There was a dance at the end of the first week and all first years were paired with someone of the opposite sex from the second year to accompany them to the dance. My partner was a tall, lanky guy but at the dance Mick Wilson persuaded this man to let me go with him instead. My room mate, a quiet girl who was easy to get on with, said that Mick Wilson really liked me. I could not believe this and said, “I think he has confused me with someone else.”
