Where it All Began

Ok here goes finally getting started with my blog. I have read some blogs and dont know how mine will match up, but then again this is me and you are you! I have decided to give you a quick look at my life before bowel cancer so I hope youre sitting comfortably and I will begin.
The story begins over half a century ago (yes Im that old) when I was born by C section to loving parents George and Winnie. Sadly they had lost 3 babies all stillborn before I came along.
We lived in the seaside town of Worthing,West Sussex in a lovely bungalow called Faraway in Princess Avenue sounds like a fairytale name doesnt it!
I had a good childhood, probably thought of by some as a spoilt brat but I look on it as being loved by two wonderful people.
However that all ended in 1967  a few months before my 10th birthday when mum lost her battle with ovarian cancer. Of course I didnt know then any details just that suddenly after being in hospital for so long she wasnt ever coming home.
Well thats ok I hear you say you still have your dad which is true, but if only it was that simple. My wonderful dad was War blind and disabled so unable to care for me. My maternal grandparents had been staying with us but they had to go back to their own home in Stoke-on-Trent. Dad was fortunate to have the backing of St Dunstans, a wonderful charity for war blinded vetarans, and they arranged for a live in housekeeper.Had we not had that option I dont know where I would have gone or how my life would have turned out.
The next thing I couldnt understand was why we had to move. It was only a two bedroom bungalow so obviously now not suitable for us.I didnt want to leave Faraway I still hoped that maybe mum would walk back through the door and it had all been a big mistake. I didnt want to leave the only home I knew, the memories, the big garden, my friends.

We moved early in '68 to a larger 3 bedroom bungalow in Worthing. For a while I had to catch the bus to school, but then came another move, junior to senior school. This time I could walk to school, or ride my bike if (a) I had got up early enough or (b) I wanted to bump into certain boys that caught the train to school!
The next few years passed quickly, I left school at 16 to start work and at 21 moved to London to work for Mecca bingo and another chapter in my life started.