The Fleetwood I Left Behind

A Memory of Fleetwood.

I was born in Fleetwood in 1947 but seemed to oscillate between there and Malaya for a number of years up to the age of 12 just before dad died. My first memories are of starting at Stella Maris convent and then being whisked off abroad for some time. When I returned to Fleetwood I attended St Mary's School in London Street before once again heading back to Malaya my second home. My dad died at the tender age of 39 in 1961 out in Malaya and this then ended our travels abroad. I lived in Hesketh Place and had a sister Marisa, and two brothers, John and Michael. My fondest memories of Fleetwood are swimming at the open air baths in summer to the music of Del Shannon, the Fish Trades dances at the Marine Hall where I fell in love with John Edwards (for simply being nice to me because I was a bit tubby then), the most gorgeous fish and chips from Rimmers chippy near to my home, playing on the Mount nearby and the beautiful Parkinson family who lived by us in Hesketh Place and whose mum was just the lovliest person to me when I fell and badly gashed my arm. I also want it to be known that my teacher at St Mary's was the wonderful (and late,no doubt) Tom Armour who was the greatest inspiration to me in my schooling and my future because he was like a second dad and believed in me and told me that I could achieve anything if I had faith in myself. At that time, I was down, extremely insecure and needed to be strong for my family as I was the oldest at home then. It was a mammoth task but Mr Armour was my shining light and was all that was good and decent, and encouraged me to go for it, God Bless him.

Fleetwood will always be in my heart and I would love to hear from anyone who remembers me. I had visions for my future and eventually went on to realise some of my dreams though I never made it onto the big screen! I have lived all over the world and two years ago returned to the UK, after 11 years in Australia. I now live in Wales with Roger my husband of 33 years and we are busy renovating our property at present. I intend to visit Fleetwood sometime, having only paid it a visit twice in the last 25 years, so it would be great to hook up with anyone who remembers me. As it stands, my heart will always be in the UK but I think that we will be heading back to Aussie in the next couple of years, but we will see. If any of you reading this saw a couple on To Buy Or Not To Buy last year who were from OZ then that was us hahahahah. But yes, I will always treasure those memories of my (intermittent) Fleetwood childhood. Just one last thing though, I was bullied so badly at St Mary's School in London Street, that if any of you reading this were the perpretators, then I would like to meet up with you too, to see how you have fared since then. Regards to you and yours. Pat