Mary started creating stories in her head when she was paralysed from the neck down at the age of 4 with a combination of polio and diphtheria. She spent two months in an isolation hospital unable to move. Not allowed toys or books because of possible cross infection, and unable to see her family except for once a week through a glass window, her imagination was her only companion.
When she was finally released from hospital but still struggling to walk properly, she started putting her stories and drawings down on paper. Mary was five when a local newspaper reporter learned of this and wrote an article about her. The paper also published her first story about a teddy bear.
She has enjoyed writing ever since and has had a number of different forms of creative writing published and broadcast including two children’s stories published in hardback by Ladybird books.
Her dissertation on ‘Care of the terminally ill cancer patient and their family’ won the Institute of Welfare Officers Della Phillips national award. This was published and used as a model to set up a hospice abroad.
Prior to marriage into the Navy, Mary worked for the NHS, first as a student nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Mary changed career direction to become a medical secretary at the Royal Victoria Hospital Bournemouth, then as assistant medical social worker at the same hospital. Mary's hard work and dedication earned her a place as deputy personnel officer and part of the commissioning team at the new Poole General Hospital.
In 1970 she married a Royal Navy helicopter pilot. Her book, “Green Smarties”, gives an insight into what life was like for a Royal Navy wife in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s when the Navy still had postings abroad and life within the service was very different.
Mary has three children and five grandchildren. Her hobbies include playing acoustic guitar and singing in public, creative writing and performing on stage with the Bournemouth Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Mary also enjoys co-presenting programmes and heading the on-air interview team for Hospital Radio Bedside – the local hospital radio station covering five hospitals.
Chapter 29 – Close Encounter with Special Branch
March 16, 2014
Chapter 29 – Close Encounter with Special Branch