love and generosity that built the foundations of what my mother was to
become and that of her children and grand-children.
After finishing School in 1958, it was time to embark on working life. Her
chosen career path was that of an apprentice be-spoke tailoress for the
renowned Glasgow tailor’s; Shearer and Hunter. It was there she learnt her
craft and dressed some of Scotland's most dapper gentleman which would
later include my grandfather and father.
During this time,
which now leads into
the swinging 60’s, my
mother met my father,
Jack Shimmons at
the Majestic Dance
Hall, in Glasgow,
locally known as the
magic stick. My
father seeing this,
young, beautiful
vision across the
dance hall, picked up
the courage to ask
“Are you dancing” to
be met with the reply,
“Are you asking”. So
on that fateful night,
the love affair of my
mother and father
began. The courting
lasted all of 9 months
before they got engaged and 7 months later they marched down the aisle at
St. Oswald’s Church, Kings Park.
They setup home in the Southside of Glasgow and lived a carefree life for
many years until August 74 when my sister Yvonne came screaming and
crashing into this world followed quietly by myself in the spring of 1977.
Life in Glasgow was good for all of us but the time came in 1987 when the
decision was made to move to England and it was then we packed up the
car and arrived here in Godmanchester. It’s fair to say that life was very
different for the Shimmons family and took time to adjust but in my mother’s
own typical way, she just rolled up her sleeves and got on with it. She was
the back bone of our family, and this attitude, to get on with things, typified
her.
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