Education
When I got a place at Stretford Grammar School for Girls, I was the first in my family to go to grammar school.
It was a big deal. My sisters both attended the local comprehensive where the education included practical courses like typing, cooking, woodwork and both of them would leave at age 16 to pursue jobs in offices.
I however, was given the option to study all three sciences, French, History, art as well as core subjects of maths and English. My friend, who wasn't very good at history (essentially writing essays about everything we studied on a particular topic) was given the 'lower' study program; government citizenship and learned about tax, law and central government. I remember asking the head mistress, a stuffy middle-aged woman who wore rasping suits and and a lot of hairspray, if I could transfer to the other class. I mean surely this stuff was more important than Weimar Republic constitutional reform policies. Apparently not. I was to continue on the academic route and be grateful.
This didn't really wash at home either. Mum and Dad, both left school early. Dad worked as a mechanical engineer and Mum was a housewife and part time secretary. They were very much 'working class' where success was measured in tangible output so Dad was also unsure of the practical application of studying history. They stood back, as I completed homework diligently and wondered what it all meant.
The Right Fit
I'd struggled with bullying in school, so wasn't keen to stay on for the sixth form and my favourite subject of art seemed unlikely to offer a career path, a notion my Dad was keen to drill, so I booked an appointment with the careers advisor. She was aghast, that I was contemplating leaving at 16, so gave me 'Hairdressing' as an option, which I did consider before finally settled on Dad's idea of draughtsman. ( there were no draughtswomen in those days) This involved drawing- my favourite pass-time and as I deemed architecture was just drawing buildings, I chose to enter my Dad's world of engineering and the thought of an all male environment was appealing to me after I had struggled in an all female one. I started an apprenticeship in a consulting engineering firm in Sale 1976.
I shall write separately about that experience as I think readers would be interested to here how a young woman coped in a male dominated world during the 1970s, but for now we will move on.
I remained with this company for 5 years whilst studying in college then followed the normal route of contracting. I worked for a variety of consulting engineering companies in and around Manchester on a self employed basis for the next 25 years. Then in 2008, a government scheme offered a bursary for people in industry to qualify as teachers. I took it.