Our family

I met Ronald who was to be my future husband at a hockey tournament at Rampton, he knew that I was deaf and had an eye disease that could lead to blindness as one of our mutual friends had told him. I explained to Ronald in more detail what it entailed, he was very understanding and sorry that I had these problems but told me that it would make no difference to his feelings towards me. We talked about our future together and asked each other if our love would be strong enough to cope with the problems that my deafness and sight impairment would bring; he was adamant that it would make no difference. Ronald is from the hearing world and had no experience of deaf people; he had to learn that one of the hardest things that many deaf people face is socializing with hearing people.

We married at my village church on 25th September 1971 in front of many family members, friends and people from the village.  Our first daughter, Anthea was born in 1972 and Sharon in 1974. Ronald and I decided that I should be a full time mother instead of returning to work, we believed that staying at home with the children during their formative years was very important. I was there to witness their first smile, their first tooth, their first word which was dada and their first step, such precious moments that I will always treasure. When they were ill, I was there to care for them and to play and read stories but their father was the one that took them to bed and read the bedtime stories.  I was there when they arrived home from school;  I certainly enjoyed being a mother to Anthea and Sharon. Their father enjoyed playing games and singing nursery rhymes with them. When the girls were older and learning to play their guitars, their father went out and brought a second-handed violin so that he could join in with the fun but it was a complete disaster! Can you imagine what it was like with the two girls playing their guitars, their father playing a violin that he did not know how to play and our two family dogs howling loudly, well that was what it was like and I soon put a stop to that! I may be deaf but the noise that they were making was horrendous!

My sight problems took a back seat as they were not proving to be too difficult with our everyday life, and as time went by the family adapted to my circumstances in a positive way. Our two girls were brought up knowing that I had a sight problem and that I had poor night  vision and that I could not hear too well unless I had my hearing aids on; the girls knew that they had to touch me if they wanted my attention. I enjoy time-out when I take my hearing aids off as it is so peaceful and calming. When the girls wanted to talk to me they would fetch my hearing aids and give them to me.

  We enjoyed days out to places such as Dovedale, Chatsworth and Bakewell with Uncle Ken, my mother’s brother who adored the two girls. We started going further afield by organising excursions for family and friends to places such as Chester Zoo, York, Blackpool illuminations, Windsor Safari Park and London. For a number of years we went on holiday with the Buckley family, we had lots of fun and laughter.

 There were some problems due to my deafness and my night blindness, and one incident that I do remember was when we took the children to the pictures for the first time. Within minutes of the film starting, our youngest daughter, Sharon decided that she wanted to go to the toilet. My first thought was what we do now as Ronald could not take her and as I suffered from night-blindness I would not be able to take her as I would not be able to see where I was going. Ronald had the brilliant idea that Sharon should lead her mother to the “Exit” so he explained to Sharon that she was to hold her mother’s hand and take her to the “Exit” and he showed her where that was.  Did she take me to the “Exit”? No, she did not but what she did was to lead me down a row which had no way out at the other end!  Ronald realising what was happening  rescued us and took us back to our seats and then took Sharon to one of the lady members of the staff and asked her if she would take Sharon to the toilet.   After this, we decided that whenever we went to the cinema we would ensure that we went with a group of friends or family members.