Preface

WHY AM I DOING THIS?

When I lived in Hobart I was an active member of U3A (University of the Third Age) and one of the courses I taught was a memoirs course called Writing Your Life . Class members would sometimes say `I don’t know what to write, I’ve never really done anything interesting.’ My reply was always the same. `If one of your grandparents, or better still your great grandparents, had written an account of their life, wouldn’t you just treasure that?’

I am not writing this just for the present generation who may or may not find it interesting. Perhaps some time in the future one of my descendants will wonder what life was like for a woman born in 1934 and there my life will be online, complete with photos.

I have another reason for wanting to leave a record of my life and that is because it has been so enjoyable. My childhood was carefree and happy with loving parents but I really feel that my life began when I met the remarkable Reg Carr. What if we had never met? I can’t even begin to imagine what that might have been like. He was the most cheerful, optimistic, positive person I have ever known and his enthusiasm for life carried us all along with him. Things didn’t always go smoothly for us but Reg never lost his sense of humour or the conviction that things would all work out eventually – and they always did. I used to think that if the house burned down in the night, he would just get out there in the morning with a hammer and nails and build us another one, still with a smile on his face!

The other reason for my wonderful life has been my six amazing children. I have often told them that the best presents I have ever received have been the six of them, they brought joy to both of us when they were born and they have continued to do so every day of their lives, so this record of my life is also a tribute to the seven wonderful members of my family who have made it so much fun. I couldn’t have done it without you, so Cheers to you all! If I could rewind my life like a videotape and live it all over again, I would do so.

One more thing needs to be said and that is a very big thank you to my grandson Linus Kirkwood who offered to build the website for this book and has made the whole thing look so much better than I could ever have done. And thanks also to my daughter Madeline Carr who managed to find a photo of me for almost every year of my life in her remarkable collection ‘ From Nought to Ninety ’.