As a child I was painfully shy, so my mother decided there was only one thing for it – I must  act, sing, play the piano, and generally get out there and show myself, instead of hiding my head in a book.

This was my first stage appearance as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

I can still remember my mother painstakingly dabbing glue on the pale green chiffon costume she made before dropping sequins on the glue. She was so much better than me at this sort of thing. When my children were small, if they needed a fancy dress outfit, it had to be something I could fashion out of a bin liner – the kids had some great Punk outfits, I seem to remember ?

Here’s another pic of an older me in the musical ‘Lock up your Daughters’, based on an 18th century play, luridly entitled, ‘Rape upon Rape’. The modern version was a lot of fun to take part in, and, I’m guessing, not nearly as naughty as its 18th century counterpart.

My fellow actor must have been very tolerant to let me loose on her hair!

All the best from the Yorkshire moors – where it can’t decide whether to rain or not right now 🙂

Love to all,

Susan xx