Birthday for
Joy
today
..... happy birthday most beautiful human ....... she is in the country so she may read this.
Joy - our first of two beautiful human daughters, was born when we were working in an Approved School in Mobberley Cheshire. Approved by the government to hang on to young offenders and continue their schooling at the sme time. (Sometimes it was difficult to hang on to them!).
Joan and me were House-parents for 15 boys. All from the Manchester area. The house was a semi-detached with another which had a further 15 young men. Staff covered the care of 30 of them at times - and at other times just the 15.
Joy was brought up in the early years eating pilchards for breakfast. Force fed by the boys! We gad a home office schedule of menus to ensure they had a balanced diet!
I can picture her now - sat in here high chair at meal times - surrounded by the boys who all wanted her attention. They fought to push her pram around the house. One of them helped her to take her first step on the institutional 'home office' carpet. She was sanity and reality injected into their un-pretty regular institutional routine.
Soon after the birth - Joan had returned to work and........... there she was in the mornings cooking breakfast for 30 boys plus staff. She was about 22/23 at the time. I was waking the boys and getting them to attempt to wash and ready for school and supervising them to get to breakfast on time. Also I was dressing baby Joy - changing the nappy (not disposable in these days)....... and getting her ready for Pilchards!!
Later years she lived above a Hells Angel type youth club, where Ann was born, a large YMCA Hostel, A Family Centre in East London, a YMCA Community Centre in Romford ...... so she has seen and engaged in a wondrous range of 'communities' in her life.
She is the most generous .....
She is the most creative ......
She is the most wondrous woman ....
We all go out for a meal on Saturday evening ...... always sparkly-special if we all can make this family ritual...... and we can.
You can tell I love my Sheilas ......
