Your story – Heather Scott

What did you want to be growing up?

I remember as a child I loved dance especially ballet and would spend my time dancing around the living room and trying to dance in bare feet on my toes so subsequently for years I wanted to learn ballet and to be a ballet dancer. My mother promised me that if I passed the eleven plus I could have ballet lessons,when we got the results to say that I had passed she even went so far as to send Sue who was 14 by then into Cardiff to find a ballet school. But it never happened, whether it was the cost or the transport difficulties in getting there I don’t know. But that killed that dream.

I also loved sport in school so then decided if I couldn’t be a dancer I would become a sports teacher which eventually morphed into a primary school teacher which I wanted to combine with being a missionary as I felt that was my calling which, of course, never materialised. I did however apply to teacher training school to teach primary scool children and my main subject was going to be Religious Education, I was accepted on the understanding that I achieve my A level qualification in RE. Unfortunately I passed my O Levels without doing any studying and thought that I could get away with my A levels in much the same way aned failed abysmally.

While I was in the 4th years in the High School, now year 10, we had a careers visit from the RAF and my friend and I decided that when the lady from the careers office came the following week to discuss our future prospects we would jokingly tell her that we wanted to join the RAF, whether Gaynor did or not I don’t know but I did and the poor lady nearly had a fit, after all I was at an all girls grammer school a school for young ladies they didn’t join the RAF they became nurses or teachers or secretaries, her words.

Anyway, after failing my exams I had to look else where and had previously seen a poster in our school geography room about Air Traffic Control, I knew nothing about it but decided that was what I wanted to do but in civvy street I needeed two A Levels so instead decided to apply to the RAF, therefore fulfilling the joke. I applied to the RAF and past so highly on the initial testing was told that I could apply in any of the fields available but I only wanted Air Traffic so had to wait several months until there was an availability. I spent just over five years in the RAF, I had signed up for six.  With a year to go I started looking around for a new job for when I left, I wasn’t going to stay on as by now I was married and back then it was impossible for married couples to be post together. I still considered being a teacher and again applied to teacher training college near where we lived and was accepted for the following year so left the RAF a year early.

I went to Bedford Teacher Training College, Polehill site, and trained to teach First School Children although this time my main subject was Mathematics. On graduation with a straight B. Ed degree, I didn’t stay on for the fourth year to do the Honours, I ended up teaching mathematics at a comprehensive school to secondary age children, although subsequently when I went back after having my children to teach as a supply most of my work was with primary school ages.

Although I didn’t quite get to be a missionary over the years I have helped in a youth club for a year, although this was for my college course, but also ran the youngest section of a Boys Brigade Group for a couple of years and run an RAF Cub Scout Pack for several years.  So maybe I fulfilled a bit of this ideal.