Wonderful Britain

Gillian is an amazing woman, one of those unique people who really can live up to the statement, ’she’s a woman, of course she can multi-task’

For over two decades Gill has been running her dress design and tailoring business catering for the quirky, the beautiful, the demanding and the appreciative. You see, it’s not a dress design business at all. It’s all about how you make someone feel fantastic, confident, glamorous and stand out in a crowd. Sounds more like therapy

But that isn’t what makes Gill special. In between keeping the clients swathed in beauty, she has brought up two fantastic young women, and constantly battled with  the side effects and setbacks of progressive kidney failure. Does she complain – Nope. She loves what she does, and so do her clients.

From wedding parties to dance troupes, from transgenders to inebriated celebrities, Prom outfits to uniforms – even the epaulettes on a Traffic Warden!  Gill loves her customers.

Gill’s business isn’t large by any standards, but her heart is. She could have given up at anytime. I suspect most of us would have,  if we had walked in the same steps for a while.

I thought maybe Gill had a strange addiction to needles. I mean, why else would you spend your day having people put needles in you, then go home and get out more needles!  But no, Gill has always had a passion for art and design. After she left tertiary education Gill went on to study Art and Design at college in Gloucester and hasn’t looked back since. It’s in her blood, as they say (although in Gill’s case someone elses).

In fact, Gill would tell you running her own business gives her freedom. Freedom to express her individuality, the flexibility to deal with her illness (something that most employers would find impossible to accommodate), and the freedom to be there for her children as they grew up.

Has it been tough, sure has. Deadlines to meet, sometimes physical constraints, but nothing dampens Gill’s resolve. A resolve I suspect shared by many self-employed people.

So next time you see a friend at their wedding, or a mate at their prom, a mum at the christening of their child, or a Riverdance inspired spectacular at your local theatre… take a sneaky peak at the label, it might say a lot more than just a name.

I caught the end of a debate on the radio, a couple of days ago. The main focus seemed to be, that modern parents could see little, if any, relevance of Nursery rhymes in today's society. The basis of their argument seems to be that children today are much more advanced and knowledgeable, and much prefer to be read to from a story book, which the parents thought had much more meaning and content. It was astounding to hear that nearly all of the adults interviewed didn't even know the complete first verse of Jack and Jill. I seem to remember that reciting Nursery Rhymes was a social classroom event, where everyone participated, which made it a fun thing to do.

I do agree that we need to keep children reading, it's just a shame that they all seem to abandon the idea in teenage years, and keeping abreast of current affairs and events is very hit and miss. I was always a bookaholic as a child and still am today. I always had a bookcase full of books, although you only ever got to have a new one when it was your birthday or Xmas. My bookcase was made by my father, as a welcome home present, when I had to go into hospital to have my tonsils removed, aged about 6 or 7. I can remember being quite willing to go to bed early, so that I could read until the designated "lights out" time. Annuals were some of my favourites; Girl's Crystal, Princess Tina and Judy are a few that I can remember. Books included, just about every Enid Blyton book I could get my hands on; The Famous Five; The Secret Seven; Malory Towers etc. There was also Black Beauty by Anna Sewell; The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows.

Saturday afternoon was always my favourite time of the week, as we all went as a family to the town library. I can remember there was a central lobby, with 3 separate doors leading from it; to the reference library, adults library and children's library. It was great the first time I was allowed into the children's library on my own, whilst my parents went into the adults library. That was in the days before library cards, when each book had it's own ticket, which was removed and filed ready to be replaced when you returned the book, then the book was stamped with the return date. Seeing the date being stamped inside the cover was always great fun and right up until I left school, I always harboured a secret yearning to become a Librarian. Although I think I would have spent too long reading the books, to actually let people borrow them and woe betide anyone who would dare to damage or deface the books !!