I was originally born in Manchester to a mum who had her own ballet school and a manager father and I grew up around ballet, though I was pretty useless myself.
When I moved to Swansea in the early 1980’s, I had my third child and I very much wanted this child to learn to dance.
So, my daughter was introduced with myself to the Grand theatre where she joined the dance school. She grew to absolutely love dance and performing arts so I got very heavily involved in bringing her down.
My daughter was very fortunate in that she was chosen by the Royal Ballet School to be a junior associate, at the age of 8. The Royal Ballet school tutors came down once a month to give free lessons on a Sunday to those girls they had chosen, that’s a very significant memory for me. Also, when the Russian Ballet had their home in the Grand my daughter danced with them on a couple of occasions.
That still is my passion, ballet.
A little bit later I was part of the Leisure Department in Swansea and then at the end of the 1990s when the Arts Wing was built, I came to various functions, activities and events here and I’ve actually run events for the African Community Centre here myself.
So, for me, there’s a triple role associated with the Grand, one being a mum who was the daughter of a ballet dancer and having her own daughter who became a very good ballet dancer, then working for the Leisure Department and in the Arts Wing and currently, towards the real end of my career moving into the Grand Multicultural Hub as the Managing Director of the African Community Centre.
It’s just a dream come true for me and a great privilege to be associated with the Grand for such a long time.