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. Allow me to introduce myself
– which I should have done before I posted my first article
to the New Hope website. This I feel will give readers better understanding
of what my childhood was like back in those post war days.
My name is Terry (Tel, to my nearest and dearest)
I was born in the small market town of Wotton-under-Edge in the
county of Gloucestershire in October of 1941.
I will always treasure my childhood memories
of growing up in the picturesque town of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire.
A town steeped in history, character and characters.
Many of the characters that I have met on the road through the early
part of my life have either become life long friends or just a sad
memory sooner forgotten.
Numerous valleys or combes where springs have worn away the rock
cut into the western scarp of the Cotswolds.
Wotton-under-Edge is situated within the Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty, just below the escarpment edge looking
out over the Severn Valley, lying partly on a shelf sheltered from
the north winds and partly in one of the combes, along the Dyers
Brook or Tyley Stream which once powered the mills and joins the
Little Avon at Kingswood Village. The town is dominated by the surrounding
hills and woods, in many places with a characteristic clear stretch
of green pastureland In between the buildings of the town and the
woodland.
The Parish of Wotton-under-Edge is large, over
7Km (4.4 miles) long from NE to SW, and its height above sea level
varying from 248m (815ft) on the Cotswold plateau to 46m (150ft)
at its boundary with Kingswood, while the War Memorial is at 76m
(250ft).
I am the eldest of four children born to my parents,
Bernard and May Gough. My mothers maiden name was Daisy May Bye.
My two brothers (Philip and Keith) are both married
with children of their own, as is my sister Dorothy.
Since leaving Wotton-under-Edge in 1951 I have
moved around the county at various addresses. I am now settled,
with Joy my partner of the last eight years, in a suburb of Gloucester
called Quedgeley.
I am a partially sighted person, registered technically
blind by the County Health Authority in 1991. Although I am unable
to work because of my disability I do enjoy reading and writing.
For reading I have a scanning machine which magnifies the text of
various books onto a small screen for me. For writing I am fortunate
enough to have a computer also with screen magnification. I really
enjoy surfing the Internet and letter writing is a doddle now with
my e-mail facility.
My partner Joy works as an internal and external
verifier with a local college. The College is in another small town,
ten miles from here. Her work is hard and time consuming, having
responsibility for about fifty students and getting them through
their National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ’s) which in theory
should help them into full time employment at the end of the course.
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