I was born just about five weeks after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 11 which was held on June 2nd 1953.

Picture of  a Coronation street party.

Rumour had it amongst the neighbours that I was to be called Rose Elizabeth. They didn't think that my parents, Les and Ethel Smith, were likely to name me after the new Queen or her sister, sometimes known as Princess Margaret Rose. Family folklore has it that my sisiter, Vivien, was the perpetrator of this rumour, and when questioned declared tht these names were the ladybird and caterpillar that she looked after in a matchbox! In October of 1953 I was christened Shirley Ann at St.Paul's Chuch, Constable Lee.