I started my retail journey at 17 in my best friend’s father’s newsagents. I helped out by delivering lots of newspapers on rainy days when the paperboys failed to turn up.

Next, I went on to Birkenhead market where, over the years, I sold shirts, curtains and, finally, sweets and cigarettes for Arthur Kearney, a great family business, well known in both Liverpool and Birkenhead markets.

Then on to Birkenhead Kwiksave supermarket when it was all about ‘price memory’ – yes, the price of everything they sold had to be in your head! Thank goodness it’s not like that today… Within six months I became a supervisor and soon moved on to the Liscard store, which I ran for some years.

My next big move was to the Isle of Wight, where my husband John and I bought a deli/sandwich bar called The Scullery which we ran for over 10 years. It meant early mornings but was very rewarding. We then sold it to an employee and it’s still going strong with some of the same staff working there.

John and I set off on our next adventure – this time to Spain – where I got a job at The Red Lion (the oldest English bar in Torremolinos). I worked there in the kitchen and bar for a season, after which I was asked to be manageress in The Cosy Nook, a restaurant on the seafront in La Carihuela. I spent many happy years there but, sadly, after twenty years of marriage, John died unexpectedly and I was forced to start a new chapter in my life.

Eventually, a mutual friend introduced me to Mike, who was in Spain on holiday for a week, and our paths crossed several times. We became friends and I visited him in Metfield in January 2016. I liked what I saw and we became close, so I moved to Metfield for a trial period. The job of managing Metfield Stores was perfect for me and I was very pleased to start there in June the same year. Mike and I got married in 2018. And the rest, as they say, is history…