But Mum borrowed her sister-in-law, Kitty’s wedding dress and redesigned it, and she found some blue lace to make a dress for her sister, Pat, to wear.

Looking back I realise that most of us thought it the most normal thing in the world that one’s mother was a stitch-perfect dressmaker and tailor. This was not the last bridesmaid’s dress that this talented dressmaker would run up with skill and deceptive ease. Looking back, we see that Mum was a gifted dressmaker. She made clothes for us kids that were better than the ones you could buy in shops. She made the curtains for the house. Other people would marvel at this. We just thought it was what mothers did. On reflection it was only what OUR mother did.