I was born 25th January 1964 in Blackpool and moved to a little town called Kirkham, 9 miles from Blackpool, when I was 4 years old. I lived in Kirkham for 27 years, going to the primary school round the corner where I was first bitten by the theatre bug. We had a wonderful music teacher there who produced shows each year and first persuaded me to get up on stage and sing. I hope she never regretted it - cos I wouldn't get down off that stage for a long long time!

I was the fourth of five children having 2 older brothers, an older sister and a younger sister who was the bane of my life for 16 years. Now we get on really well - families! My parents divorced when I was 20 and I now also have another 2 half-sisters - I dread Christmas!

After primary school I was given a scholarship and went to Elmslie Girls' School in Blackpool. I did not particularly like the school however I did have the opportunity to take classes in Speech and Drama and piano. I passed my exams in Speech and Drama and also won the school junior and senior trophies. I also managed to pass 6 O'levels and decided to go on to do A'levels - but not at that school!

I moved on to 6th form at Carr Hill High School, Kirkham and discovered...boys! Not that I dated many - I joined a local amateur dramatic group when I was 17 and the first role I was given to read was that of a naive young secretary who had to throw herself at a guy from the same office - that guy was Garry who I later married 18th June 1983. I left Carr Hill with another 2 O' levels and one very bad A' level and started working as a junior Accounts clerk where I stayed for 1 year.

I had our son, Michael, when I was 19. He is a wonderful son - but then I am biased. I started work for Guardian Royal Exchange in 1984 before moving on to the DSS as an Admin Officer in 1986, being promoted to Executive Officer in 1992.

Garry and I continued with the amateur dramatics after we were married, helping set up another local group that raised money for a school for the handicapped in Kirkham by putting on musicals and cabaret shows. We parted from that group 4 years ago and I haven't done much stage work since then. But there is always time!

Our marriage was never the most settled and 3 years ago, following us moving to live in Blackpool itself, Garry finally admitted something I had guessed a long time ago. Garry and I are now the best friends anyone could have. Although the marriage as such is over, we still share a house and the responsibility of bringing up our son

Around that time I followed Garry on to IRC. After making a great deal of friends on there,  a group of us decided to set up our own channel, #GayChat-uk, which was formed as a place gay people and their friends and families could find friendly chat and support.

I was off work ill a great deal at this time, subsequently being diagnosed with M E  after suffering recurring bouts of tonsillitis and glandular fever. To occupy my time I started 'playing' with html and helping produce the web pages for #Gaychat-UK.