The Girl From Somerset...

Chard High Street and the infamous Guildhall

You can take the girl out of Somerset, but they say you can never take Somerset out of the girl, and I believe that is true! Somerset is where it all began, June 1970 in the county town, Taunton… within days I was brought home to the only home I ever knew as a child: Chard. I was the only child of David and Maureen Salter. I loved reading, maths, school, and my parents.

At 18, after disappointing exam results I took a year out and at 19 headed off to Nottingham and the city life of a student; training to be a Secondary Maths and Science teacher. 3 years later I met the man I was to marry, and later divorce and 4 years later I qualified to start my career as a teacher, ‘up North’.

My teaching career spanned the next eighteen and a half years. I progressed from maths teacher to Assistant Headteacher in that time, the nearest US equivalent of this being an Assistant Superintendent, but unlike my educator friends in the US I kept a teaching load that was balanced with my administrative responsibility; this allowed me to talk the talk and also walk the walk. And walk the walk I most certainly did; during my career I worked in both insular rural settlings and vibrant inner city settings. I developed relationships with some of the hardest to reach young people in what were very deprived areas and I loved it! And I was blinking good at it! I worked with troubled young people, stressed and exhausted parents, and outside agencies. I was the safeguarding lead, started a Restorative Justice program and oversaw inclusion for Special Needs children ensuring the provision they received was accurate and met their entitlement. I was on a school board, drove up standards of whole school behavior and attendance, trained staff and managed others through capability proceedings and led investigations over inappropriate behavior. Throughout all this I was not afraid to have tough conversations.

Somewhere along the way I became a parent; the single most rewarding thing I ever did, so I did it twice! My two daughters bring me so much joy and love daily, even when we fight! With a 5 and a half year age gap between them and being as different as chalk and cheese, with an absent father, initially due to work commitments; at times I have had to summon all reserves of patience and rational thought to keep them both on track. The mature, strong, resilient young women they are today did not happen by chance; there was consistency, love and boundaries from day 1.

And just when life was settled, my girls were growing and I had a successful, well established career and reputation we emigrated, and I fell head first into being a stay at home mum… for nearly 7 years! I used all of my skills to establish us in a new country. To the uninitiated England is very like America, but oh boy is it different in more ways then you could even begin to imagine. It was a very steep learning curve, which has smoothed a little over the years but is still there.

For nearly 25 years I was the glue that held my family together, but a divorce later and I see things with the benefit of hindsight. I am proud to be standing at the other side of a very difficult and painful separation and am strong and resilient; a survivor. I have learnt so much about my self and my interactions with others through this time and I now know that sometimes all you need is a friendly ear and someone who understands. If this sounds like the stage you are at right now in a separation let me reassure you that you will absolutely survive this! There will come a time when you will look back and won’t believe how far you have come. So, if any of my survival stories resonate with you please feel free to reach out…