Nana

My favourite family member growing up was my Nana, Grace Evelyn Quinn to give her her full name. She was my partner in crime and had a very mischievous sense of humour. When I was 7 I first went to stay with my grandparents and I was immediately more relaxed than I was at home. I know that often feels like the case with grandparents but at home it was quite full on in terms of expectations, which was never the case at their house. I was allowed to watch the morning sessions of the Munich Olympics in 1972 when I was there even though they didn’t turn the TV on until 6 o clock when I wasn’t there. It was a small thing but I really appreciated it. She was a huge fan of music and was quite happy to listen to chart music so they even let me watch Top of the Pops when I was there. As I got older she became more of a confidante and I could talk to her about just about anything.

She moved to Rochester when I was a teenager and I went over to see her almost every weekend so she had a reason to cook a lunch for herself. I really enjoyed going to her flat and we talked about so many things and I learnt a lot about her. I moved over to Japan in 1995 just after her 90th birthday and I said I would be over there for three years and would see her when I got back. She said that was not going to happen and she was quite adamant about it. She passed away a few weeks before her 94th birthday, two weeks before we returned, and I wasn’t the least bit surprised. She kept my spirits up throughout a difficult childhood and she was always there with fantastic advice. Without her, things would have been far more difficult.