Chapter Seventeen

Back to school but school had never done much for Rebekah. I hated my own days at school, anyone who tells you that school is the happiest days of your life that was not my experience, neither was it for Rebekah. Strange how I decided to make education my career. As a small child Rebekah had been supported by Guys Hospital School, she decided she wanted to follow a career working with small pre-school children.

Turning her back on school Rebekah went to Milton Keynes College, the Woughton Campus, to train to become a nursery nurse. While she used the 'bus I would often pick her up at the end of the day. I often thought that Rebekah should train, as I had, to become a fully qualified teacher but that was not part of her plan.

While she was attending college Beck got herself a part-time job at Safeways Supermarket, now Morrissons, working on the till checkouts. I have one particular smiling memory. Matthew was also working at Safeways. It was Christmas, we already had the family turkey which on Christmas Eve was thawing for dinner the next day. Visiting the supermarket for last minute shopping fresh turkeys were heavily reduced, I could not resist buying one. Matthew came home, staff were being given free of charge a turkey. Great we had three ! Rebekah came home, we had four !

Safeways opened a crèche for shoppers. A brilliant idea. When I first left school, before I decided to become a teacher, I was a trainee manager in a giant city-centre Birmingham department store I suggested the store should open a playroom but this was never taken up. In Safeways the idea was a great success. Newly qualified Rebekah found a full-time job in the creche. The job was short-lived. When the store decided to expand and a new building programme initiated the crèche was closed down. A crèche was operating in the giant Central Milton Keynes shopping centre, Rebekah simply moved to work there and soon became deputy manager

Peter had his first driving on his seventeenth birthday. He failed his first driving test but passed on the second. It took Matthew three attempts. Rebekah declared she would pass on the first attempt and indeed she did pass her driving test first time.

Beck may have passed her driving test at – one, but cars was a different matter. I can not remember just how many cars she had. If something went wrong she would lose confidence in the car, dump it and replaced it. My family always gets its cars from local dealer Aristocars, I am sure Beck was a constant boost to their profits.

There was a time when The Centre MK was a valued part of the community, not now but when when Beck worked there it was a different place. The crèche was very popular. Adam Woodyatt who plays Ian Beale in the BBC Soap East Enders used to bring his children to the crèche.

Something called Collectamania used happen in the shopping centre. Some of the case used the crèche as a bit of a base, Beck spoke of Captain James T Kirk, William Shatner, of Starship Enterprise fussing about. But her number one destination at Collectmania was to Harry Potter. She had every book autographed by many cast members from the films. Here she is with the car from one film.

Here she is with Billy Boyd from The Hobbit. Picture taken at Collectamania.

Putting profit before community The Centre MK closed its shoppers' creche. I helped Beck prepare her CV and circulate it around many different schools with nursery departments. Broughton Manor Preparatory School offered her a job from where she started a new and very happy part of her career.