I used to work as a Studio Manager (sound engineer) for BBC Radio at Broadcasting House.  I took early retirement on 30th March 2015, 38 years after first joining the BBC as a teenager straight from 6th form college. Hence my Blipfoto name of RadioGirl.

On 4th April 2014 I decided to take on t Read more...

I used to work as a Studio Manager (sound engineer) for BBC Radio at Broadcasting House.  I took early retirement on 30th March 2015, 38 years after first joining the BBC as a teenager straight from 6th form college. Hence my Blipfoto name of RadioGirl.

On 4th April 2014 I decided to take on the Blipfoto 365 challenge to record my last year as a full-time BBC employee.  Sadly, the year turned out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.  The autumn and winter were overshadowed by my dear Dad's late diagnosis of asbestos-related lung cancer.  He passed away two days before Christmas. I spent the next eight years with my darling Mum in Tiptree, Essex, caring for her as she developed Parkinson’s and became less and less mobile. I had to stop doing my Blipfoto journal, but have kept in touch with some of the lovely friends I made here. To my great sadness, Mum died three days after Christmas in 2022 following three weeks in hospital with a lung infection as a result of the Parkinson’s. I was devastated, and wondered for quite a while what on earth my purpose was any more. The past year of grieving hasn’t been easy, but slowly I’ve adjusted to a world without Mum or Dad in it. I have also made the decision to continue living in Tiptree in my parents’ home and sell my flat in Chesham, which I first moved into three decades ago. It will be a wrench to let it go, but life moves forward. Mum and Dad wanted me to live it to the full after they had gone. 2024 will be a busy year for me as I complete the move back to the county of my birth and continue to rebuild my life with family and friends here. Time to start documenting it once more.

Jane
2nd January 2024