St Mary's

In September 1995, my eldest daughter, Charlie started in Year R at St Mary's C of E School, in Kirkby Lonsdale, and so my involvement with the school began. For a few years, this mostly consisted of attending parents' evenings, school concerts and the occasional PTA event, like the summer barbecue.

When my first marriage ended, by which time I had another two daughters at the school, I decided to get more involved and so I joined the PTA. In a whirlwind couple of minutes, I found myself elected as vice-Chair and the following year I took over as Chair.

All of my six children have now passed through the school, with just Abi remaining, in year 6. I stopped chairing the PTA after, I think 12 years, so my involvement has gone back to parents' evenings and, well, that's it actually.

This morning, though, Abi was being presented with a 'golden certificate' in assembly and it occurred to me that this might be my last visit to the school as a parent. It was funny sitting there in the hall, the scene of many other assemblies, concerts, school plays, domino drives and so on. I remember being a judge on 'St Mary's Got Talent' when I (alarmingly) found myself channelling Simon Cowell. (Mind you, the dancing... no, never mind.)

So, that's it. From September, for the first time in 20 years, there won't be a Pearson at St Mary's. Let's hope it's not like the ravens and the Tower of London :-)