Saying Goodbye: My mother's life - Paperback

by Keith Warren (Author)

My mother Maureen Buckley Shaw was born in India during the hey-day of British colonialism. My no-nonsense, "where there's muck there's brass" grandfather obliged her to return to England to be educated: she swapped sunshine, warmth and a leisured home environment for the gloomy ginnels of Hollinwood in the shadows of the dark Satanic (cotton) mills of Oldham. War stopped her going to University. She was instead sent by the Chemical Inspectorate to check explosives and trigger mechanisms at Risley Royal Ordnance Factory....and to meet my father. The two things were not dissimilar. Her mother said, "He'll make your life an adventure!" Mum wasn't so sure.........but she married Dad anyway. She was a lover of Life and all things living; she was kind and generous; she was intelligent and perceptive; she was humorous and articulate; she was unbiased, unprejudiced and devoid of bitterness or hate; she was inclusive and gregarious; she was understanding of human frailty and supportive of its outfall; she inspired confidence and respect; she was a superb teacher, cook, gardener and mother and, to cap it all, she was warm and affectionate.'A HUGELY ENTERTAINING BIOGRAPHY sprinkled with the author's customary vulgarity - something taught him by his father with his mother's eventual assiduous assistance.'

Author Biography

Keith Warren was born in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex (UK), the son of an analytical chemist who went on to work in nuclear fission, and a biologist who liked cats. Whether or not this may have resulted in a dysfunctional family, readers of his books will have to decide! He trained as an English teacher in the late 60's and early 70's when Margaret Thatcher was Secretary of State for Education and she had commenced chalking the writing on the board. As a bumptious twenty-something, he once had the opportunity to put a question to her on an Eamonn Andrews TV show. She swatted him away like an irksome fly. He's been traumatised about it ever since. He taught English in several schools in Essex and the West Country before nose-diving out of a promising career in his 40's: the classic, hormonal, mid-life crisis. Keep reading! Suddenly, he found himself working in an Estate Agent's ultimately running his own business in the charming little village of Cheddar in Somerset. Too many marriages down the line, he met Her Loveliness and he now lives in the Philippines where he writes, tries to grow pineapples and complains vociferously about the local beer.