I was born in London (Carshalton) and moved to South Devon, aged 15. Apart from 16 years spent teaching overseas I’ve lived in these parts ever since. I always wanted to be an artist, never a writer. Strangely though, I’ve always been complimented on my writing skills. So here I am at 75 starting out on a novel.
I’m a single person at heart, and in reality. I have two lovely daughters who also live in Devon, and I had a lovely son, who passed in 2015. I’m a grandmother four times over. Back in the day, I began straight from school, working in drawing offices; Technical drawing is something I liked. I went into nursing almost by accident, and that remained an on/off career for several years – all through my child-raising years. Or as someone I used to know called it: “Bakey Cakey Land.”
I worked at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, as it was called then, and Torbay Hospital. I spent several years on the nurse bank at Exeter (it suited me as a FT undergraduate) and before that in the operating theatres in both hospitals. I used to get asked all the time, which role I liked best: teacher or nurse. I liked them both, for different reasons. I’ve had other jobs, rather a lot!
At the age of 40, I attended Exeter University and studied Mathematics and Education. I qualified almost six years later with a BSc (Hons) 2:1 and was invited to stay on and do a PhD, researching for the CIMT (Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching) but I turned it down in favour of the classroom. Not bad for someone who left school at 14 with no qualifications.
My Maths teaching role took me overseas where I taught in six countries before returning in 2018. I used to like saying I came back with two suitcases and cancer. I’ve had all the treatment and am better, thanks. The nod to my two suitcases is because I lost all my possessions. Goodness knows where they are now, shared out around HCMC in Vietnam, I suspect.
So now you know quite a lot about my past. I’d like to think that at some point in the not too distant future I can update this page as a published author, when I will tell you all about my book – or books!
Contact Me
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sue.furness.777
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