All About Me



Born at Treliske Hospital in Truro, Cornwall, on the 5th of June 1978, the youngest daughter of Pete and Sue, an RAF Senior NCO and a teacher respectively.

At the age of two I followed my Dad north to Morayshire when he was posted to Kinloss. I traveled by rail with Mum and my elder sister Tammy having found the prospect of travel by Royal Mail somewhat daunting.

I began my education at Andersons' Primary school in Forres in the middle of historic Macbeth country.

After Primary One we were relocated to Pitreavie Castle, and so my sister and I went to Pitreavie Primary School in Dunfermeline, near Edinburgh. During my time there I not only got my first real taste of live theatre at the Edinburgh Festival - I have lasting memories of 'The Jungle Book' and 'Snoopy' (the stage plays) - but I also made my stage debut in a dance show at The Carnegie Hall in Dunfermeline, not New York. Andrew Carnegie was a Dunfermeline local who found a Diplodocus skeleton, now affectionately adopted in the form of a town mascot named Dippy that allows the children to parade through the town instead of sitting in class for one day a year, and it is after him that the Theatre is named.

I enrolled in the Brownies as part of the 2nd B Rosyth pack, Tammy became a seconder, and Mum was Tawny Owl.

Having spent Primaries Two and Three at Pitreavie we found ourselves posted again - I developed a strong dislike for letter boxes as a child - and moved to Cornwall, where I discovered that I was older in England than I was in Scotland due to the different school systems.

Whilst living at St. Columb Minor my sister and I attended St. Columb Minor CP (County Primary) School, known locally as the Blue School, which I’m told, had nothing to do with the central heating, but was instead a reference to our uniforms. I think our parents would have been a little concerned to see blue children coming home every day!

Whilst at the Blue School Tammy and I took part in a wide range of musical activities, including joining the school Floral Dance team (a traditional dance which would parade through Newquay for a whole week during the summer - at least once in Victorian dress).

Before long we were on the move again. We returned to Forres where I went back to school at Andersons' for Primaries Five and Six, Whilst Tammy went to Forres Academy for one term before going away to school on the Isle of Wight. I continued to study Ballet in Forres but gave up the tap. I also left the Brownies and became a Guide.

Our brother, Jason, was born in Inverness which led to my becoming proficient at changing nappies and bathing babies at the age of nine.

In the September of 1989 I went to join Tammy at Upper Chine School for Girls in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight. During my time there I learnt to play the Violin and discovered a passion for acting - taking Speech and Drama lessons as an extra curricular activity. I also enjoyed Spanish, English, and Art.

As the sister of the Head Girl I was a less organised and less tidy individual although we did sing in choir together and both played in school Orchestras, and Tammy was a noticeable force backstage in the school productions.

In 1992 my Dad, Tammy, and myself began volunteering on the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Wales, Dad as a Guard and my sister and I as soot covered cleaners learning to fire the engine. Jason has just followed in the footsteps of his sisters onto the footplate.

Upper Chine School merged with Ryde School in 1994 and Bembridge School in 1995, leaving the Isle of Wight with only one boarding school, but allowing me to take my A-levels in a mixed school before going to University. Having done reasonably well at GCSE (I sat Eleven altogether, including Dance a year early) I took English, Spanish, and Theatre Studies for A-level before going to University in Aberystwyth to study Drama.

I began my Degree course in 1996, taking modules in Music, Spanish, Film and Television Studies, Stage Management, Directing, Creative Writing, and Performance, as well as text based and theoretical modules in Theatre Studies. I took part in a number of productions (as detailed on the Past Productions page) and sang with the Choral Union during my first year.

I had several jobs whilst at University, but the one I have fondest memories of was working as a Customer Advisor (posh name for a Sales Girl) in the BWise store next to the train station.

I graduated from Aberystwyth in 1999 with a 2:1 in Drama, and promptly moved to Harrow, near where my sister lives with her husband and their cats. I'm currently supporting myself selling concert tickets whilst I look for writing and acting work.