About me

About Me:

I was born on the 30th April 1958 in the Salvation Hospital for unmarried mothers.

I was adopted by Mr & Mrs Verkerk. My father was a chief engineer on the Royal Interocean lines. The first 6 years of my life was on the ships, to the Far East, Europe, South America, all the way around Africa.

My parents bought a house in Durban, South Africa and my parents got divorced.

My Mother had met Denise Salvesen and they bought a farm//trading store in North Zululand

Farm life was great, wonderful to explore all the history as nearby the farm, was an old Gold Mine.

We had loads of animals on the farm and I had pet frogs

Most of my schooling I was in boarding schools

College, I did one year fine art and 3 years clothing design

I started in the industry as a designer/pattern cutter and through the years moved more towards grading, running factory floors

I left South Africa in 2020, I was married to Stephen Layzell, which unfortunately was a big mistake,

He was an alcoholic and I went through the worst time of my life. My mother told me not to go back to South Africa, but make a life for myself in the UK and how right she was.

I finally divorced Stephen and while waiting one morning at the bus stop I got chatting to a guy, I thought he was rather lovely. My ex-husband kept sending me text saying that this man broke up our marriage, well that wasn't true. I had no idea what this guy's name was and asked one of my friends and she told me that his name is Andy. It so happened that Andy came into the pub looking for someone and I told him that my husband excused him of having an affair with me - he gave me his phone number, I took him out for dinner the next evening, steamed up his glasses and the rest is history. We have been married for 15 years and very happy ones at that.

I have worked in the clothing industry most of my life. In 2019 after working 14 years at Mark H Ltd, I was made redundant. I managed to get a freelance job as a pattern/garment technologist for Paradis Design.

Interested In:

- Gardening: I live in a block of flats, I simply cannot just look at grass and the odd tree, so I have created gardens all around the property - I don't get paid for it, I enjoy it and it bring joy to all those who look at the gardens or just passing through.

- Walking: love the great outdoors, exploring all

- Creative sewing: I have made many cushion covers, curtains out of fabrics that companies have thrown out

- Cooking: I have a collection of books from well-known chiefs and try out a lot of the recipes