Hilary Pauley & Family

I was born Hilary Ann Fordham in 1946 in Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham. I am an only child. We lived in Billingham for 9 years where father worked for ICI and then moved to Stockton-on-Tees. I went to Queen Victoria High School, a Direct Grant Grammar school as a free 11+ entrant. This school is now demolished and joined up with Yarm High School. After A Levels I went onto King Alfred's College Winchester in 1964 to take a teaching degree, now Southampton University. I married Michael Pauley, a fellow student, at 21 years old in 1967 and took up a teaching post in Portchester, Portsmouth. We had 3 boys under 4 years by 1975 when financial circumstances dictated my return to work. Unable to apply for a teaching job with no chilscare, we started the process of opening a nursery. We opened our first nursery in September 1975 where, in the first week, half the children were mine and one other was Caroline Ort's! The rest of the story is in the history section.