Biography
My most publicly recorded experience has been a double page spread in the Daily Record in the nude. No, I'm not a page 3 girl, but I was in the first amateur acting group to stage Calendar Girls. I've been an amateur actress for thirty years, with roles varying from Ruth Condomine in Blithe Spirit, to pantomime dames, to Beverley in Abigail's Party. I also write for the stage and have had a number of pantomimes performed. Both performing and creative writing skills have helped in my recent career as a wedding and funeral celebrant. I'm becoming known as a bilingual celebrant and have performed many marriages in French and Spanish, plus one ceremony entirely in Polish (which I don't speak and which tested my acting ability to the limit).
I've had a very varied career, starting with being a teenage agony aunt and writing horoscopes for the Dundee Courier, and currently working as a manager in a rehab hospital, as well as being a humanist celebrant. I've also run my own IT business, managed a couture wedding dress shop, and set up international exhibitions for the artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, as well as working for ten years as a media manager in advertising.
I'm single, with two adult daughters away from home, and a greyhound called Lizzie Longlegs. I'd like to think I'm creative and quirky, along with the less exciting but very useful characteristics of being reliable, punctual and meticulous.
Skills
Voiceover trained (low, well-modulated, unaccented English voice)
Acting (extensive experience at several levels)
Public speaking (from being a celebrant)
Creative writing
Languages (read, write and speak French and Spanish)
Dressmaking and pattern design
Quirky creative stuff (e.g. making my own mosaics)
99wpm typing
Swimming (including wild swimming)
Singing (as part of a choir)
Have done some stand up comedy
Good with animals
Good at heights (have skydived, parasailed and ballooned)
Have done a little bit of catwalk modelling
Full driving licence