My first love was music in my childhood days was influenced daily by the BBC Light Programme and also some music that my parents liked. Sherry's family was also heavily influenced by music, her Father was a fan of opera and throughout the Fifties and Sixties when we both were growing up we both became early teen buyers of 45 r.p.m. vinyl records.

Sherry's Mum & Dad were married in 1949 in Hendon, Middlesex. Her Father born 1921 in Blyth, Northumberland joined the R.A.F. and during W.W.II he flew in amphibious aircraft abroad, and later rose in rank to become a Warrant Officer. After the war and on into the mid-fifties he was posted to Australia when the nuclear tests were taking place and also had a spell in Germany, then around 1963 he was then worryingly posted to Aden along with British Troops when civil unrest broke out there.

So, as children, Sherry, her brother and her sister spent a lot of time travelling around the world and later on also to different airfield locations around the U.K. constantly moving on in tandem with the different postings that her Father was sent to. Their life was spent in R.A.F. housing, with the care of the family falling onto her Mother's shoulders; this meant that the children went to many different schools throughout their childhood days. So, it was a very nomadic type of life, but they still had many happy times together, in particular in Lincolnshire, Longbenton, near Newcastle upon Tyne and Acklington in Northumberland.

Returning to his native Northumberland her Father moved on to serve on the R.A.F Sea King rescue helicopters that saved many people from life-threatening situations on land and sea, her Dad was the winch-man that was lowered down from the helicopter. Everywhere location they were posted to Sherry's Mother the home-maker being a lover of nature would always establish a lovely garden filled to the brim with a variety of flowering plants, as they grew older, Sherry and her sister both inherited this love of gardening from their Mother. Before Sherry's passing, her every waking living moment at home was often spent outside cultivating and improving her lovely garden, a legacy for me to continue on for her.

Later on into their pre-teens after their Dad came out of the R.A.F. their parents purchased their first residential home in Wideopen a few miles from Newcastle where they were able to enjoy a more stable family life. Unfortunately, when Sherry was around 17 years of age her Mother then became very ill with cancer and in those days cancer treatments were not as advanced as they are today. She was cared for at home and because her Father and older sister were working at that time, the initial care fell onto Sherry shoulders until a loved family member nicknamed 'Bubbles' could travel up to help take care of their Mum. So, sadly their Mum passed away in November 1968 at a very young age and all the family was devastated by this and became engulfed in their own personal grief, as their Mum had been the fulcrum of the girl's home life in their new home and her passing had a devastating effect on all the remaining family. Then unfortunately her Father began a relationship with someone else and as time went on this person became their Stepmother and typically what often happens in these situations is the children can resent that change and that is exactly what happened in this instance both sisters came to tolerate but disliked their stepmother.

As a teenager Sherry sneaked out at times to go and see the many Bands that often visited Newcastle, and she would go to The Club-A-Gogo on Percy Street where The Animals had a residency for a while. The Club-A-Gogo was actually split into two parts, one for teens under 18 and one for the over 18's and upwards, this though didn't deter Sherry in any way at all, she dressed herself in such a way to pass herself off as an older teenager. Then she went along to see the Sixties Bands of the day in the Adult part of the venue, Chas Chandler the bassist in The Animals had discovered Jimi Hendrix and one night they had him appear at The Club-A-Gogo in Newcastle. Sherry was actually there on the night of March 10th 1967 just 16 years old to see Jimi perform in those very early days when he was breaking through into his mega pop stardom. Many Sixties Bands came to The Club-A-Gogo, and before I met Sherry I worked just down from there in Jeavons Record & Musical Instrument store where many local Newcastle Bands bought some of their equipment, so many times when I had to either put the bins out onto Percy Street or clean the shopfront window I would look down the road towards the Haymarket and see Bands arriving and loading their equipment into The Club-A-Gogo for their nighttime gig.

Sometime after their Mother's death, Sherry became very unhappy at home and her sister and another friend moved into together in a flat in Jesmond, later Sherry left for London and found work down there. Sometime after Sherry had left Newcastle her sister and their friend then followed Sherry down to London where again they also found work and at one time worked in a Hotel together in Cromwell Road. There were times when she would go back and visit the North East, but she was still in London on July 5th 1969 when The Rolling Stones had their memorial concert in Hyde Park for Brian Jones, she attended that concert. I myself when I had turned 18 had my first holiday on my own in London in 1967 when The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper, so in some ways we had crossed paths and possibly been in proximity to each other as we both also frequented The Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle that used to have many Sixties Band's appear on a Saturday night, I remember seeing Ten Years After, The Love Affair and many others.

Both Sherry and I worked in Record Stores in the 60s, 70s and early 80s, I had left Jeavons late sixties and after a few jobs in between I became employed by a family run business who ran a few stores in the North East of England I was initially employed in a small shop in a coastal town and later on ended up back in Newcastle in their store as a manager in Prudhoe Street. Sherry had worked for a while for one of the long-established Music Store's in Newcastle, and later in early 1972 she was employed at the store I was working at in Prudhoe Street. In the winter of 1972 the Miner's went on strike during January and February, so the store was without power, but we still opened up and use camping gaslights to light up the inside of the store. During this time there was not much to do, so we spent many long hours swapping recollections of our families different lives' and job's we had previously done. I was going out with a girl who lived in my local area at that time, at Easter 1972 when I had bought an Easter egg for my then girlfriend after close of business on that Easter weekend we left work and I suggested to Sherry that we go for a drink at Yates Wine Lodge which was then situated on Nun Street in Newcastle. So, after an evening there, when we parted to go our separate ways home I gave Sherry the Easter egg I had bought for my then girlfriend as I knew Sherry and I would inevitably have a relationship. We did, by September 1972, we were married at Newcastle Civic Centre and spent two thirds of our life together happily married for 49 years and 47 days. Sherry officially passed away on November 16th, 2021 after being in coma and on a ventilator since the early hours of November 14th, sadly, September 2022 we would have celebrated our Fiftieth year of marriage together.