Then I had various other jobs – all to do with clerical work – working in hospitals, making appointments.   My last job was doing accountancy work for the London Borough of Greenwich.
 
Meeting Slim Whitman
 
I’ve been a fan of Slim Whitman since I was 14.  He was appearing somewhere one day, and I wrote to Wally Whyton, who used to do a country music show on the wireless, saying, ‘You’re going to be interviewing Slim Whitman.  Due to my disability, I cannot compete with fans to get this autograph.  See what you can do’.  He wrote back a lovely letter, asking me which Slim Whitman show I was going to.   So I wrote back and told them the show and where I’d be sitting.   We went to the Palladium, and it was arranged for me to meet Slim Whitman during the interval.  I got friendly with Slim, with Byron his son, and with Gerry his wife.  As Vernon Oxford said to me, if ever I go to America, don’t book into a hotel, go and stay with him.
 
Nearly every record I’ve got is signed by Slim and his son Byron.   They always looked out for me in the audience.   Byron always used to say to his father, ‘she’s here again.’
 
Backstage for Tea with slim
 
I got invited backstage for tea with Slim one day at Oxford.   The stage manager said to me, ‘You can’t go backstage’.  I said, ‘yes I can; I’ve been invited.’  He said, ‘no one is allowed backstage.’  Anyway we argued for about 5 minutes.   I said to him, ‘Go along, knock on Slim’s door, and say to him that Margaret’s here.’  He knocked on the door, and I heard Byron say, ‘ Is that Margaret?’  The fellow said, ‘Yes and Byron said, ‘come along’ and the fellow just said, ‘you’d better go along.’
 
At the Congress Hall in Eastbourne they weren’t  going to allow me to park at the front, so Slim came and said, ‘you let Margaret park here, or I won’t appear.’
 
I realised I had to use my Brain
 
I like doing competitions and quizzes.  I’ve won CDs, and tickets for the ballet (I fell asleep and never found out the ending).  I got all my general knowledge from studying hard at school.   I had very little mobility down below, so I realised that I had to use my brain.   I though if I let my brain go, that’s it.
 
A problem with a fellow at Margate
 
I had a problem, with a fellow at Margate when I went down there, and we couldn’t find anywhere with no steps. We sat outside, and a fellow started clearing the table.
 
I said, ‘are you the boss?’
He said, ‘yes’
I said, ‘don’t you cater for disabled people?  Are we allowed to eat?  How can I get in?’
He said, ‘well, we did think of having a ramp, but we don’t get much call for it.’
I said, ‘of course you don’t, because disabled people don’t come here, because you haven’t got it’
 
 
The Good Companions Club
 
I belong to the Good Companions Club – it’s smashing.   A woman runs it called Kitty Britten.   She’s approximately 85 at the moment.  She’s marvellous.  We meet on the first and third Monday of every month.   One month we have Bingo and the next month we have entertainment.   It’s in Pendrell Street, Plumstead Common.   Once a year we have a day at Eastbourne.   Kitty organises it all, and all her family come.   It’s beautiful – a lovely club.
 
Life would be better if……….
 
Life would be better if people rang back when they said they would ring back.
 
Life would be better if people treated you as a person, not as a number.
 
Things I would like to do
 
I would like to go on holiday anywhere where I could get away from it all.  Blow everything for about a week or fortnight.
 
I’d love to see Slim Whitman again.  I do miss it tremendously, because I can’t get to the stage now.
 
Campaigning in the European Year of Disabled People
 
I recently campaigned for European Year of Disabled People, from here at GAD.  It was smashing.   I had one poster stuck in here, and one in there – ‘Equality not Charity’ and ‘Rights for the Disabled.’
 
I said to the policeman beside me, ‘I don’t want charity, I want Chris Tates (from Emmerdale).  I’d rather have him than charity.’
 
Thing that annoy me
 
One thing that annoys me is that I am in a wheelchair, and Chris Tates (from Emmerdale) is in a wheelchair, but does he ever come across steps?  No, not at all. You would think that in a Victorian village like that he would come across steps, but it’s not realistic – of course it’s not!
 
Two policemen came out of the police station, and one said to me, ‘I hope you’ve got a licence for that’ (meaning the wheelchair).  That put my back up.
 
I said, ‘excuse me, that car over the road – do you know who it belongs to?’
He said that it was his.  ‘Do you know you’re parked illegally?’
He said it was an emergency.
 
I said, ‘I don’t care, it’s illegally parked.  I couldn’t get through with my wheelchair, can policemen do what they like?’
 
His attitude changed.  ‘Oh no, madam, we’re not above the law.’
I don’t take any nonsense.  I tell everyone what I think.
 
We haven’t had a Scheme Manager at my sheltered housing unit for nine months.   Last night I was waiting in the foyer for the coach.   I heard the lift come down, and these two men passed me with a stretcher with a black cover.  He’d been dead since Friday.
 
At the moment I’ve got six things wrong.
 
• My carer’s walked out.  She had a row with the woman she was staying with, so I’ve got no carer at the moment.
• The council installed a clos-o-mat that doesn’t work, so I’ve got to make a phone call about that.
• I bought a brand new microwave that didn’t work.
• I can’t get a holiday, for the simple reason that I haven’t got a carer to come with me.
• The bank says they’ve sent me a cheque book, but before it reached me, someone else got it, and withdrew all my money out.   The bank will not accept that it is not my signature on the cheque.  Until the bank accepts that, I can’t even pay for a carer, because I get direct payments, and I can’t pay the Council what I owe them for getting the direct payments.
• I’ve been waiting 16 months for a wider wheelchair.
 
We got a leaflet from Greenwich Borough.  It said, ‘Phone these numbers if you want advice.’  The numbers I phoned are either the wrong numbers, or the people the other end didn’t know anything about it.   On the feedback form I told them that I got very little information from it.
 
What keeps me going
 
Time and time again, I’ve thought about ending it.  What keeps me going is I want to be here to see what happens (laughs). That’s the only reason I don’t end it.  I used to be called the female ‘Ironside’, because once I get my teeth into it I won’t let go.

My Anthem – ‘I’ve got to be me’ (Kamahl)
 
Whether I’m right, or whether I’m wrong
Whether I find a place in the world, or I never belong,
I’ve got to be me; I’ve got to be me.
What else can I be but what I am?
 
I want to live, not merely survive,
And I won’t give up this dream of life that keeps me alive.
I’ve got to be me; I’ve got to be me.
The dream that I see makes me what I am.
 
That faraway prize, a world of success;
It’s waiting for me if I keep the call.
I won’t settle down or settle for less.
As long as there’s half a chance I can have it all.
 
I’ll go it alone; that’s how it must be,
I can’t be right for somebody else if I’m not right for me.
I’ve got to be free; I’ve got to be free.
Daring to try to throw the die,
I’ve got to be me.
 
I’ll go it alone; that’s how it must be.
I can’t be right for somebody else if I’m not right for me.
I’ve got to be free; I’ve got to be free
Daring to try to throw the die,
I’ve got to be me