About Me
I was born 31st March 1950 Catherine Natalie Wainwright, the eldest child of Trevor Douglas Wainwright and Dorothy Wainwright (née Northing).
My parents had met whilst studying photography at "Manchester Tech" (now part of UMIST - Manchester University Institute of Science and Technology, which has recently merged with Manchester University to form The Manchester University) after their discharge from wartime service in the RAF, and they were married in July 1949. My birth was followed by the births of my sister Linda on 10th September 1952 and my brothers Barry on 19th March 1954 and Christopher on 10th July 1960.
When I was three months old, we moved to a newly-built house in Gatley and in January 1955 I started school at Gatley County Primary School. During this time I was subject to considerable teasing, mostly by the boys, so I worked very hard to pass the 11+ examination to the all-girls grammar school, Cheadle County Grammar School for Girls. I did not fare much better there and made few friends. Most of my school reports were along the lines of "more effort needed" but I did manage to pass 5 GCE 'O' Levels. I then studied on a secretarial course for a further two years at Stockport College of Technology (now Stockport College of Further and Higher Education).
In July 1968, I started work in the Foreign Department of the Manchester York Street Branch of Barclays Bank and about a year later I returned to Stockport College for evening classes for the Institute of Bankers Examinations, which I achieved in 1977. In February 1970 I was transferred to the Stockport Bridge Street Branch of the Bank, where I worked not as a secretary but as a clerk, working in all areas of the branch, including foreign and securities. Promotions took me in the following years to Heaviley, Bramhall and finally Wilmslow, where I was Loans Officer.
Whilst studying for my banking examinations, one of my fellow students was Stephen Shaw, and on the 30th September 1972, we were married. At that time, we were living in an attic flat in Heaton Chapel, Stockport, but in May 1974 we moved to our present home, still in Heaton Chapel.
In 1984, I gave up my banking career to prepare for the birth of our son, George Martin, who was born on the 22nd May. I became a full-time stay-at-home Mum and housewife.
In 1994, when George was about to enter secondary school, I decided it was now time for me to look for some part-time work. Realising that prospective employers would not think much of my 25-year-old qualifications, I enrolled at evening classes at my local further education college, North Area College (now the Heaton Moor Campus of Stockport College), to bring my typing qualifications up-to-date in the computer age. In 1995 I achieved a Distinction for RSA III Word Processing, and the following year I also passed a newly introduced qualification - RSA II Integrated Business Technology. When George went to University, I enrolled on the follow-on course - OCR III Integrated Business Technology, which I completed in June 2003.
In June 1995, the Evening School Manager at the College asked for volunteers for some temporary work at the college inputting data into a new database the college was acquiring, and I volunteered. A few weeks later, I was asked back to help to help with some word processing work and by September 1995 I had a 3-month contract. This was made permanent in January 1996, and I continued to work for the College in a word processing and clerical capacity until July 2005, when I took up a new role with the Probation Service.
In my spare time, I enjoy my garden, especially my greenhouse which contains over 400 cacti. I also enjoy needle crafts such as bobbin lace making, embroidery, knitting. Both my parents have done considerable research on their respective family trees, and I am trying to redress the balance by researching the Shaw family's genealogy.
And of course, the maintenance of this website also takes up some time! One thing which annoys me when I am surfing the web is the number of web sites which use Java or Javascript when HTML code can do the job. Also, sites which contain a lot of broken links don't help. If you don't want to buy a book to learn HTML, there are some excellent tutorials on the Internet. Try www.december.com, w3.org or W3 School's CSS Tutorial. To help, Addy and Associates or W3C's validator will check your syntax and that your links still work. Your CSS stylesheets can also be validated by W3C.
