Gill was very hard-working and dilligent in her studies and passed the 11+ and won a place at the Girl's Grammar School in St Albans. She continued to work hard and achieved good passes in her O levels before moving onto Secretarial College. She was quite a quick typist but 'there are people who are quicker' she would say with typical modesty and I remember her learning shorthand. She sometimes typed things up for people to earn some extra money when we were little. She was good at English and I remember she was very good at writing funny poems when I was younger. There was a lady on the telly called Pam Ayres who did funny poems like 'I wish I'd looked after me teeth'. Mum thought she was really good and she could do something similar. She sometimes read them to us when we lived with Nan and Grandpa and we used to laugh at them. It must have had an impression on me because I decided to write some funny poems for something called 'Best Authors' at Stratford High (and I was runner up in 1981). In later life, Gill did various courses including cookery, art/painting and also computer skills. She was pretty good on the computer and could put things together for her handmade cards very easily. She really spent a lot of time creating the card but also on the words in her cards because that was very important to her. She could surf the net and send an email quite easily - unlike Ian! When we looked at her emails the other day there were loads from bargain sites, special offers and sites like Amazon. She ordered a new sewing machine recently from the internet and also a washing machine so she was always up with the latest technology.