Angel by My Side

By Ann Preece

This is a story of my life struggles of going through abusive relationships while raising an autistic son with complex needs, suffering bereavements, and dealing with brain injury. Having faith in my angels kept me strong and going.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Feb 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781499094022

Ann Preece

Ann Preece was born and raised in the county of Herefordshire in England, where she lived and worked for thirty-six years before finding happiness again with a partner and moving away. She has a lovely son whom she is very proud of and love.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

My Childhood

I came into the world on 1 November 1974 at 3 p.m. at the county hospital. I weighed five pounds and ten ounces. I was told by my mum and dad that my hair was fair and my eyes were blue.

My relatives on my mum’s side of the family were my nan and pop. They were from Wales. On my dad’s side were my nan and my grandad (my nan’s husband and my stepgrandad, sort of).

There was also my uncle, my mum’s brother. I can’t remember too much, but I was told he was a great Christian man who loved God and the Salvation Army and who loved his grandad, my great-grandad, but sadly he had a brain tumour and passed away very young indeed. He was buried with his grandad, in which I am trying to look up now 2014. There was my auntie, my mum’s sister, and her husband. There was also my auntie on my dad’s side of the family. And on my mum’s side of the family were my nan’s brother and his wife, who were the longest married couple in Wales. They were the family and relatives in my life.

I can’t remember very much due to my brain injury, which will come out later in my book.

I lived with my nan and pop and my mum and dad when I was a baby. My nan had to take of me because my mum had postnatal depression, which was not recognised back in those days like it is now.

At four weeks, I noticed sounds. I recognised my mother and father at two months old and discovered my hands and feet at four months. The things I liked to do were dancing and laughing to stories. I was told I loved Milkybar. I still do!

I was told I was a little character, and I had my likes. I liked being tickled and playing hide-and-seek, but I disliked having my nose touched. My first words at five months old were mam, baba, pop, tar, and nana.

My first home with my mum and dad was a top-floor maisonette at. Then we moved to. But I can’t remember much about these memories. I can’t remember my nursery days too or my first schooling. I remember living in my home near my first school just about.

We had my other two brothers then. My mum also lost a baby in stillbirth, my brother. I tried to find my brother’s grave. Back then, they took the baby away and never did a service, which is so sad! I really wanted to find the spot where he was buried!

Then we all moved to a different part of town. I lived there until I moved out. My dad still lives there now. We had a good upbringing with my parents. I had loved school! When I did not like one school, I moved to another school. I went to a slow-learner class. My teacher was lovely to me, and I made good friends there too.

My teacher, she helped me a lot with things such as ladies’ issues because I had my period when I was nine to ten years old. She used to help me when I was covered in blood on my school dresses at times. When I was very young, I had well-developed body. The boys at school loved me, and we used to go to the back of the swimming pool for a bit of fun.

My brother used to spy on me and tell my mum. I had a boyfriend whom I loved and I had sex with. I know this was silly having sex at this silly age. My god, I do regret it now! I was so grown-up for my age and mature too.

Also, I was hard-working. I went out every morning and did paper rounds in the town. Looking back, it was a lot of walking from one side to another. Then one day I said to my mum in the kitchen that there was a cow outside. She said, ‘Don’t be so silly, don’t talk daft!’

I said it again to her, and she said, ‘You talk daft.’ So I told her to come outside. And guess what she saw—the cow. Yes, it followed me all the way through town to my doorstep. We were told that a cow escaped the cattle market that morning.

One thing that did frighten me was when I almost got abducted in a car once. I was making my way from my nan’s place to ours, and this man with brown car followed me and stopped. This man with black curly hair and a black moustache tried to grab me in a car and gave me the evils.

I tried to let myself go and ran as quickly as I could, and I did tell my mum. I saw him again, this man, and he gave me the evils. It freaked me out that I could have been abducted.

Mum worked hard at the local nightclub, cleaning and on the odd nights doing the glass-collecting. Dad was working at the hospital as a porter and part-time helper and at the pub glass-collecting, and he did a bit of DJ’ing.

Mum used to work on Xmas times at