Debbie was born in Hastings, she moved with her parents to Northiam when she was a baby and lived there until sixteen years ago when she moved to Rye. Most of her working life has been spent in Rye apart from working at the Kent and Sussex railway shop in Tenterden for about ten years.

She worked at Adams in Rye for over forty years, working in the different departments apart from Print.

 

Debbie was born with a disability, she had physiotherapy as a child which was distressing and painful. Her mother brought Debbie up to be independent and if she had problems to try to conquer them herself. Debbie feels that this was the right approach as it made her resilient. She went to a main stream school in Northiam. She mentions that there are certain things she can’t do like hold a tray for example, she says that this has made difficulties in her working life which she goes into in this recording.

 

She went from Adams to Rye Harbour Discovery Centre when she finished working there. She started as a volunteer and went from that to a paid employee working in the kitchen. She loves Rye Harbour, it’s busy, with a lot of demands which she thoroughly enjoys. She has encountered different aspects of the job that she can’t do, for example the coffee machine. She thinks that the Discovery Centre is the happiest place she’s ever worked. She’s made good friends and she likes the buzz that she gets when under pressure.

 

Looking back over her working life she feels that, in general, work conditions have improved in some ways and not in others, that we still have a way to go.