Shirley Green
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Summary
Based on an interview recorded on 11 January 2013. It reflects the interviewee’s life and memories at that time.
Shirley Green’s life has been rooted in Fownhope soil – quite literally. Born in Hereford Hospital in 1952 and raised in Weston Beggard, Checkley and then Fownhope, she grew up in a lively household of eight children, sharing a home with hand pumps, oil lamps, outdoor loos, and a wonderful muddle of siblings coming and going.
She remembers village life vividly: walking down to Dolly Davis’s shop in Checkley, school days at Mordiford and Fownhope, and craft lessons that quietly shaped her future. At secondary school she never considered herself especially artistic – though it turns out everyone else could see it clearly enough.
After training in textiles and food at Hereford Technical College, she worked in the kitchens at Thorn Lighting, later in Lipton’s in High Town, before becoming an ancillary assistant at Fownhope School in 1980. Helping children with crafts, knitting and art sparked something lasting; she still feels privileged to have worked in the very school she once attended.
Shirley married Pete in 1971, a childhood acquaintance from Checkley who became her steadfast companion and quiet encourager. They raised three children and now have two grandchildren – with young Charlotte already showing the same creative spark.
But it’s flower arranging that transformed Shirley’s life. She joined Fownhope Flower Club in 1981, encouraged by founder Muriel Taylor, and discovered a gift she hadn’t recognised in herself. Since then she has created exhibits in cathedrals across the country – Worcester, Brecon, Abergavenny, Llandaff and more – sometimes nervously, always creatively. She chaired the club for 15 years, helping it thrive while many others dwindled.
Her memories are full of friendship, shared skills, big festivals, small triumphs, and the joy of working alongside people of every ability. And at the heart of it all, she says, are flowers, community, and the people who encouraged her to “give it a go.”