FAMILY

The Mayoress

Dorothy has been a driving force behind both my career and charity work. Dorothy appears to be a lovely, quiet and kind person but behind the scenes, my wife is the ultimate marketing manager and a true force with a mission in how to get things done.

In addition to motivating and caring for me and the extended family, Dorothy, my wife, is a volunteer with the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) at the local Andover Hospital and has been a committee member of the Andover branch of the British Heart Foundation for twenty-six years.

Added to which is Dorothy’s Borough Council civic Award.  She has also received a Good Neighbour award from Hampshire County Council and a Volunteer Award from Age Concern Andover.

Dorothy is also very fond of her family, her garden and her people, the people of Test Valley.

Family

My daughters are Cheryl and Pam. Cheryl lives in Cookley with her husband Craig and their two children, Taliesin and Aurelia.  Pam lives in Crewe with her husband David and their two sons, Ben and Peter.  I am fortunate to have five grandchildren, Peter and Ben from Crewe, Taliesin and Aurelia from Cookley and Shona, the oldest granddaughter, daughter of David and Pam, who currently lives in Germany with her husband, Barry, a soldier who served in Iraq and their two children, Sophie and Adian.

Pam and Cheryl have BA degrees, following in the family tradition, although Pam took her degree at Manchester before anyone else in the family and set an expectation that everyone would follow in her footsteps.  Cheryl has a Master’s degree and Pam has a PGCE. Ben, Pam and David’s older son is about to take his place on the BCSE and will become, in three years, a children’s nurse, Peter, Pam and David’s younger son is following in Pam and David’s footsteps in the IT world, is about to take a BTEC in IT, to be followed by a degree.

In the future we hope that Tal and Aurelia will follow their parents, Cheryl and Craig and complete the line up on the Page family’s gallery of graduates.
 
Adoption

I was fortunate enough to meet Dorothy, through her brothers who served in the Territorial Army whilst I was posted in Perth in Scotland. Dorothy, ‘the light of my life’, came as part of a package. Sadly, Dorothy had been widowed very early in her life and was without a father for Pam, this was a space I felt I could fill.

Dorothy and I married and when Pam was twelve, I legally adopted her becoming her Dad. Pam and David have carried on the family tradition and adopted Ben in 2007, after a period of foster care; Ben is now a very fruitful part of our family.

If anyone reading this feels that they would like to talk to anyone about fostering or, adopting and would like to hear about the process, you can contact me, or, talk to Pam and David, they can be contacted by email: david@firstsolutions.co.uk, david@sitedesignonline.co.uk, or pambowie@sky.com.

Family Testimonials - Pam

From the age of ten, when Mum and Dad married and went, almost immediately, to live in Germany, the parents, Brian and Dorothy were involved in Charity work. On the odd occasion I would be offered a pair of really nice, ‘Clark’s sandals’, sadly far too big, that had been donated to Dad and Mum for one of their concerns.

Moving to Hongkong, where Cheryl was born, didn’t distract Mum and Dad from the, ‘cause’, we gave:

Temporary residence to people rendered homeless through the effects of Typhoons

Dad involved me in the building of pig sties so that one of Mum and Dad’s charities, a children’s home, could keep their pigs in style.

Worked constantly within the Chinese Community

I married at the age of eighteen years of age when Cheryl, Mum and Dad moved to Berlin, just another of their moves, despite not travelling with the family, I was aware of their constant involvement with the world of charity work.  It was no surprise when Cheryl persuaded Dad, at the age of eight that they ought to be using their running to raise money for charity.

Life moves on and Dad has told you that we have a daughter in Germany, Shona and our own grandchildren. We are very fortunate to still have our son-in-law with us, having come back from Iraq; Barry contracted chicken-pox from Sophie and Aidan and had to visit Intensive Care for a seriously long time. Barry nearly lost his life in Iraq and nearly lost it again in Germany, thankfully, our serving soldier is still serving Crown and Country.

Dad adopted me when I was twelve, it hasn’t always been an easy path but because of his care and concern, David and I decided, when the opportunity dropped in our lap, to both foster and adopt our son, Ben.

We trust and pray that Mum and Dad have blessings in the next year as they serve as your Mayor and Mayoress.