It was 40 years ago when I first made Woodbridge my home. I'm originally from Northolt, West London. I was born there and went to school in Ealing, then went to teacher training college in Isleworth and finally London University. I began my teaching career in the London Borough of Hillingdon.
My husband, John, is a structural engineer and when a recession arrived in the early 1980s it was difficult to make a living in the construction industry. But he secured a job in Ipswich, so we made a move to Suffolk. It was a part of the world I knew because a really good college friend of mine was born and brought up in Woodbridge and we'd visited her here several times.
It was a big change from London. It really was that classic market town, which of course it really still is. We liked the fact that there was a railway station and you could either drive or travel by train to London, just in case we needed to move back for work at a later time, and so that we could keep contacts back in London.
It was quieter for sure. Coming from West London, where the planes to and from Heathrow passed overhead every three minutes for most of the day, there was a noticeable difference. The air force bases were still very much in evidence here at the time, but the noise from aircraft was intense when they went over, not a constant background noise. I particularly remember missing Radio London at the time.
When we first moved here I remember well there was an annual Suffolk Punch show in a field just beyond the A12. Seeing those great beasts up close was something new for me. The fields and quaint buildings in many of the towns and villages of Suffolk were other attractions, and the antiques fairs too.
I liked the fact that there were still local pubs and a local cinema; for a small town we had some forms entertainment within walking distance, which we didn't have where we lived in London. A pub maybe, but the cinema and good restaurants would have required travel by car, train or bus.
When we moved here I gave up my job in a London special school. It was quite a wrench because I really loved it, but I began a rewarding career in education in Suffolk and for the first 18 years I both worked and lived here.
Our move coincided with the birth of our first son, Alex, in September 1984, so I took a short maternity leave, then worked in several temporary jobs at Clifford Road Primary, Holywells High School, now Ipswich Academy. Then another temporary post at Thomas Wolsey School in the further education provision (16-19 years), and after that, a permanent role in Ufford Primary school. I was there until it closed in 1987.
I taught briefly in Melton Primary then went on maternity leave with our second son, Edward. My next role was a peripatetic special educational needs teacher in Melton, St Mary’s Woodbridge, and Grundisburgh Primary schools. Our third son came along in 1990, and in April 1992 our twin daughters were born.
During my maternity leave I applied for a job share with a fantastic colleague who also had young children. Together, we were appointed as project manager for English as an additional language, a county wide role, visiting schools with children whose first language was not English and organising support in the way of training, resources, and sometimes a specialist teacher.
After two years I took up a new post and set up the Parent Partnership Service for parents of children with special needs. But I also developed services to help mainstream schools build positive relationships with all parents and I became known nationally for the work that I did.
Then in 2002 I was appointed headteacher of First Base. I established this pupil referral unit, and a couple of years later a behaviour support service for young children with social and emotional and mental health difficulties.
In 2007 I set up my own consultancy, Eithne Leming Associates, providing school improvement services. It required a lot of travelling and so I often stayed away from Woodbridge during the week. It was never my plan but just how it turned out in the end .Over the years I've worked in various London boroughs, as well as Northamptonshire, Norfolk and Slough. I still enjoy running this business and helping schools to get even better at what they do.
In 2011 I set up Gemstones Education Services, with two former headteacher colleagues who had worked with me in Suffolk, because we felt there was a need for services to support children and young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties, and their families. We worked in numerous schools in East Anglia and London, but the pandemic brought a sudden halt and we found it difficult to get back on a secure financial footing.
It's rather ironic that these services were in great need following the pandemic, but funding issues in schools were beginning to bite hard, and schools weren't able to commission us to work with them for a whole year at a time. This made it difficult to plan into the future and eventually impossible to retain our expert staff, so we made the difficult decision to close the business in 2021.
After all this time, I feel fortunate to live in Woodbridge because it still has that market town charm, the rural and river scenery close at hand, along with pubs, good restaurants, the cinema and the trains to London. Suffolk is a lovely county with the combination of charming seaside towns and old world charm of medieval buildings that adorn so many of the rural towns and villages.
Over the years I've been involved in the National Childbirth Trust, a member of the twins club locally, and I've given talks to expectant parents of twins. I lost a baby at 23 weeks in 1987 and, as a result, John and I helped set up a charity which provides support to parents who find themselves having to make some difficult choices and decisions about their pregnancy. It's now called ARC (Antenatal Results and Choices). For many years I ran a local support group and worked on the national helpline.
John and I also had experience in London of providing respite care for families who had a child with significant disabilities. When we moved to Suffolk there was no service of this kind here, but in the 1990s one was established and for several years we helped with this scheme.
More recently we've been hosting Ukrainian refugees. Our first family of four arrived in June 2022 and moved on in May last year. Another family of three joined us a week or so later in June and they've only very recently moved on. We're expecting to host again very soon. It's been a very enriching experience and definitely one we've been happy to support.
Having been born and raised in Suffolk, all five of our children tell me they have many happy memories of childhood here. They're all now outside of Suffolk, though. Alex, the eldest is closest, geographically, in Colchester with his family. He's a cybernetics and robotics engineer in Clacton. For a few years he was a member of the band Fish Claw, who've been on local radio, and played in and around Woodbridge, as well as further afield.
One of our daughters now lives in Cambridge, working in a health related and research role; Edward is a data scientist and lives in Sussex with his family. Isabel lives in Shropshire and works in mental health. Furthest away is Quinten, who lives in Colombia, South America. He trained as a chef here in Woodbridge and still regularly keeps in touch with colleagues and friends, including his great mentor Vernon Blackmore. He's recently set up his own restaurant, events and deli business on the Caribbean coast.
My own most memorable experiences are of making some really great friends here in Suffolk and introducing our extended family and London friends to the delights of Woodbridge. So much as been enhanced and it has so much for visitors.
The site at Sutton Hoo has been developed with a much more sophisticated visitors' centre, and its own a Netflix movie, The Dig, has raised its profile nationally and internationally. The cinema has remained much as it was, but is even better restored to former glory. I'm so pleased it's managed to keep going following the pandemic.
The visitor’s centre in Woodbridge is now much more developed than the original museum. Then there is the Tide Mill, which needed much investment some while ago and is now flourishing and remains a working mill.
I have so many memories over the years which continue to make Woodbridge a special place for me. Some of my favourite things are the swimming pool which I enjoy using regularly, and the range of entertainment within walking distance of our home. The town has maintained so many features that make it an iconic place in which to live.
Can I sum it up in three words? Peaceful, iconic, connected.
