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When Joanna was born, Victoria was aged almost seventeen and quite grown up. When Joanna was about nine weeks old, we had quite a scare as we almost lost her due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I recall that I’d been shopping and she was sleeping in the pram, whilst I made the dinner. John had come home early from work that day and I went to check on her only to find that she was not breathing. Fortunately, we lived very near Shotley Bridge General Hospital and with not a second to waste, grabbing Joanna we dashed to the van, leaving the front door unlocked. We knew that the house would be safe under the watchful eyes of Rottweilers, Sheba and Sara. We were in time for Joanna to be resuscitated and I spent a week in hospital with her and over the following year she had to have regular checkups.
Three years on and in March 1991, our son John was born and our family was complete. Later that same year, Victoria was married and the following summer I became a Grandmother to her first daughter, Tara. Although technically, Joanna and John are auntie and uncle to Tara, they have always been like brother and sisters. Sadly, in November 1991, John’s brother died and we inherited his house at White-le-head. We moved there the following March and Victoria and her husband moved in to our old house at Blackhill. Since then, Victoria has had a second daughter Amy who was born three years later.