Having just concluded her latest creative project, Catherine Fox wanted to start the new year with something completely new. With two growing grandsons, she realised that she wanted to write her memoirs for them, to give them a greater understanding of her life and of the social events that she has lived through.
Catherine’s parents met during the Second World War, while her father was out in the countryside and training soldiers. When he climbed through one particular hedge, he found himself looking down at a ‘Land Girl’ from the neighbouring farm. This woman later became Catherine’s mother.
Catherine arrived on Sunday 11th February 1945, bringing, as she says, “peace to the world.” How so? Well, on the same day, the Yalta Conference concluded with a joint signed declaration that affirmed guidelines for the end of the war and the maintenance of peace.
After her momentous arrival, Catherine was brought up in Somerset, along the River Sheppey – a place that she recalls fondly and which provided a constant source of inspiration and adventure for her as a child. Local stories of knights and dragons sparked her imagination, and being taught about the flora and fauna of the area triggered her lifelong appreciation of the natural world.
Much to Catherine’s dismay, she was sent to boarding school at the age of 10, and life was characterised by grey bread and a strange new school language all of its own. Although she was not happy at school, Catherine made the best of it. She recalls the mischief, the music and the first romances of her adolescence prior to leaving school and moving to London, where she studied occupational therapy.
Catherine enjoyed the London of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ to its fullest. She remembers being invited to parties at which she didn’t even know the host, but bringing along a bottle of plonk or some bread and cheese made her a welcome guest. She also worked at a restaurant on Carnaby Street – the fashionable epicentre of kinky boots and miniskirts.
It was late in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ when life really changed for Catherine. In 1969, her flatmate’s boyfriend asked her to look after his car while he was away. The car was a sleek, white Triumph TR4; Catherine jumped at the chance to zip about and show off in such a car. However, when she went to collect the keys, she was met by John Fox, who had also been asked to look after the car. They argued for some time about who should be allowed to be the ‘keeper of the keys,’ but, wisely, John relented and gave them to Catherine. Around a similar time, Catherine and her flatmate had some knickers stolen from their clothes line. They reported this incident to the police, who said that they would come round to investigate. That evening, Detective Constable John Fox duly arrived, and the rest, as is so often the case, is history. John and Catherine were together for just shy of 50 years, and they cherished a daughter together.
It is at this point in her LifeBook that Catherine’s story starts to split into the themes of her life which she identified and diligently prepared for each week before her interviews with us. One of her primary themes is healthcare. Over the course of her career in occupational therapy and, later, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Catherine witnessed some great developments in the healthcare field, influenced by social changes and new ideas. She considers it to have been a huge privilege to be able to help so many people who shared with her during her psychotherapy career.
One particular standout themed chapter in Catherine’s LifeBook is The Joy of Making, in which she discusses her many creative endeavours. Creativity has been a source of comfort and pleasure at every stage of Catherine’s life, and her beautiful paintings and poems are threaded throughout her book. (A print of hers has been used for the beautiful dust-jacket design.)
In her conclusion, Catherine looks back on her life-story project and marvels at how much she has achieved. At one point, she notes how glad she is that she persevered with writing her book, as, throughout the process, she often worried that it would not be of interest to her family.
Catherine also looks ahead to the future and lays out her concerns for the planet and the world in which her grandsons are growing up, but her book ends with hope and positivity, which are constants throughout her memoir. She says that she is “still a child at heart, just in an older body.” To my mind, that line captures the sense of joy and curiosity that the reader is left with on the last page. For that reason, Catherine’s family will surely cherish the LifeBook that she has created for them for many, many years to come.
Written by Isabella Samuels, LifeBook Memoirs editor
