Cllr Pat Taylor
Arriving in Todmorden in 1974, aged 9, I started my 6th school National C of E.
I attended Todmorden High School and at 16 I worked the summer in Budapest with a disabled group of adults.
Back in Todmorden at 16, I met my husband and worked in several office-based jobs, we married aged 21 and by 27 I was pregnant with my son.
My mother’s health had always been poor and when I was 19, she had a large brain tumour removed.
It became clear she needed to move in with us not long after my son was born.
My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years later and needed much more care and suitable accommodation.
Once my son was at school, I worked as a cleaner, childminder and cooked for friends. Life was busy and my husband worked away.
18 years at home and not doing a ‘proper’ job meant it was very hard to find work, so the cottage became a guesthouse.
I left school with little on paper but my life experience within family has taught me much about depression, alcoholism, mental & physical domestic abuse, Asperger’s, Alzheimer’s, physical disability to name a few.
Which brings me on to my work as a Councillor, which find I absorbing.
Our charities and help groups are to be cherished. Had I had the help they offer I would have had a much better quality of life while tending the quality of others’ lives.
I remain dynamic and love my job, cooking, walking my dogs, reading, art, and travelling. the list is endless, but I love learning and researching.