I grew up in Newport in the Baneswell area as the youngest of two children.

My father worked in the Llanwern Steelworks when it opened and my mother was a secretary at a building company.

After leaving school with just a GCE in Maths and a CSE in physics and chemistry, I went onto doing general admin roles and had a varied career working for different companies mostly in Newport.

I went back to university aged 39 because I felt that there must be more to life than just sticking letters in envelopes and posting them on my way home.

It was while I was looking for work that I found myself at Newport Stadium when it opened in a casual capacity as a ‘leisure attendant’.

I never thought I would still be here over 30 years later.

When I started, my role was to make sure that everything was clean and tidy for the clubs, whether it was football or athletics.

But my real love for athletics started before that with my two sons in 1985.

I was drawn into it because my eldest son David was told by his primary school to carry on his distance running.

When taking him down to the Glebelands and standing at the fence I thought I’m sure I can do something more than stand around and watch for an hour and a half.

Following this I got involved with the under 11s age group at the Newport Harriers and helped the coaches.

I was very nervous when I started coaching because I was afraid I was going to make mistakes and injure some of the little ones.

A key moment for me was in 1985 when my son Mark was in the under 11s and won the Gwent Schools Cross Country championships held at the Glebelands.

In that competition he was one of eight boys who won the team title and a group of eight girls also won the girls under 11 title.

At that time I thought, well, although I’m still not sure what I’m doing I must be doing something right to get them to the standard to win larger competitions.

I later went on a coaching course in 1989 and because we he had jumps, runs and throws coaches I opted to do multi-events – pentathlon, heptathlon, decathlon.

My mentor then was Hywel Williams from Cwmbran who recently passed away. He was so helpful and would always be on the end of a phone if I needed advice.

I met my husband Ken in 1971 on New Years eve at Newport's Kensington Court Club and we married on October 6, 1973. We have been together for 43 years now.

He caught the bug for athletics through my son David who was in under 13s age group in 1990 and would train in Newport doing short road runs.

In Winter the road runs would get longer and Ken and I were concerned about David going out in the dark on his own so my husband started going out with him.

As my husband started to go out more and get fit he took part in cross countries and road races and became an endurance runner. He has took part in six London marathons.

We coach a group at the Harriers and I think we work really well together. We share a large group between us and it has grown and grown over the years.

With reception work you often had to meet the general public and be outgoing to a certain extent to make sure they got what they wanted. I think that has helped me a lot as a coach.

I try to be stern but not in a frightening way but also not in a pleasant way (if that is possible) and I try to integrate everyone into the group and make it fun for the athletes.

I will also welcome anyone regardless of their ability, creed or religion and bring them all into the club.

Alongside the Harriers I have worked for Welsh Athletics – the chief governing body for the sport – and when they were based at the Celtic Manor my role was a competitions administrator.

This involved booking transport for Welsh teams to go away to competitions and booking accommodation for other teams to come to Wales to compete.

It was quite nice because I had links with athletes scattered right across Wales.

One notable athlete I coached was Christian Malcolm who was sent down by his P.E teacher as a hurdler when he was young.

I was his first coach and I worked with him for about three to four years. He held the Newport Harriers club record for the long jump for quite a long time.

After me he moved on to Jock Anderson who coached him for the rest of his career but has since came back to the Harriers and now coaches a disability group.

When I introduce him to some of the young ones I say this is Christian he has been to the Olympic Games and he says ‘I haven’t done anything really’. We joke about it and make it light hearted.

Christian’s record was only taken away a couple of years ago by Kellen Jones, who was initially sent to us as a javelin thrower.

We like our students to try other things so I took Kellen and we did some long jump and he was jumping over four metres against Christian’s record of over six.

I got him to that stage where he beat that record and can see him going a lot further. He could really be one of our star athletes in multi-events.

He has now moved on to a coach in Cardiff progressing to multi-events and is currently ranked number one in Wales in the decathlon.

But when athletes move on to other coaches I get very upset because I’m trying my hardest and feel I could have done more.

If they believe that someone else can get them further then it’s the right time to move.

I often wonder what I would be doing if I didn’t have the Harriers – probably sat a home wrapped in a blanket with knitting needles in hand.

The club is part of my lifestyle now and over the last four years we have went from a membership of 150 to 530 members, ranging from seven years to our oldest athlete who is in his 70s.

I’m the treasurer, welfare officer, a coach specialising in multi events and a qualified race starter, track official and field official.

But after doing the Paris marathon in 2001 I developed arthritis of the knees and I’m waiting to see a consultant to have two replacement knees.

I need that (operation) to be done in the Winter as there is so much going in the Summer I don’t want my athletes to lose me.

It may sound big headed but I do wonder what would happen to them if I’m not there for a while.

My mother, her twin sister and my grandmother had Alzheimer’s and my husband and I have spoke to the Alzheimer’s society about looking out for signs.

They said one of the best things to do is to keep yourself and your mind occupied. If I’m going to get Alzheimer’s, I’ll get it a lot quicker sitting at home.

The Harriers are like a very large family to me and while we may have our disagreements, we try to work together to get the best for everyone.

I feel my athletes are part of that family. I want to continue to be there for them and hopefully see them through for as long as I possibly can.

For more information visit: www.newportharriers.com.