And the first post on new blog with examples of recent craftwork, sock knitting and face coverings:
Recent sock knits :


Socks I knitted and wear:


Face coverings I've made recently:







My oldest son's Music Therapy business in Dundee:
Face the Music website
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Since 2015 I've been facing up to the reality of the damage done by psychiatric treatment/abuse and no justice, after winning the Ombudsman case against NHS Fife for "unreasonable treatment", when staff abused my youngest son who had a broken hand, locked in their seclusion room with no toilet, light or water. Facing up to the consequences of psychiatric treatment/abuse perpetrated on my family since I was a child. The unfairness of it, no justice.
I've had to go back over the years, remembering and writing about it, to get it out of my system, for healing and wellbeing. Going back to 2002 when my two older sons took me into Lomond Ward, Stratheden psychiatric Hospital for respite/coercive drug treatment. A very risky ward, particularly for me as I'd raised complaints about my oldest son's inpatient treatment there in 1996. I needed help so phoned my ex-husband from the ward and remarried him on our 30th anniversary 4 July 2002. Well done to Ted for agreeing!
Our marriage lasted this time around until the summer of 2011 when he left our house although we hadn't been getting on for a few years since I made a full recovery from mental illness/psychiatric abuse and got back to full time paid work in 2006, plus two other part-time jobs, doing another postgrad qualification at the same time, a TQFE in Care subjects at Stirling University. He ended the marriage with his behaviour and I forgave him, understood why he did it. We had difficulties seeing our grandchildren and I think he blamed me for it. He said after we split that he had given up hope of seeing the grandchildren.
I've got broad shoulders. Easier to blame, take it out on me than others. That's what statutory agencies in Fife tried to do in 2012 after Nurses abused my son, using the Schizoaffective Disorder label/diagnosis pinned on me by Dr Carey in 2002 after the drugs didn't work. I didn't have a mental disorder or a lifelong mental illness and had to take charge of my own mental health so as to make a full recovery.
We had moved to the Cupar area of Fife in 1990 to be near my middle sister who was in an abusive marriage with an alcoholic man, originally from Perth, as she was pregnant with her first child and I thought she would need my support, and she did, moving in with us when her son was a toddler. Eventually she got housed by Fife Council, divorced him, bought another house, was a music teacher, married a good man in 1999 and settled in his home town of Dysart. I am pleased for her, we haven't spoken in many years but I sent her handmade socks recently on her birthday.
I moved my Mother to Cupar in 1993 after helping her buy a flat in the Bonnygate, she paid cash, and then supported her until her death, 19 March 1998. I wanted to get her a good gravestone as she wanted buried so I asked her to transfer me money to cover this before she died as I never had the funds to do so. I researched gravestones in Cupar cemetery before ordering and submitting a design to a Leven sculptor who was recommended, deciding on black marble with Celtic stone knotwork, designed by my oldest son.
My Mum's headstone has withstood the test of time which I'm grateful for and plan to move her grave to Dundee after we move there, whenever I can afford to. It's important for me to remember my wonderful Mother in stories and by keeping her grave planted with flowers, keeping her memory alive. She was a great example to me of being a good Mother and of surviving psychiatric treatment/abuse, living a productive life for as long as possible and supporting her 3 daughters to the best of her abilities.
I will return to this topic in future blog posts and on social networks, to make sense of it and to tell my story.
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Dundee Olympia January 2019 |
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December 2015 Burntisland pool |
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December 2015 Glasgow Tollcross pool |
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November 2015 Leith Victoria pool |
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July 2016 after swim at London Fields Lido |
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November 2015 London Olympic pool entrance, Stratford |
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November 2016 London Kensington Leisure Centre pool |
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Nov16 near London Kensington Leisure Centre, Gravity/Levity Sculpture, Nigel Hall |
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November 2018 after swimming at Dollan Aqua East Kilbride |
I swam daily in my 40's plus 3 times a week at the gym, lifting weights, and I think this has helped me now, 68 years old next month, to keep fit despite 6in titanium plate right fibula after 3 fractures in March 2005 and a bladder prolapse from 2015 when experiencing a total breakdown after years of campaigning for justice and caring singlehandedly for my son.
I remember swimming often as a child in Perth, lessons at Caledonian Road Primary School, competing in swimming galas, walking up by the Lade to the Dunkeld Road pools from our flat at Pomarium. Achieving the Lifesaving Certificate when at Perth Academy.
Yes we did it.
No help from services. [in fact they tried to blame me for psychiatric abuse]
No Empower App. [I applied for the post, never even got an interview]
Stuck in Springfield, the Stratheden psychiatric Hospital village, for 8 years, despite wanting a move to Dundee since February 2012.
Didn't we do well?