the autobiography of Geraldine Murfin-Shaw

published 6 Dec 2011

available on Lulu

now available on Amazon

All Geraldine ever asked for was an interesting life, and By God, she got it! Hanging round gypsy encampments at the age of seven, waiting to be stolen, did not do the trick, so at sixteen she ran off to London with all her belongings in two carrier bags. Narrowly escaping a knifing at the hands of a woman whose sailor boyfriend she stole, she went home with him to Essex, where after a shotgun wedding they moved in with a whippet-breeding Welshman. Although the possessor of a faithful and loving heart, things did not go well in the romance department, and Geraldine found herself alone with her two children when they were five and three, setting herself to bring them up as best she could. Life was not easy for a single mother in the ′60s, there was stigma to cope with as well as poverty. But she fell in love again, with John Kirkham, a rent collector by day, and drummer in a jazz band at night - the man who proposed to her through a letterbox. His brief appearance on the scene gained her entrée to the village wife-swapping set, which was some kind of consolation when he abandoned ship after only six weeks.  

In those days no one need be without work, and with good typing skills she was able to pick and choose, working only school hours and term time, claiming National Assistance in the holidays. When the kids were old enough, she took on full time work, but after four years decided to quit when a doctor offered her valium. If he thinks I need that, there’s something wrong with my life, she decided. 

Valerie Mary Shaw (Geraldine) aged 16

download picture pages from book here (pdf)

The changes she made enabled her to enrol on a City & Guilds professional cookery course, graduating after one year to Leeds Polytechnic, where she studied hotel and catering management alongside chefs working in the industry, coming out as one of the top students.

It is still difficult to be a female chef today, but in 1976 it was extremely rare, and for a woman to achieve the position of Head Chef, practically unheard of, but Geraldine proved it could be done. 

From her first post as Sweet Chef in a zoo, she worked her way up to be head of a team of 30 chefs in an international college. She has plenty of stories to tell of life in the kitchen, and outside it, and the intriguing characters she knew and worked with.

After a third marriage, to a deranged American marathon runner, she moved into enemy territory, leaving Yorkshire for Lancashire, to install and run the catering in a Sports and Leisure club then being built. 

Though not aware of it, she was coming up to a time of big changes. Moving to Lancashire was the catalyst, and when she walked out of the job after three months, she walked into a whole new world of witches, weirdos, and wannabee poets.

Read about that in the sequel to this book, 

A Bit on the Blind Side.