The Dorrington Family

The family is made up of Sue & David (Mum & Dad) and their children Joanne, Ian & Nicola. David & Sue were married in 1976 and started their life together (with Tracie, Sue’s 12 year old daughter) in Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire. Joanne was born there (but we daren’t say when). Then we moved to High Wycombe, where first Ian, then Nicola, were born. Tracie married Steve Wilkins in 1983 and set up their own family. In 1985, David was offered a job in Kuwait, working in the IT dept. of a major bank. Though, looking back on it, it may seem daft, we uprooted ourselves and moved the entire family to live in this desert country. The three children went to school there, despite requiring a 25 mile bus journey.

In 1990, while Sue and the children were in Cyprus on holiday in our 2 bedroom holiday home, David was caught up in the Iraqi invasion and was in hiding for 5 months before being taken as a hostage. Meanwhile, Sue had to return to UK to allow the children to continue their education. After Kuwait was freed, David returned but it didn’t look as if the schools were going to be able to open, so the children were moved to boarding school in Cyprus while a new, 4 bedroom house was built. In 1992, David started working on contract to a bank in Bahrain and in 1993, when the house was completed, Sue and the children moved there and David “commuted” between Bahrain and Cyprus.

In 1995, with the contract failing, we moved back to UK for the children’s schooling. This time, we went to a different village outside High Wycombe (still in that area because of Tracie). Within a year, David was offered a contract working for a bank in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. There were several unfortunate things about this. David had been in touch with this bank in 1995 and, had anything come of that, we wouldn’t have moved back to UK. Having moved, however, Ian was in the middle of his GCSE course and couldn’t be moved. So David went out there on his own for a year. Sue, Ian & Nicola joined him in 1997. Joanne stayed in UK, having been at college doing a drama course, and moved in with her boyfriend and his family.

When Ian had completed his ‘A’ levels, he returned to UK to attend the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield to study Aerospace Engineering. At the same time, Nicola returned to live with Joanne to go to college to get her ‘A’ levels. This meant that Joanne could afford a flat, with half the rent paid by Mum & Dad. Two years later, when Nicola went to Newcastle, Joanne was faced with a rent problem at the same time that Ian found he was without flat mates as his friends were taking a year out. So, another compromise was found, this time with Joanne moving to Hatfield to share a house with Ian (Mum & Dad paying half the rent again). She got a job as Customer Relations with a jigsaw company in Hatfield. From this, Ian managed to get casual and holiday work in the warehouse.

In 2003, David’s father had to have an emergency operation to replace a heart valve. It became clear, during the week that David stayed in UK, and the following month while Sue was here, that David’s parents needed some TLC. So, abandoning the warmth of Abu Dhabi, David & Sue moved back to UK. This time, as both Joanne and Ian were employed in Hatfield, it seemed sensible to move in with them. Of course, this didn’t work, so a bigger, 5 bedroom, house, was found In 2006, with Nicola returned from University, the entire family were back together and living in Hatfield.

In 2007, Joanne moved out to live with her boyfriend Chris. His parents have a small, bedsit with kitchen & bathroom, building in the grounds of their house in Bourne, near Cambridge. (They used it while the new house was being built). Chris & Jo are living there while Jo looks for work, so they can afford to get their own place. This meant a bit more room in Hatfield for the rest of us although it did mean the rent had to be split 4 ways instead of 5.

Sue was working for Age Concern Hertfordshire as IT administrator. David was working for them as Property Officer but was made redundant just before Christmas 2007 and started searching for work. Ian was Bar Supervisor for the London & Hatfield Country Club and working towards doing hospitality management. Nickie has worked for 2 MP’s in Westminster. She finds the travel a bit too much, especially when the trains have major delays, so she finished at the end of January 2008 and took a holiday to Canada to visit an old school friend.

In Feb 2009, we received the sad news of the death of a good friend from our Abu Dhabi days. As Alan & Janice had moved to a house on the same complex in Cyprus (in fact, right across the pool from us) and as Nickie & David were both out of work, they flew to Cyprus to give Janice help & support. When we knew the date of the funeral, Ian & Sue flew out as well. While we were there, at the end of Feb, we had a family discussion about the future. The decision was to move to Cyprus. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as that. Sue & Ian went back to UK to work their notice at their jobs while David & Nickie stayed to look for work.

Now, in 2009, David is working at the Queens Bay Hotel as Customer relations, Ian works at the same hotel in the bar and Nickie works as bar manager and PR on one of the cruise ships that run daily from the harbour. Sue stays at home to look after the house and Jack, our German Shepherd/Collie cross dog.