Our latest Hello My Name is …   a truly amazing read!  Caren Reid, in fact. She reveals all from her very early days, a stint running a garage on Majorca and all about her lovely family. 

Hello my name is... Caren Reid.

I am married to my best friend Allan for 29 years in March. We have two grown-up kids Darren and Samantha. Darren has made us grandparents which is the most amazing feeling ever!
I was born in Cambridge not that you can tell from my completely Yorkshire accent.  I still have lots of family there including my Dad, so spend a lot of time on the A1. My Mum originally moved to Halifax from Ireland as a child, my Dad was born in Cambridge, so we moved between Cambridge and Halifax numerous times over the years. I was born to a caravan on a traveller’s site in Cambridge and lived in caravans, in lots of places over the years.  My parents were half gypsy I think. It was a lovely upbringing seeing loads of the UK and Ireland meeting lots of people, it made me very good at making friends easily. But on reaching adulthood I’m not the wandering type - I like my roots. 

What is your position?  Clinical Skills and Simulation Technician

Summarise your career background. I worked in insurance for 10 years from evening filing to the fleet manager’s assistant. I then worked in CRH Switchboard for six months. I applied for a job in Medical Education as a receptionist. I was there for six years, then spent two years in the training department as a admin team leader.  We moved to Majorca and opened a garage in 2010 but that lasted six months and we came back to the UK when I fell lucky with my present and best role Sim Tech.

What is the highlight of your career so far? My recently awarded professional registration awarded  so I’m still awaiting my certificate.  Who would ever have thought, that I would have letters after my name?

They are RSciTech  - Registered Science Technician.

Sum up your role in three words Amazing, Rewarding, and Ace!

What did you want to be when you were growing up? My Mum she was amazing.

Who is your hero/heroine and why? Again my Mum. She was dealt a rubbish hand as a child.  She was born in Cashel, Ireland, and was  a very poorly child and given the last rites a couple of times.  She lost her Mum  when she was just eight and then she then contracted tuberculosis and spent two years in a TB hospital.  Meanwhile her Dad and siblings had moved to England so family could help with the kids.  Within a year of joining them in England her Dad died. She was a truly lovely Mum and Nana.  Family was everything to her. She was strong and funny and beautiful and gave me the best upbringing. She sadly passed away June 2016.
 

When you are not at work how do you relax?  I am a Nana to our beautiful granddaughter Lilliana  and we love to have her as often as possible. I’m loving the nana-ness.  But in the summer I love to ride my motor bike an ER600, bright green and beautiful with my hubby Al on his Suzuki VL.
 

What is your favourite place?  Lanzarote, my cousin lives there so I am lucky to be able to go a few times a year, it’s absolutely beautiful there.  Both above and below the waves, I have recently learnt to scuba dive and am now a qualified PADI advanced open water diver. So we dive every day while there ….fantastic!

What would people be surprised to know about you? I also love to shoot and am currently a probationary member of a gun club hoping to apply for my firearm’s licence in the next few months.

Twitter/Facebook? Yes I do both Twitter for work and FB for home lots of pics of the grand-baby, diving or our new Patterdale puppy, Jess.
 

The NHS is 70 this year. How does that make you feel? Proud to be part of it, but think it needs to get back to its roots of 70 years ago. It is here to help people in the time of need not finance people’s egos.