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I first met Ruth when I changed school and started to attend Eastwood High School in the autumn of 1969. Ruth was already friendly with two girls I knew, Eleanor (Livingstone) and Lynne (Ormerod), as they had all been together at Eastwood since the start of third year. Eastwood was a senior high school and took pupils from third to sixth year. I had just moved from an all girls school to a mixed high school. It was quite a daunting prospect, but Ruth, with Eleanor and Lynn took me under their wings and showed me the ropes.
They helped me with timetabling all the subjects I was to study. This involved a master timetable and sorting out some of the choices to be made. One of was extra PE, so that we could go swimming. Eastwood had a small pool and we used this time to take our life saving certificate.
The girls also helped me find my way around a much larger school than I had been used to. They took me to the lunch room and showed me how the system worked. The girls all made sure I wasn't left on my own until I was quite familiar with everything. I would have found it much harder to settle in without their help. In fact, I really enjoyed Eastwood so much more than my previous school.
Somehow we all became involved in a youth theatre workshop at the Citizens theatre after school one day a week. I think we often went to Ruth's house first as it was closest to the Citizens theatre. Ruth's mother was always good at making things, as of course, was
Ruth.
Ruth and her family were very welcoming. Her mother was always busy doing something! Every Christmas the Morrison's had a large flat branch in the hall, against the wall. This was painted white, I think, and had Christmas decorations put on it. I copied this when we had grandchildren as I recalled the one I admired in Ruth s home.
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