I AM the sole remaining member of an original staff of seven which made up the workforce of RACE which was based in Curragh House in the early eighties. This month I will celebrate 31 years in the job, although I can tell you, I am not ready to retire just yet!

As a child growing up in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, I had no interest in racing and it may surprise many, that despite my job, I have never attended a race meeting in my life. From as early as I can remember, I always wanted to be a secretary in an office and once I finished school, I set about achieving that childhood dream. Initially I got a job in the typing pool of a local paper mills, where I spent five years. I then advanced to the secretarial area and spent a number of years working in different companies gaining experience as I went along. Having met and married a Kildare man in 1979, I settled in Kildare town and travelled daily to Dublin to work for five years. The travelling got very laborious so I set about finding a job in my adopted county. I heard that RACE were looking for someone to do a few hours a day, so I put my name forward and the rest is as they say history.