I’m well into my 70s now, so as you can imagine, it’s been a long time since I was over my mother’s knee to have my bottom smacked! However, this story isn’t about my own spankings but those given to my sister Nelly.
I had been an only child for about 14 years before Nelly came into the world. She was known as something of a ‘miracle child’ – not least because my family were good Catholics, so Mum and Dad never used protection when they made love. For a Catholic family in Liverpool in those days to go so long with only the one child was remarkable enough, but such a sudden addition to the family when my mother was in her late 30s was pretty exceptional.