JUST WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE TOWN I GREW UP IN?

AT 15, I was studying for my O-levels at Brynteg Comprehensive in Bridgend. I went to Hope Baptist Church youth club and took part in every church play, both at Christmas and Easter and several times throughout the year. I was Elvira in Blithe Spirit, Goods in Everyman; my brother was God (my mother, as Sunday School superintendent at the time, cast him). At 16, I was Welsh Public Speaking champion, a member of the National Youth Theatre of Wales, the school drama and creative writing clubs and, in the little spare time I had, did ballroom dancing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]