I attended Silver Royd Secondary School which was in the Whingate area of the city.

I lived at the other side of Leeds (Burmantofts) and had to get a bus to school. This wasn’t a problem until one Sunday I suddenly had a light bulb moment and remembered that I needed a carrot for Biology on the Monday morning. Panic set in as we didn’t have any!

So my Mum (long suffering) said she would get up early and go into Leeds to the Kirkgate market to get some. And that’s what she did. We then had to arrange to meet somewhere so I could get my carrots. We decided (probably my Mum did) that I would get on the bus as usual and as the bus stopped at City Square she would wait with the said carrots and throw them onto the bus as it slowed down at the bus stop. That is exactly what happened much to the surprise of the bus conductor.

Anyway, thanks to my marvellous Mum, I had my carrots and successfully dissected one of them in Biology later that morning, learning about the cortex, epidermis, vascular cylinder and xylem. I have a lot of respect for the humble carrot (and of course my Mum).