LIFE began again at the age of 40 for Wellington woman Isabel Ward after a period of great turmoil in her personal life.

Her 15-year marriage to a priest ended dramatically, painfully and publicly – with coverage in the tabloid press – leaving her and her two children homeless and with no income.

The year was 1979, when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, and the rector’s wife had served in three parishes in the Midlands. Luckily, help came along in the form of South West Staffordshire MP Patrick Cormack and his wife Kathleen.

Isabel said: “My son Mark and daughter Ruth were rescued not by the Church of England, its clergy or the diocese but by the local MP and his wife. They asked me what I wanted to do now that I had the ‘opportunity’ of a second career. I heard myself saying we wanted to move to London and I wanted to work in the House of Commons – that was in October 1979.

“Six painful months later, after tramping the streets of London, dossing down in a hostel with the homeless and discovering the streets were paved with granite and not gold, looking for a home, in April 1980 I began working at the House of Commons.”

For the full story see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.