Happy birthday to my Gran, Mary Eliza Atkinson, who – amazingly – would have turned 99 today. She’s featured regularly throughout ‘Wiffle Lever To Full’ as I’m pretty sure she helped kick-start my sci-fi addiction when she bought a small selection of Star Wars action figures for me to eagerly unwrap on Christmas Day 1977. I’d just turned five and I hadn’t even seen the film at that point.
Some of my fondest childhood memories involve racing back from Ayresome Park to her bungalow in Acklam to watch Doctor Who with a sticky bag of Nuttall’s Mintoes in my hand. My Gran, Ayresome Park and Nuttall’s Mintoes are all gone, but I suppose I’ll always have Doctor Who. And every time I buy a vintage Star Wars figure on Ebay to go on top of the filing cabinet, I think of her.
Happy birthday, Gran.
Wiffle Lever To Full! 
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