Sheila at home

Born in the Devonshire Riviera town of Torquay, Sheila was the second child of a young Detective serving in the Devon Constabulary. As he rose through the ranks the family was moved from one location to another, and together with her brother, Sheila spent an idyllic childhood in this most beautiful of counties.

She chose to follow a sporting career, opting for her first love, swimming, which she taught in schools and Sports Centres. Marriage to Harry, then a young Flying Officer in the Royal Air Force, followed and the couple produced two children, Karen and Jeremy. A posting to Bomber Command at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, when the children were still at primary school, meant they were living close to the town of Lincoln, and to widen the scope of her teaching, Sheila enrolled at the prestigious Bishop Grosseteste College, which offered a course in Physical Education for women.

In 1971 Harry was posted to RAF Episkopi Near East Command in Cyprus, and Sheila was appointed swimming instructor to the British Schools for Service children in Limassol. Three happy years of sunlit days and moonlit nights followed, until the summer of 1974, when the coup d'état, culminating in the Turkish invasion, brought tragedy and chaos to the island.

Back in the UK, Sheila continued to pursue the teaching of swimming and physical education until 1980, when fortune smiled and Harry was posted to Cyprus once again, this time as Senior Education and Training Officer at RAF Akrotiri.

Three more happy years followed, and it was during this tour of duty that they purchased the land at Neo Khorio, on the edge of the Akamas wilderness, where they would later build their dream home.

In the summer of 1983 Harry was posted back to Headquarters Strike Command at High Wycombe, where the couple found it difficult to readjust to life in the UK. Within a year, and after a great deal of thought, Harry resigned his commission and they returned to Cyprus to set up home on the wild and beautiful piece of land at Neo Khorio.

Enthralled at the sheer beauty of the region, Sheila began to write about the things she saw around her, at the same time recounting their experiences as they struggled with the language and the totally different way of life in a remote Cypriot village. The rest, as they say, is history!

Sheila Hawkins is a member of the Society of Authors.

Book Readings of her works are available to Societies and Clubs - Contact Sheila Hawkins