As a child, Lynn Leggat felt closest to her dad when he taught her woodworking. Just after he died, she was given power tools for her birthday and began making up for lost time.
She picked it up here and there for a notional future when she would make something with it. For her 60th birthday, her husband Alan, a builder, bought her a set of power tools. Woodworking has always felt important to Leggat, now She was born in Manchester, and when she was five, in , the family emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand. Her father was a carpenter who made wooden patterns for ship parts, and Leggat learned at his side.
He thought it was important for girls to have the skills that boys have. Whatever was needed in the house, he made it β a conservatory, an orangery, a games room. He just kept building things. I think doing the practical stuff with me was his way of showing me how much he cared. She left school shortly after. The first one she called invited her to interview. At 22, she returned to England to connect with her wider family. One night, her uncle persuaded her to accompany him to a Catholic dance.
She bumped into Alan quite literally on the dancefloor. He walked her home. They have been together for 38 years, and have three children. Leggat restarted her education when she was about 30, sitting A-levels in a hall full of teenagers, and later doing an Open University degree.
At 40, she started working for Manchester city council in regeneration and youth services, and for the past 10 years has specialised in charity work, teaching women DIY at a local community centre.
