RITA HIGGINS (Mrs Apenteng) March 1936
When I first saw him, I thought ‘He is a ‘big head’. It wasn’t love at first sight, Oh No, no, no, no. He was very, and probably still is, very self-assured. He was a handsome bloke, a ward doctor. I was a Physiotherapist I had trained at Salford Royal School of Physiotherapy I worked for a number of years around the Manchester area before I went over to the West of Ireland and then to Dublin which is where I met Ado and in time I became Mrs Apenteng. Becoming a physiotherapist was the daftest thing I ever did! I really wanted to go in to the arts, to drama school to go on to the stage, but in those days ‘nice’ young ladies who went to Grammar school, didn’t go to Drama school, they became teachers or something of that ilk, you know, something that was ‘approved of!’ It was my Mother’s prayers that did it (according to her that is) I was her first child to go to Grammar school. My father was a Salesman from Manchester, but his family were from County Sligo. My Mother’s family were from the West of Ireland with the status of landed gentry. So, a lot was expected of the next generation and education was of prime importance. My maternal grandparents were very much caught up in The Troubles. They were thrown out of their big home and you know went through a lot of deprivation during the time of the Black and Tans .
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