An Interview With...... Gooner Girl
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:28 pm1] Your name: Helen Ruth Diack
2] Your age: 29 Big 3-0 next year - gulp!
3] Location: Lindfield, its a village near Haywards Heath in West Sussex, noones ever heard of it.
4] Oh, not a fan of City life then: No! I like shopping as much as the next girl and the shops round here are pants but as far as i can see thats about the only thing city living has going for it. I'd actually prefer to be even more rural then we are.
5] Occupation: PE teacher (part time) at a private school locally, i also teach swimming at the local leisure centre, run early morning sports clubs at schools 5 mornings a week (which i hate!) and do some private athletics coaching occasionally.
6] That sounds interesting. Is it a large school: No its quite small which means its always a struggle to get a decent team out against the other posher, bigger schools but we hold our own. Wednesday afternoons are match days which are probably my favourite bit of the job. Away matches mean going to another school and getting paid to cheer the team on, do a bit of coaching and drink tea and eat cake!
7] What does the job actually involve: Other then stuffing my face with cake? I teach 4-13 year old girls and boys, i do PE lessons with the little ones and the older kids lessons are more games based - netball, hockey, football, rounders etc. Because of the recession my hours have been reduced from full time as the school has lost pupils. Last year i also had a Year 6 form which meant PHSE and Sex ed lessons also!
8] Interests: Other then Arsenal? Athletics mainly, i triple jump in the summer for the athletics club that i am head coach at but most of my time is taken up coaching these days rather then competing! I'm hoping to start my level 4 athletics coach course soon - that'd make me the athletics equivalant of Arsene Wenger in terms of qualifications if i passed!
I enjoy reading, watching soppy rom coms, spending time with friends, hubby, my dog and 2 cats and am also very interested in farm animal welfare.
9] Farm animal welfare, please elaborate: As many of you will know (cos i bore you silly with it!) i volunteer for a couple of charities. The battery hen welfare trust (http://www.bhwt.org.uk) which rehomes ex battery chickens and i am also the mid sussex co-ordinator for http://www.ciwf.org.uk (compassion in world farming) which is mostly fundraising - I look great in a chicken suit!
10] Marital status: Married to long suffering, lovely Mike, he's not really a proper gooner but happy to accompany me to matches. He works near Gatwick writing software for radiotherapy cancer treatment systems (computer geek in other words!)
11] What first attracted you to Arsenal: hard to say, i kinda fell into it. I vaguely remember watching mickey thomas score anfield 89 but i think that must have been on the news the next day as i was only 9 at the time. Remember forward rolling across my living room floor in celebration. I remember sulking as we played Sheffield wednesday in the cup final, my parents dragging me out to walk round a nearby garden and i listened to the match on my radio headphones and refused to talk to anyone. My first match was the 93/94 season against everton with my dad. it was a 1-1 draw, Wrighty scored and Duncan Ferguson got sent off for a foul on John Jensen. My dad stood up and applauded the Everton goal - i was SOOOOO embarrassed!
12] What would you be prepared to give up for a season ticket at Ashburton Grove: Sweets and chocolate for a year? Thats a big ask for me!
13] Top of your "allowed" list: Colin Firth or Michael Vartan
14] Ideal holiday location: We treated ourselves to a week in the Dominican Republic this year and we hubby and i still look at each other occasionally, sigh and say "wish we were back there" I also would like to see more of sweden and i'd love to do a winter sports holiday where you can sledge and snowmobile etc etc
15] What would you do if you won the lottery: Season ticket, small holding in the countryside with lots of animals, buy my parents a new house and give some money to charity.
Thanks to Helen for taking the time out, now it's over to you to ask a few questions of your own...... Within reason of course!
2] Your age: 29 Big 3-0 next year - gulp!
3] Location: Lindfield, its a village near Haywards Heath in West Sussex, noones ever heard of it.
4] Oh, not a fan of City life then: No! I like shopping as much as the next girl and the shops round here are pants but as far as i can see thats about the only thing city living has going for it. I'd actually prefer to be even more rural then we are.
5] Occupation: PE teacher (part time) at a private school locally, i also teach swimming at the local leisure centre, run early morning sports clubs at schools 5 mornings a week (which i hate!) and do some private athletics coaching occasionally.
6] That sounds interesting. Is it a large school: No its quite small which means its always a struggle to get a decent team out against the other posher, bigger schools but we hold our own. Wednesday afternoons are match days which are probably my favourite bit of the job. Away matches mean going to another school and getting paid to cheer the team on, do a bit of coaching and drink tea and eat cake!
7] What does the job actually involve: Other then stuffing my face with cake? I teach 4-13 year old girls and boys, i do PE lessons with the little ones and the older kids lessons are more games based - netball, hockey, football, rounders etc. Because of the recession my hours have been reduced from full time as the school has lost pupils. Last year i also had a Year 6 form which meant PHSE and Sex ed lessons also!
8] Interests: Other then Arsenal? Athletics mainly, i triple jump in the summer for the athletics club that i am head coach at but most of my time is taken up coaching these days rather then competing! I'm hoping to start my level 4 athletics coach course soon - that'd make me the athletics equivalant of Arsene Wenger in terms of qualifications if i passed!
I enjoy reading, watching soppy rom coms, spending time with friends, hubby, my dog and 2 cats and am also very interested in farm animal welfare.9] Farm animal welfare, please elaborate: As many of you will know (cos i bore you silly with it!) i volunteer for a couple of charities. The battery hen welfare trust (http://www.bhwt.org.uk) which rehomes ex battery chickens and i am also the mid sussex co-ordinator for http://www.ciwf.org.uk (compassion in world farming) which is mostly fundraising - I look great in a chicken suit!
10] Marital status: Married to long suffering, lovely Mike, he's not really a proper gooner but happy to accompany me to matches. He works near Gatwick writing software for radiotherapy cancer treatment systems (computer geek in other words!)
11] What first attracted you to Arsenal: hard to say, i kinda fell into it. I vaguely remember watching mickey thomas score anfield 89 but i think that must have been on the news the next day as i was only 9 at the time. Remember forward rolling across my living room floor in celebration. I remember sulking as we played Sheffield wednesday in the cup final, my parents dragging me out to walk round a nearby garden and i listened to the match on my radio headphones and refused to talk to anyone. My first match was the 93/94 season against everton with my dad. it was a 1-1 draw, Wrighty scored and Duncan Ferguson got sent off for a foul on John Jensen. My dad stood up and applauded the Everton goal - i was SOOOOO embarrassed!
12] What would you be prepared to give up for a season ticket at Ashburton Grove: Sweets and chocolate for a year? Thats a big ask for me!
13] Top of your "allowed" list: Colin Firth or Michael Vartan
14] Ideal holiday location: We treated ourselves to a week in the Dominican Republic this year and we hubby and i still look at each other occasionally, sigh and say "wish we were back there" I also would like to see more of sweden and i'd love to do a winter sports holiday where you can sledge and snowmobile etc etc
15] What would you do if you won the lottery: Season ticket, small holding in the countryside with lots of animals, buy my parents a new house and give some money to charity.
Thanks to Helen for taking the time out, now it's over to you to ask a few questions of your own...... Within reason of course!
