Chapter 31

On their return Peter and Louise went straight to the Gower where they had found a small cottage. Peter started his sailing business immediately but they needed ready money so Louise found an administrative job in Swansea. Their plan was for her to join Peter and run the office once the sailing became a decent business. With Autumn almost upon him, Peter had plenty of time to prepare his yard and organise the advertising for an April launch. He broke even in the Summer but they had to rely on Louise's income for the Winter. Over the Winter though word began to spread and, with Peter beginning to be considered as a member of the British dinghy team, the national press began to take an interest in him and his yard. The following Summer business took off. Louise managed to persuade her company to let her help Peter from mid-March to mid-October. Peter took on a fellow sailor as a co-director. Louise learned from both of them so that the next year, when Peter finally was selected for the British team, the two of them kept things going during Peter's absences.

Annette and Harry had rented a small flat just outside Telford. Harry had been promised the job of Assistant-Director of Research in the New Year, with a major increase in salary. They decided it was too good an offer to turn down. Annette started to look round for a job. She found one with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) at the Sandwell Valley Bird Sanctuary at Birmingham. It was a twenty-mile car journey morning and evening but she did not mind that. The RSPB were thrilled to get a Zoology graduate with a speciality in birds not to mention her membership of the British Ornithologists Union. They were even more delighted to find that she was prepared to turn her hand to anything: improving habitats, dealing with the public who fell for her beauty and her quick wit not to mention her knowledge, office work or conducting tours. Annette loved every minute of it, particularly when she was put in charge of everything to do with her second favourite birds, lapwings. There were no problems with her absences to play hockey for England and the staff became her enthusiastic supporters.

However, almost immediately after their return from honeymoon the girls had to report to Nottingham again for the England trials. They were both selected again. The selectors had learned the lesson from the previous year of their potency as a pair and Louise, like Annette, was selected for every match. Annette scored a number of goals but two particularly important ones, one to win against Germany and another to do the same thing against Holland. In both instances Annette would say that Louise made them.