Q04 Quilley's teenage years and marriage to John Dalby

Описание: At the age of 16, Quilley started her working career as an assistant clerk in the Harrogate Post office for 6 months and then found a job with Lloyds Bank in Leeds, February 1962. She would cycle about 30 minutes to and from work until she moved into a YWCA in Leeds, March 1962.
Quilley moved into a YWCA and found work as a bank teller in Bradford, cycling between her lodging and the bank. Later she managed to rent a small flat and rose to the position of supervisor, though she saved money at the expense of eating properly. She openly expressed her frustration at the discrimination women faced in the workplace — the male chauvinist attitudes that meant lower salaries for the same jobs and limited opportunities for promotion. This conviction shaped her outlook throughout her life. During her teens and early twenties she remained part of the same social group of youngsters, which included Hilary and John Robert Dalby. John’s parents bought a lovely detached house in Apperley Bridge. No sooner than moving in, John’s father, Robert tragically died in a car crash when John was 18 years old. The group spent much of their social time in pubs, as was the English tradition, though Quilley drank little alcohol instead she had begun smoking at an early age. They enjoyed the local Fish and Chips, the best in the world, the Yorkshire countryside, the dales, Likly Moor, Skipton, Shipley and outings such as a concert at Headingley cricket ground.
By this time Quilley had established a total self-reliance and how to make ends meet – ingrained thriftiness. She tried to encourage these principles in others throughout her life.
The great day arrived on 17 September 1966, when Sandra Merryn Quilley Willings, standing 4 feet 10 inches tall, married John Robert Dalby, who was 6 feet 3 inches tall. Both were 21 years old, and the ceremony took place at the Parish Church in Farsley — much to his mother’s dislike. John, with blue eyes and brown hair, had been born on 12 November 1944 to Robert Dalby, a journeyman joiner, and Edith (née Lawson).
Together, Quilley and John built a life, supporting each other’s careers and travelling to Spain, France, and Germany. Quilley assisted John with the academic side of his technical engineering courses, while he worked as a draughtsman for a bread manufacturing company. They had saved enough to buy a house at 77 Aspin Lane, Knaresborough, near the local cricket ground, Knaresborough was a very picturesque inland holiday town surrounded by the River Nidd.
However, Quilley was dissatisfied with the limited career prospects and Britain’s poor weather, she encouraged John to seek opportunities abroad. A testament to her determination to carve out a better future.