Brontë love affair for Linda (From Keighley News)

Brontë love affair for Linda

10:11am Thursday 14th September 2006

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An Oxenhope woman's love affair with the works of the Bront sisters has helped her secure her dream job.

Linda Proctor-Mackley, 38, who first visited the Bront Parsonage as a young child, now works as an exhibition assistant at the museum.

The job, which she secured by completing an NVQ in cultural heritage, allows her to pass on her love of the sisters to a new generation.

Linda, pictured left, said: "Getting this new job means so much to me as I have such sentimental memories of this wonderful place.

"Being able to work at the museum of your favourite authors, learning more about them every day is a true privilege. Without the NVQ, I probably wouldn't have been able to progress my career at the museum as much as I have now."

She said the museum added another dimension to her life as she met her husband through a friend who works in the parsonage library.

"I really do owe so much to this museum - it has provided me with so much happiness over the years," she said.

She said she had been an avid reader since she was a child and discovered the Bronts in her teens.

After her first visit to the parsonage, she insisted on going back at least once a year during the school holidays. She trained as a secretary and began working in the parsonage's administrative department in 2000.

She said she wanted a more "hands on" role but the demands of being a wife and mother made it impossible to go back into full-time education for the qualifications she needed.

Instead, she took an NVQ provided by Education Development International, beginning the course in February 2004 and finishing at the end of last year.

She feared she would not be able to juggle a job, children and studying.

She said: "It was nearly 20 years since I'd written an essay so it was very hard at the beginning.

"However, my husband and colleagues were very supportive.

"It was one of the best decisions I have made and I would urge others thinking along the same lines to follow their dreams as well."

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