Page 4 - ZettaIntro
P. 4

Zetta’s desire to create poems and songs was overwhelming. It was a way for her to

         express thoughts, opinions and emotions in what could be a repressive society.
                In  1939  Zetta  married

         Bob  Dyce  and  their  first  child,

         George  Sinclair,  was  born  the
         following year. In 1943, tragedy

         befell the family when a second

         child, Wilma, died at only a few

         months  old.  Joy  returned  two
         years    later   when     another

         daughter,  Christine  Mary,  was

         born  and  finally,  in  1952,  I

         arrived and was named Isabella
         Margaret but always known as Isla.

                The  second  world  war  brought  immense  grief  into  Zetta’s  life  with  the  loss  of  both

         brothers serving in the army, as well as the death of both parents and her baby, Wilma. In
         addition  to  these  family  bereavements,  Zetta  suffered  from  serious  bouts  of  ill  health

         throughout her life, including diphtheria in her early twenties. She found solace and peace in

         nature, drawing inspiration from the fisherfolk community and the outstanding beauty around

         her home in the Moray Firth as well as her growing personal experiences of life.
                By 1948 Zetta’s marriage to Bob began to fail. To help revive their union they decided

         to leave the Moray Firth for a different life in the south of Scotland. By nature, a quiet reserved

         man, Bob was no match for his wife’s bright mind and vivacious personality and despite their
         effort to find common ground they separated. Now, without Bob, my mother decided to start

         a new life with her children in the tiny harbour village of Findochty just a few miles from her

         hometown of Buckie.

                We lived in a small house in Commerce street, opposite the Salvation Army Hall which
         backed on to the picturesque Findochty harbour. Zetta now acquired a motorbike, and found

         employment collecting donations for an Aberdeen based charity for the blind. It was indeed a

         rare sight to see a woman riding a motorbike in the 1950s let alone one roaring around the
         Highlands of Scotland.
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