Betty and Don met Daphne and Ernie at Caesar's Palace in the late sixties. They became friends and Ernie proposed a business venture of purchasing a Pet Shop that was up for sale in Hightown Road, Luton. They all decided to go into business together and purchase the shop in the early seventies. Mum got stuck into helping get the shop back to profit and looking after the animals. I remember one Christmas we had to take 3 or 4 baby crocodiles home over the holiday and kept them in the bath while the shop was closed.

Eventually mum and dad's marriage broke up and Phil and I moved to Brighton with mum and Ernie as well as Angie (Tracy as she was then) and Mandy. We moved to Middle Road in Preston, Brighton and shortly after, up the road to a house in Home Road. Mum and Ernie had enjoyed running the pet shop in Luton, but had to close it as they moved too far away, so used they used that opportunity to open another pet shop in Gardener Street in Brighton.

'Brighton Pets and Aquatics' was a success from the outset, with a number of characterful 'house pets' such as Dougal a talkative Blue and Yellow Macaw, and Samantha a Scarlet Macaw who used to sit just outside the shop door to attract customers. She didn't like dogs however and whenever one would come near her she'd hop off her perch and leg it (wings clipped) down Gardener Street with mum chasing after her... Mum's favorite bird however was Tookie the Toucan (see picture), who had a wicked 'wolf whistle' for anyone who entered the shop. He'd love to lie on his back in mums arms, with her tickling him under the chin. He would eventually, (after we sold him on closing the shop) go on to appear as the Guinness Toucan in their TV ads.

Mum was very much part of the shopkeeper community in Gardener Street and loved to go along to 'Mr Chippy's' café to have a cup of tea and a chat with the owner.