MARY PETERS - SPORTING LEGEND - NEW BOOK
My Story Mary Peters (with Ian Woolridge and Jim Gracey) The Blackstaff Press 2023 https://blackstaffpress.com/mary-peters-9781780733753 “My accent doesn’t tell the truth at all because there isn’t a single drop of Irish blood in my veins. I was born in Halewood, on the outskirts of Liverpool, and both my father and mother were born there too. We weren’t even Liverpool-Irish.” Yet, Lady Mary Peters is so firmly associated with and attached to Belfast and wider Northern Ireland that her beginnings have faded into the mists of distant history. She was a phenomenal Olympic athlete and is a passionate supporter and encourager of young sports people. Mary was born in 1939 and moved to Northern Ireland aged eleven because of her father’s transfer there for work. He had passionate sporting ambitions for his daughter and helped her as much as he could. He and others came up with ideas for makeshift sports equipment, e.g. broom handles, nails and a length of bamboo to construct a hig