Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.
Fits in with the story line in 'Martin and Louisa - The Story Continues' shortly after the Charity Ball.
PROLOGUE
Edith Montgomery sat in her ultra modern, clutter free, surgically clean kitchen in her London Docklands flat. The cooker was as clean as the day she bought it because she never actually used it – she always ate out. A cleaner came in twice a week to ensure that her flat remained clean, although the cleaner never actually found much to do.
She picked up her paper to read as she sipped her espresso coffee – she did at least use her coffee maker on a regular basis. She only ever read 'The Times', and then only the sections that interested her. This morning however, as she discarded all the supplements, her eye was caught by something she saw on the front of the Educational Supplement.
'Cornish Super Woman Head Teacher - does she have the solutions to falling educational standards? – an in depth article by Jenny Parsons' read the headline. But what had caught her eye was a large photo of Louisa Glasson, on the front cover.
"Well, well, well, little Miss Spiky," Edith murmured out loud. She opened the supplement to read further.
'The parents of children in the Cornish village of Portwenn count themselves as amongst the luckiest in the country. Since Louisa Glasson has taken over as Head Teacher, they have seen standards rise in all key subjects, and after an 'outstanding' rating by OFSTED, their school now ranks amongst the highest Primary schools in Cornwall. There is a waiting list for places at the school, and a catchment area has had to be set up. Head Teachers from other schools are being sent there to learn what makes it so successful, enabling them to improve their schools.
However, Ms Glasson is not content with sitting on her laurels. Although she is currently on maternity leave, she has been working relentlessly to set up a nursery unit attached to her school to benefit the local working parents, with the additional benefit of creating much needed employment and training opportunities in a rural community. She is hoping to have the nursery up and running for the new term in January, when she returns to work, as she plans to leave her baby son, Luke, in the nursery.'
"Ah yes she had a boy didn't she," thought Edith, who had not taken the slightest interest in any of her patients' progress in Cornwall since she had left. "I recall Ellingham mentioning it when he was making his pathetic excuses for dropping out of the London job."
The article carried on – 'We asked Louisa Glasson to summarise what she feels are the key points to raising educational standards.
"I believe it is very important to know each of the pupils as an individual, and if a problem area in their learning becomes apparent, it must be tackled straight away, and not left to affect their confidence. We run extra Maths and English sessions tailored to individual needs, as these are the essential building blocks, especially at Primary School."
The article carried on with further details of all the extra measures that Louisa had set up.
It then covered what Louisa had been doing to set up the nursery.
'First of all, I have to say that I have had wonderful support from my partner, Martin Ellingham, who is the local GP, I couldn't have got this far without his help. It is a long struggle though, because there are so many formalities to go through. I have been trying to enlist the support of our local MP, MEP, councillors and so forth. Some have been of much more help than others, but some of them have never even replied to my letters, emails or phone calls, which I believe is a disgrace when it is their responsibility to serve our community.' The article then continued with more details of the problems that Louisa had encountered.
Edith thought to herself "So the poor deluded fool did stay with her in that claustrophobic little village – the man's completely insane, riddled with phobias. It really is a shame when he has such a brilliant mind. It seems I underestimated Miss Spikey – but she's welcome to him, with his fear of intimacy, she won't be getting herself pregnant again!"
xXx
Someone else who saw the article was Dominic, the intern from Martin's legal firm who had been working closely with Louisa on the nursery project. When Richard Blackwood, Martin's lawyer, had told Dominic about the project he had said,
"Don't suppose you'll be dealing with Martin Ellingham much as it is Louisa Glasson's project. But if you do talk to him, don't be put off by the fact that he is rude and brusque – it's just his way with everybody. First class doctor though, no question about that. Goodness only knows what this Louisa sees in him; maybe he's found a nice country lass to look after him."
Having listened to Louisa's Cornish accent on the phone many times, and with what Richard had said about a 'nice country lass', Dominic had a picture of Louisa in his mind as a very pleasant but plain, rather plump lady. Louisa had told him about Jenny's article in The Times, so naturally he had bought it. When he saw her picture on the front page, he was amazed to see such a beautiful woman. He showed it to his boss Richard, who was equally surprised.
"Well I never, maybe now I can understand why Martin decided to stay in Cornwall," he mused "And she's got brains too. Last time I spoke to him, he was hoping to persuade her to marry him – and now I can't really say that I blame him."
xXx
As a direct result of the article in The Times – a very respected and influential newspaper after all – Louisa suddenly found that their MP, who had been 'too busy', suddenly found time to help her, as did various other officials who were now being approached for TV interviews about the article. Education standards were hot news at the moment, so someone who appeared to have the solution to raising standards was very news worthy. The outcome of all the media coverage was that finally, strings were pulled, everything fell into place, staff were interviewed, equipment bought, and the nursery was ready to open for the January term, meaning that Louisa could return from maternity leave to her job as Head Teacher.