Shirley Stanley was born in Harrogate, the only child of Cecil Stanley Jones and May Jones. She was educated at Belmont, School for Girls. Shirley was good at sports and enjoyed horse riding. At age 20, the family moved to live in Surrey.Shirley worked as a marketing assistant for ICI Fibres Division, promoting the sale of Terylene and Crimplene until 1966. She married her husband, Brian, in 1967 and continued working as a medical secretary, retiring at the age of 75 years.In 2020, she and Brian moved back to live in Harrogate. She enjoys watercolour painting and joined a writer’s group in October 2021.