Getting To Know You: Sharon Dowey

What’s your earliest memory?

I want to say getting photographs taken before I went to school but I’m thinking it was probably going to the beach when I was young.

Which beach?

Maybole beach. It’s strange because Maybole doesn’t have a beach, it’s not near a beach. It’s actually a beach named Maybole beach.

What were you like in school?

Probably everybody would say much the same as I’m like just now. Everybody says I’ve not changed any. 

What are you like just now?

I look the same, though I’m a lot older, there’s a few more wrinkles. I always got on with everybody. I had a good set of friends. I’m actually still friends with people that I went to school with.

Did you enjoy school? Were you a good student?

I enjoyed school. I had great teachers. I went to Cairn Primary and then I went to Carrick Academy. I loved all the teachers at primary school so I enjoyed school, I have to say.

Who would be your dream dinner date?

My dream dinner date? For goodness sake. These are questions you don’t get asked very often. Wow. I can’t even think of somebody.

We can come back to it.

Yeah, come back to that one. I’ll need to think on that one.

What’s your greatest fear?

Creepy crawlies. I hate spiders.

That’s quite common amongst MSPs. If we get an outbreak at Holyrood we’re done for. 

I’ve always had this thing about spiders. One of the days I went with my kids as a parent helper for the school trip, there was a tarantula and they were allowing the tarantula to walk over their hands!

I was actually sitting there with my hand on the table and my other hand, right over my mouth because I was scared when it touched me I was going to scream, that I’d have an adverse reaction inside me. That’s probably the bravest I’ve been. If the question had said what’s the bravest thing, I think that might be it.

What’s the worst thing that anyone’s ever said to you?

I just let everything go over my head. People can say things in the heat of the moment and they don’t usually mean it. I’m a kinda build-a-bridge-get-over-it person. I can’t think that there’s anything that anybody’s said that I’ve held on to that long that I still remember it.

What’s your most treasured possession?

It would need to be my kids. And my dogs. My kids and my dogs. Oh God, I better put my husband in there as well. My family, you better just put my family. That covers all bases.

Is there anything you dislike about your appearance?

Everything. I hate photographs of myself, but I always sit and say, ‘I’ll like it in ten years time’. Like your passport photo. You always hate your passport photo and then in 10 years time, you think actually, this is much better than the current one.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Salt and vinegar crisps. Galaxy chocolate too.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had?

Be yourself.

Who gave you that advice?

Everybody says that. Just be yourself. I’ve probably had that more times since I came up here than anywhere else. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

What skill, do you think every person should have?

Be kind. That’s the one thing I have to laugh at when I see social media posts. People are absolutely horrendous on social media and Twitter and then all of a sudden their next post has hashtag be kind on it. You think, oh you forgot that on the last post you did, not to worry.

What’s the worst pain you’ve ever experienced?

I don’t know. It’s so easily forgotten. I suppose everybody would end up saying childbirth, but then that’s easily forgotten as well. It couldn’t have been that bad, I’ve got three kids.

What’s your top film or TV programme?

Disney films.

Any particular one?

I think it’s just growing up with three kids, and then one after the other, having to sit and watch all the Disney films. Just the standard. So any of them. Harry Potter, I quite like Harry Potter, right enough. That’s not Disney, but I like Harry Potter films.

What was your best holiday ever? 

Florida. Went to Disney with the three kids. That was a few years ago now.

What was the last book you read?

I’m reading newspapers more than books. I have to say I don’t remember the last book I read.

There was one question we were going back to, your dream dinner date. Have you thought of who your dream dinner date is?

I’m trying to think...Who could I take?

You could take the husband and the ki...

George Clooney. To be honest, he was the first one, but I thought oh, do I put George Clooney down? Does that sound too bad? But, anyway, nah. George Clooney. He’s my dream dinner date, nobody else is.