A former Accrington Observer Woman Of The Year has published a book on her online quest for love.
Candid Diary of a Dating Dame, by retired Clayton-le-Moors district nurse Jane Gill-Wilson, chronicles the perils and pitfalls of internet dating - in rhyme.
The divorced mother-of-three, who suffers from the chronic auto-immune condition lupus and has also beaten breast cancer, began writing poetry after she was forced to retire from her job due to her ill-health and has written two previous books - Out of Darkness and Raw Emotion.
And now Jane, 55, who lives in Clitheroe, hopes to give people a giggle with her latest verse about disastrous dates she has been on.
The red wine and chocolate lover, whose idol is TV broadcaster and poet Pam Ayres said: “I had sort of crawled into a dark hole after getting breast cancer and lupus and I decided I needed to meet someone so started dating using a dating site.
“But I got so fed-up with the men I met I started to write little poems about my experiences. It was all a bit of a laugh at first but then I decided to compile them all into a book.”
The book focuses on the more mature woman’s experiences of dating.
And with its brutally honest reflections’, it also serves as a warning to undesirables.
She said: “Trying to find an attractive man of 50 years plus and one who understands my lupus is hard.
“Men that age seem to be carrying so much baggage too and are often not who they say they are, lying about their age and posting photos of themselves when they were a lot younger.”
Around half a dozen dating sites later, Jane is still single but has given up looking for love online.
She said: “I was getting frustrated sifting through people’s online profiles and reading their emails and alarm bells ringing.
“I’ve exhausted all that now.”
Candid Diary of a Dating Dame retails at £6.99 and can be purchased from pegasuspublishers.com or by calling 01223 370012.
It is also available on amazon.com and to order from high street bookshops.
