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In a former life, Dr Rebecca Matthews, who holds a doctorate in Particle Physics, had the analytical left hemisphere of her brain well and truly switched on. These days the former Oxford and Geneva research physicist, radiotherapy physicist and teacher of science and maths, is more likely to be found in front of one of three industrial sewing machines at her home in Gulf Harbour – with her creative right brain fully engaged. As she told Terry Moore, the switch from science to designing and making shoes, hats and children’s clothing crept up on her when she became a mother.
My dad was a research physicist and I can remember him sitting me down in the lounge when I was nine and trying to explain how a particle accelerator worked. A couple of years later there was an open day at Kodak, where dad worked, and they showed me a spider on a computer screen using a big electron microscope. From then on I was fascinated with electrons and everything related to particles.I went on to specialise in particle research for CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. I was one of hundreds of physicists and engineers who use the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments, including the Hadron Collider, to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. I designed and built detectors of cosmic radiation, and those devices are kept in CERN. It’s the constant quest for knowledge about the world that makes this work important, and new materials, cancer and drug treatments flow from this research. I was writing my thesis on the Dosimetry of Cosmic Radiation at Aircraft Altitudes when I met my future husband, Jeff, in a pub. Jeff is an Environmental Engineer, but it was the interest we share in rugby that brought us together – we were in the pub that night to watch the England versus Scotland game of the Six Nations championship.
We moved to the West Country and I trained as a medical physicist doing the plans for radiotherapy cancer treatments and looking after the equipment and safety. This required getting a Masters in Medical Physics as well as a qualification from the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine – more letters appeared after my name! That job was satisfying, knowing you were having an impact on people’s health, and it also stopped me from smoking. Eventually I was made redundant, and retrained as a physics teacher, working for a couple of years at a high school in Cornwall. It was good to be a female doctor and talk to the kids about science as a career. Because I’m arty I used to have planets hanging from the ceiling and models and posters sent to me from NASA and the European Space Agency, to inspire the kids. It was teaching that brought me to NZ. It was a particularly wet and horrible day and I browsed the web and saw a job at Rangitoto College. It seemed like a nice area, with lovely beaches and 10 days later I got offered the job. Jeff found work in NZ by attending one of the expos at Earl’s Court in London and in four weeks we found ourselves emigrating with our two dogs and two cats. Although for my thesis I built devices to detect how much cosmic radiation airline pilots are exposed to at high altitude, I’d never flown in a jumbo jet until that flight to NZ. I cried all the way to Los Angeles. A lovely Maori steward couldn’t believe we were emigrating having never been to NZ before – he kept plying me with champagne.
Teaching in NZ was a baptism of fire, because I found myself straight away teaching the geology of NZ volcanoes, which I didn’t know much about, and also the native flora and fauna. The kids were fantastic and used to laugh so much at my pronunciation. One Year 9 brought in a weta, which I’d never seen before, and I screamed. We settled in, and bought a house in Gulf Harbour. Everyone said the commuting would be a nightmare but the drive along Whangaparaoa Road, with sea views on both sides, is wonderful compared with taking on the M4 motorway in England on a daily basis, which is what we’d been used to.
I had the kids, Patrick and Grace, just 15 months apart. Continuing to work after Grace was born didn’t make financial sense because of the cost of childcare, so we tightened our belts and became a one-income household. I had very bad post-natal depression after both children, made worse because we have no family here and no support. It was sheer exhaustion as the kids never slept. Jeff was often away, travelling for his job. You look back at it now and wonder how you got through – I could go days without talking to an adult when my husband was away – he was doing a lot of work in Christchurch after the earthquakes. I found my crocheting a great way to calm my brain and started sewing to make things for the kids. I’d escape into my little office and create something. Then I started making shoes. I began taking what I’d made to markets, even though I suffer badly from anxiety. The first time I was at a market I actually stuttered because I hadn’t spoken to lots of strangers for so long – in the end, the positive feedback from the customers helped get my confidence back.
This year my focus is on building up my online Perfect Poppet business. I started with a little Brother sewing machine from Spotlight, which I originally bought to make my daughter’s christening robe and now have three industrial sized Singers – a plain sewer, walking foot and overlocker – squeezed into a tiny little office. I also use them to make clothes for myself and the kids. Some people import everything they sell at markets, but I have to source material, cut it, sew it, label it, iron it, dress it, photograph it, parcel it up and then take it to the market. I absolutely love shopping for leather and Jeff jokes that our finances are better because I don’t go out and randomly shop – instead, I get my ‘shopping fix’ from leather suppliers and manufacturers. I can get really excited about a beautiful shiny piece of patent leather, and every piece of leather is different. No wonder I have a stack of fabrics at home.
Mum was a painter and I did art right up to senior school. At one time I thought about architecture as a career, but dad being a physicist was a strong influence. In the end that creativity became like medicine when the kids were babies. At times I have suffered from severe anxiety and depression, which I think started when my brother, sister and I were attacked in France by a group of Algerians. My leg was broken and I spent six weeks in a French hospital, had 13 operations and was on crutches for three years. Our attackers were caught and got three months suspended sentence.
Walking our dogs gives me immense enjoyment and peace. Having dogs and animals is a huge thing for me, as we have a cat and bunnies and three fish tanks. Recently we lost our seven-year-old Retriever to a rare tumour and then our nine-year-old Labrador also died. Three weeks later our 14-year-old cat, who was best friends with the lab, died. We have one 18-year-old cat left and two big new mountain dogs, so I am back walking on our lovely beaches with my dogs again.
I have just begun architecture studies with the Open Polytechnic. It’s going slowly, fitting it around the kids and everything else, but I love it and I can see myself leaving physics behind, after 20 years. If I go back into medical physics Jeff and I would both be working silly hours in Auckland and we can’t do that with the kids. I’m doing architectural technology, which qualifies you as a draughtsperson after around six years part time. If that work doesn’t suit me, I can also convert it by doing yet another degree – a Masters in architecture at the Open University of Australia. Architecture seems like the perfect way to combine my technical and artistic side, so I’m excited about that.
