Who… Beverley Heath-Hoyland, former professional model (in Europe) and muse of the late John Hoyland, one of the greatest abstract painters of his generation.

Where… At Anchovy Primary School, St James

Her earliest memories… I didn’t really like reading and doing serious schoolwork but I loved sports, especially athletics. I remember vividly my time at Anchovy as a small girl, living in Belmont District (which was about an hour’s walk to school). Having to run to school each day was exhausting, but it was enjoyable at the same time (no one went to school in a taxi). I am ashamed to say that I was often late which meant a very strict Teacher Clarke, who was the head teacher at the time, would wait by the gate of the school with a cane and we were punished if we were late; that was normal. Latecomers would all wait outside the school gate and would run in together to minimise the impact of the cane!

I particularly enjoyed Independence Day. Each child at Anchovy Primary School was given a gift with the Jamaican flag; everyone at our school was very happy and excited. (It was a bit like the opening ceremony of the new classrooms) I have never forgotten that day. I loved it here and wanted to return one day to help.

Like many of us, I grew up with my grandmother until I went to London at the age of 10 to join my parents. I have never forgotten Jamaica. I love it here!

Those early days in London… I attended Northwold Primary School for one year and I went to Clapton Park Secondary School for girls at the age of 11. I was interested in current affairs but I was a bit naive, so although I knew about the problems many people faced with racism I didn’t feel too threatened by it. I found the things Enoch Powell (British politician who criticised Commonwealth immigration) came out with amusing; I wasn’t affected by it. (I didn’t dwell on the negative; I knew there were many problems but I didn’t allow any of it to affect me). Idi Amin (expelled all Indian and Pakistani citizens from Uganda in 1972. Many sought refuge in the UK) was a dictator, and I sympathised with the Asians who were thrown out of Uganda.

The breakthrough… At the age of 15 my friend Caudley George, who was training to be a photographer, visited me at home and asked what I wanted to do when I left school and I told him that my mother had suggested nursing but I was unsure, and he said, “I think you could be model,” and he started taking pictures of me. So I persuaded my father to pay the fee for me to attend Susan Academy School of Modelling in London in 1970. I was overjoyed when I was given grade A, but that was just the start of my struggles because there was no market for black models in London. But once I gained confidence I was single-minded about being a successful model. I knew I had to get around the problem. Then I noticed that many successful models were former beauty queens, so I decided to enter beauty competitions and I couldn’t believe it when I won the Miss Black Britain title, which was the first competition I had entered. So I decided to enter as many competitions as possible. My modelling training was invaluable because I knew how to walk, turn and how to make eye contact with the judges, which helped.

Despite winning many competitions there were no offers of modelling jobs. Then one day I went shopping at Oxford Circus in London and a Ghanian girl called Tina chased after me and asked if I was a model because she was searching for models to work at the Igedo Fashion Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, for a fashion house called Biba. Since that day I haven’t looked back! Apart from the fashion fair, very many boutiques and departmental stores staged fashion shows for their clients twice a year in Germany and they all wanted a black girl in their show. So although I was fairly small (5ft 6inches tall) I slipped through! I worked at fashion fairs in Germany — February to April and August to October — and I was fortunate to get other jobs through Black Boys/Sarah Cape Model Agency in London. Most commercials, adverts and calendars, etc were made in London for the Nigerian market.

The more… I did a few modelling jobs for the UK market, eg Avon, Speedo, Fox Talbot Motor Car, British Telecommunications, British Rail, pop videos, and so on. However, my first professional photo shoot was a calendar which was shot in Portugal for Nigeria.

On becoming a successful model, muse, art collector and philanthropist… I saw myself as a successful model because I worked regularly. I was definitely Hoyland’s muse because he relied on me for so many things. We made each other happy and he turned out amazing works of art because his mind was free. He made paintings on canvas, prints, glass sculptures and ceramics as well as commissions, eg, a mural for Roma Metro.

John and I were from a similar background; we both started with very little but we had a lot in common. John was born in Sheffield in 1934 into a working-class family and he was only able to attend the Royal Academy School of Art in London because he was given a small grant from the Sheffield Council. So he knew what it felt like to be poor. In fact, he was so poor he would paint on both sides of sheets of cardboard because he couldn’t afford any paper. But now his paintings are shown in at least 36 public collections around the world.

I have a nice selection of artworks as well as John’s paintings. I have a Damien Hirst, Tony Caro, Philip King, Ken Draper and Terry Frost and Andy Stewart.

Philanthropy is an interesting word. When I first modelled in Germany one of the guys who I worked for, by the name of Sergio Romano, once said to me, “In life there are two types of people: there are givers and there are takers.” I love people; I am definitely a giver; I’ve given a little to a lot of people.

Finding love… I had a boyfriend when I was young who was insanely jealous, and it ruined everything. I was unlucky with guys, then while I was working in Germany someone invited me over to London, to a party on the River Thames one weekend. John saw me there. I was wearing tighly fitted satin trousers. He told me he thought ‘wow, who is that?’ but he couldn’t speak to me because he was with someone else, so he made discreet enquiries as to who I was and he was told: “That’s Beverley Heath; she’s a model.” He then looked my number up in the phone book and I started receiving phone calls. I asked John to remind me where we had met and he said we hadn’t met but he wanted to meet up with me. I eventually agreed to meet him and was pleasantly surprised how nice he was although he was 20 years my senior. After a while the age gap didn’t seem to matter. We went to many openings at art galleries and museums; I knew nothing about art, but I learned quickly.

Giving back … I had an idea to give a gift to Anchovy Primary School and I mentioned my idea to my late husband John Hoyland. John mentioned my idea to his son Jeremy Hoyland before John passed away in 2011, and I am deeply grateful to Jeremy who organised the finances to make the Anchovy project possible. John loved Jamaica; in fact, he loved Jamaica so much he requested that his ashes be scattered in the sea, by Montego Bay (which they were, by myself and Jeremy five years ago). The head teacher of Anchovy Primary School, Mr Gerald Lawrence, welcomed Jeremy and me to Anchovy when we visited and he explained that two new classrooms would be helpful. Jeremy and I are enormously proud that we were able to make the family’s dream a reality, and we are sure that John would have been very happy, had he been here to see the new classrooms, one of which is a music room.