Gemma Craven remembers her school days, when her highest ambition was to become a nun

UNTIL I WAS 10 years old I attended Loreto College, Stephen's Green, Dublin, which was only a short walk from my home in the Iveagh Buildings, Kevin Street, Dublin.

Most days my dad used to bring me to school on the handlebars of his bike, but when I grew a bit older, I became friendly with the daughter of the Argentine ambassador and their chauffeur used to pick up me and my friend Nicki Dunne and drop us off again!

I loved Loreto and the nuns and was very happy there. I'll never forget the time we made our First Holy Communion; I had German measles, but my mum didn't tell anyone and let me go ahead. It was only later that we discovered that, practically everyone else in the class also had it and nobody was letting on.

I absolutely hated maths and used to try to absent myself from class - I used to get these stomach pains which would last for the whole lesson. It got so bad that the nuns had to bring in my mother to talk me out of it.

My favourite subject was RI, and I put my name down to be a nun - I was the only one in the school to do so.

When I was 10, we moved to. England, where I spent six unhappy weeks at a state school in Holloway, London. However, we then moved down to Westcliff on Sea, Essex, and I attended a local convent school, St Bernard's, where I felt more at home. I was taught elocution and drama by Miss Angel, who also taught Helen Mirren.

When I was 13 she put me up for a scholarship at the Young Vic, which I won - but the Mother Superior persuaded my parents not to let me go. I was very disappointed and promised myself that I'd make it somehow.

In the evenings I also attended stage school in Romford, an hour's journey away. I was anxious to go there full time, but my parents would only agree on condition I did well in my certificate exams - which I did when I was 16.

I spent two years at stage school, where I concentrated on dancing, because I needed teaching qualifications to fall back on if I didn't make it in the theatre.

I then went into rep and learned more there than anywhere. I served an apprenticeship as an assistant stage manager, then began to audition for parts and, thank God, I've been kept busy ever since.