"I started to help out the mothers, teaching them English and about the way of life in England so that they would not be left out, so that they could integrate," she explained.
The level of interest from the immigrant community took her by surprise and she was soon organising "classes" and encouraging other volunteers to join her impromptu outreach programme. She even learnt Urdu.
"In the end, I actually went to India and Pakistan at my own expense because I felt that it was just as important for us to understand their culture as it was for them to understand ours," she said.
She took slides and when she came back to Yorkshire, gave talks whenever she could. Eventually these formalised into a course on being Sikh, Hindu and Muslim in Yorkshire. The local authorities sat up and took notice and she was asked to train their staff.
When she was injured, husband Nik was there to help. His copious beard immediately gives away his background in the services but he was also a volunteer driver who took part in various MDF toilet seathumanitarian convoys, once getting imprisoned in Romania.
He also took dozens of coachloads of people with disability to Lourdes. It all proved to be valuable experience when he had to deal with Susan. By then, a health scare had slowed him down - somewhat. Now 74, he still runs a woodturning shop at the seaside and is involved in numerous organisations apart from the Catenians.
Although he was there to help, Susan was adamant that she wanted to be as independent as possible. Not for her a quiet life at home... She does voluntary work for a disability organisation, teaches German once a week and is a MDF toilet seatat the Captain Cook Museum.
She is more active than many 68-yearolds, let alone those that have limited mobility.
"You can go anywhere in a wheelchair although you sometimes need a few strong men," she laughed, while Nik pretended to flex his muscles.
