Don't Tell Me I Can't... ...Wear A Bikini At 52

Sharon Holloway looks – and feels – great, so is showing off her hard work

- Emma Rossiter

Relaxing on the sunlounger, I finished applying the last of the sun cream to my legs before sitting back. The only thing left to do was take off my kaftan. Inthe past, this was always the moment I dreaded and I’d look around, terrified of who was watching. But, now, as I wriggled out of the cover-up, I’d never felt more confident. At 52, and in my bright-pink bikini, I looked better than ever.

The last time I remember having the body confidence to wear a bikini was in my 30s. I was a new mum, had just given birth to my eldest son and I’d done well to lose the baby weight afterwards. So me and my husband, Paul, had treated ourselves to a family holiday, and I’d slipped into a bright-red, size-10 bikini, and I felt fantastic.

But it was when I went back to university to retrain as a teacher that same year, and discovered I was pregnant with my second child, that my weight began to balloon. Things didn’t get easier when my second son arrived in 2007 or when I started teaching full time in 2010.