Murgatroyd plots new chapter

At her bungalow in Newmarket she is aided by a dedicated band of helpers, but is as independent as it is possible to be. "In my first book, I glossed over a few of the issues, whereas in this one I'm going to be more up front. People see me in different ways and some things have changed. I will reveal some of the awful things I've met along the way," she says.

"Certain things I have been bloody-minded about. I refused to be strapped into my wheelchair from the start, and in the long run that has helped to give me some upper body strength, for instance I can hold a glass of wine between my thumb and forefinger now, which may not be a big deal for most people but means a lot to me. I like to think I am leading as normal a life as I possibly can. I don't want to be drawing a pension for my handicap forever."

Her charity work included the parachute jump, out of a plane at 10,000 feet with free-fall in tandem for half of that, and a wheelchair push by jockeys such as champion Tony McCoy, Tony Dobbin and Carl Llewellyn, from the last hurdle at Bangor where she met her fate to Wrexham Hospital where she was first taken and on to Oswestry.

A volume of poetry, again with a self-explanatory title, Nil Desperandum, sold well and a children's book, Pony Days, with illustrations by Newmarket artist Jacquie Jones and verses by Sharon, followed her earlier books. Often she writes for up to seven hours at a stretch.

For some time she took part in competing in pony and trap events with the reins tied to her hands, but with her racing background and will to win still intact ironically received some criticism because she was rated too competitive weaving in and out of the plastic cones.

With the Grand National weights coming out tomorrow Sharon remembers the time she stood alongside The Chair at Aintree and nurtured the hope that one day she might compete in the big race. "I was going out with a jockey who rode in the Topham there at the time and I marvelled at the spectacle. National Hunt riders dream of competing at Liverpool and Cheltenham and I was no exception," she says.

"But now I'm on the other side of the fence with memories which are funny and poignant. And I'm glad to say that my sense of fun is still there - because that's the way I am."