My Dad, sisters and I would like to start by expressing our gratitude to all of you for coming here today to give thanks for Mum’s life. We have seen over the past few weeks through the phone calls, letters and cards how much Mum meant to us all.

Although I don’t want to run through a timeline of Mum’s life, I thought you might be interested to hear about some of her younger life, which may be less familiar to many of you. She was born in Malaya, in a British Military Hospital whilst her father was out on active duty as a Gurkha Officer in the Malay rainforests. As a child she and her brothers would regularly fly between the UK and the Far East, and she would tell us how they would take turns to sit in the cockpit with the pilot, definitely not something you would see these days! She went to boarding school from the age of 12 and got up to all sorts whilst there, such as sneaking the class rats out to play with in church, but I will let her childhood friend Aurele elaborate on stories from that time. As a young adult she had an incredible sense of adventure, travelling around Australia alone and parachuting, I will never forget how tempted she was to skydive about 15 years ago when she took me to
an airfield to do one myself. Dad was enough of a nervous wreck with me doing it so I think she decided it may be better for his health not to! She met a few famous people in her time as a veterinary nurse in Manchester, however none would ever top her meeting Sherpa Tensing Norgay and his wife when they stayed with my grandparents as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Everest ascent. I am sure many of you here today have some equally wonderful stories about Mum, and we would love to hear them
later on.

I’d now like to talk a little about the Mum that I know. Today hasn’t exactly started in typical Mum-fashion. Usually a trip to church (or anywhere for that matter) would be a last-minute dash, running late due to the 1001 other things that she just needed to do before we left, leaving the ever-punctual Dad exasperated. When we were running late, Mum’s driving could certainly cancel out a few minutes delay, channelling her inner Jackie Stewart from the days she followed F1, and earning herself the nickname Nee-Naw Nina with my friends. Thankfully her arrival was more dignified today.

As a child I walked up this church path hand in hand with Mum and Dad and, as I grew older and taller, with my arms around their shoulders smiling and joking. And so it felt entirely appropriate today to walk up that path shoulder to shoulder with Dad and carrying Mum on the pedestal she always deserved to be, not that she would ever have accepted that position. One of the cards we received quoted a sermon at their local church that we felt summed up her modesty beautifully:

The nature of the unsung hero means because of the humility in their own hearts they don’t see the impact their lives have made on others.

This was Mum. The number of people here today and the kind thoughts shared through the cards we have received shows the true impact she has had and how much everyone thinks of her. Again, because everyone else has summed her up so beautifully I wanted to read out a list of the adjectives used to describe her: kind, generous, selfless, gentle, calm, caring, compassionate, and naturally comforting.

Whilst these words could also be used to describe someone who was meek, Mum was nothing of the sort. She’s also described as robust, energetic, talented and irreplaceable. She dedicated 44 years of her life to the care of animals and also their owners as a veterinary nurse in Devizes, Prestwich and Congleton. For over 30 years in Prestwich she ran the practice and established a much-loved family business in the ground floor of what became our family home. This was definitely not a 9 to 5 job, as she would be checking on the animals through the night, running appointments and supporting operations through the day and taking stock checks and balancing the books into the evening. When Dad retired in 2017 and they had to close the practice it was clear how much Mum, Dad and the team meant to the clients by the sheer volume of presents and cards that arrived. I think that was perhaps the one time she really saw the huge impact they had made on the community.
On top of this she was a full-time mum who somehow did school runs, meals, taxiing to and from activities, the food shop and even on quite a few occasions appeared on the bus halfway to school to hand us something important we’d left behind. She also managed to squeeze in being PTA Secretary at Park View for about 5 years as well as an integral part of Bury Cricket Club whether that was scoring, providing teas or supporting any fundraising events that they held. Whatever it was we turned our attentions to – sports, acting, singing, assorted musical instruments – Mum was always supportive. She was incredibly proud of our achievements and there was always a
happy tear in her eye whenever she listened to Eleanor or Harriet singing in church or performing in one of their shows.

Music had a way of bringing out the emotions in Mum, hence why it has formed such a significant part of the service today. Ever self-deprecating, she would never have described herself as musical yet she was an accomplished member of the choir here and adored listening to church hymns and anthems. This was no doubt behind the surprising reason that they continued to attend this church and the weekly choir practices despite moving over an hour’s drive away 6 years ago when Dad retired.

We all knew that just because Dad had retired it didn’t mean that Mum had any inclination to do the same. When they moved to Staffordshire, we were worried how she would find it working for other people and being just another cog in the wheel, however through the wonderful team at Congleton that wasn’t the case. It was perfect for her. In much the same way as she had done in Prestwich she loved working with her younger colleagues to impart her decades of experience and would give one of her little chuckles as she would tell us how she felt like one of the girls there. She loved it. We always joked that Mum would never retire, working right up to the end. We were right it’s just the end came so much sooner than any of us imagined.

We all wish Mum and Dad could have had the long and happy retirement together that they had planned. They had established their new life at Rowanhide; converting the barn and making vast improvements to the land to give them flowerbeds, vegetable patches, a poly-tunnel and arboretum as well as a kids climbing frame ready for whenever their grandchildren came to visit. It was clear how much Douglas, Mabel and Wilfred meant to her and they love going up to visit Granny Nina and Granfer with the added benefit of seeing Pickles (here today), the cats and lots of farm animals too. She has always been able to instil a level of calm into them that we frequently wish we could replicate. It is incomprehensible that they have lost her whilst still so young but we will ensure as a family that the many, many happy memories that we have shared together over the years live on and guide us to be as kind, caring, and naturally comforting as
Mum.