Some of my earliest memories of being with Mum are:
Rolling around in the back of the Mini Traveller, usually in the rear footwell, on the way to visit Granny and Grandad; podding peas on the back doorstep in Oxhey Road; having slices of cooking apple dipped in sugar and waiting for the “s,s,s” tin after lunch to have two Dolly Mixtures; being very gentle and caring when we were ill with Chicken Pox and German Measles; Bungie cakes and Sunday roasts!
 
Enduring memories are of her doing endless housework often with dustpan and brush in hand reversing down the stairs whilst at the same time leaving half drunk cups of coffee scattered around the house. And going to Libbo’s to meet Anth!
 
She took Martin in like a second son, most especially after his Mum had died – she was a super caring person! One of Martin’s first memories of her was when she came to his house shortly after we had got together, bearing loads of food as I was very ill with acute glandular fever. At the time she hadn’t realised what a good cook I had found, but it was from that time that he began his life-long love of Greeky potatoes.
 
She was always desperate to be a Granny and it was obviously her destiny – she was a fantastic Granny and I will always regret that her illness stole so many years of proper Grannyness away from her. Who can forget the time when a 2 year old Beth, in utter frustration, called her a ‘pim pom!’, one of those words that she immediately adopted into her made-up descriptive vocabulary. And she loved to hear of all Ben’s sporting achievements of which she was so proud.
 
Some of their fondest memories were spent with her at the Cotswold Farm Park, whether it was unsuccessful goat wrangling with Ben, or waiting patiently with Beth for a lamb to be born when everyone else had got bored and left. She often came on holiday with us and one memorable time for Ben was when he had accidently fallen into a swimming pool and she had to help fish him out whilst giggling as she thought it had been a normal sibling spat with Beth having pushed him in. There were always a lot of giggles.
 
Mum was always turned out immaculately, helped by the fact that she did enjoy shopping for nice clothes: and I have finally had a ‘lightbulb’ moment as I now know where Beth’s love of shopping has come from confirmed by Beth’s fondest memory of Granny buying her her first proper lipstick and perfume and introducing her to Liberty’s – it’s in the genes! It wasn’t only clothes that she bought; her antique hunting would often go into overdrive. And she did have an amazing ability to put things together with an incredible eye for design.
 
Finally, Mum’s legacy to me is my love of nature and looking out for the small things around us, coupled with the importance of family.