Extraordinary Lives
I LOST my beloved Mum in a terrible accident, which, sadly, I witnessed. I will always miss her kindness, love and laughter, but the memories of the wonderful childhood she gave me and my two brothers are a great comfort. Mum was born in London and was only a baby when she was evacuated in the war to Chippenham, Wiltshire, with her parents and sister Shirley. She never forgot having scarlet fever as a child, which meant all of her toys had to be burnt, even her favourite teddy. She loved grammar school, especially English, and was always writing poetry. As a clerical worker for the police, she was on duty on the front desk on the night the call came in that the American rock ’n’ roll singer Eddie Cochran had been killed after the local taxi he was travelling in crashed into a lamp-post. His guitar was taken to the police station. My childhood in Torquay with Mum and our dad Norman was full of fun and laughter. The centrepiece of picnics on the beach was Mum’s chocolate cake. Our house was always the one where all the children in the street would play; as far as Mum was concerned, the more the merrier.
Later with her partner West, Mum moved to Dittisham in Devon, where she would take her five adored grandchildren crabbing on the quay. Thanks to Nana’s ‘magic secret bait’ (bacon!), everyone’s buckets would soon be full of crabs. They were always put back in the sea afterwards. Mum loved sport and ran her first half-marathon at the age of 50. She was a life-long Arsenal fan, crossed out her diary for the Wimbledon fortnight and woe betide anyone who rang her during an England rugby match. She was also a talented card player, who taught the whole family how to play; a keen gardener and birdwatcher, so everything would stop at 10am when she would feed the two doves that visited her daily; and, of course, come rain, snow or sunshine, she was never without her copy of the Daily Mail. A prolific letter writer, everyone loved getting one of her fat envelopes. There would always be at least one birthday card being rushed to the post. On her own birthday, she would gleefully count up her cards — the last total was 72. Mum turned her love of knitting to support good causes. She made dozens of teddies for orphans in Africa and her last project was hundreds of knitted poppies for a World War I centenary display at the local church. She was a wonderful lady who only ever showed kindness to others. It was a tribute to her character that more than 400 people attended her funeral.
JUDY MARY LAKE, born April 9, 1939; died June 22, 2018, aged 79.