Extraordinary LIVES
MY MOTHER was the seventh of ten children brought up in the back streets of Aston, Birmingham, in a two-up, two-down with shared amenities.
She was confirmed as a Catholic at St Chad’s Cathedral. It was a difficult childhood. She spent two years in a sanatorium with rheumatic fever and, when she was 12, the world went to war. Three of her brothers served: one in the RAF and two in the Royal Navy. My grandmother didn’t want the younger children to be evacuated to the countryside, so the family stayed in Birmingham for the duration of the war. During night-time bombing raids, they squeezed into a cramped, damp, unlit air-raid shelter. Mom came from a line of strong, incredible women — she needed to be. She met the love of her life, my father John, on a blind date. They spent the early years of their marriage living with her in-laws, only moving into their own home a month before I was born. When Dad died at the age of 35, my elder brother was 12 and we three younger ones were under five. We all caught measles and then chicken pox. Poor Mom had to deal with her grief at the same
time as looking after us. She always made sure there was food on the table, clothes on our backs, shoes on our feet and a roof over our head. Mom managed to cope as a widow, raise her children and hold down a job because of her strength of character. She was stubborn, determined and a fighter, but was also caring and loving with a great sense of humour. She liked a game of bingo, became a dinner lady and union rep and cared for her own parents.
Eventually, she was blessed with four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and two great-greatgrandchildren.
We feared we were going to lose her in her 70s when she was admitted to hospital with a bleed in her stomach, but she pulled through.
She had to deal with the deaths of her eldest son and two sons-in-law within the space of few years. After an infection at the age of 80, she spent six weeks in rehabilitation learning to walk again. She
returned home and embraced life, going on family holidays and out for lunch every Friday.
She moved in with my sister during the pandemic and though she could no longer get out and about, she loved watching the birds in the garden and was a big fan of Strictly Come Dancing.
Mom was a bit of a local celebrity, but as far as her family were concerned, she was our queen.