Memories from the kids

Created by Rowan 10 years ago
Everyone here knows Judith in their own individual way, and to us she will always be Mum. She was patient, kind, caring, and dependable, things we all relied on regularly as we grew up. Even once I had left home and was living at University I still needed my Mum's caring side, I remember one time very clearly; I had been away on hockey tour and managed to get second degree burns on my hands, arm, and legs (I'll explain more later!) and with no housemates around to help me the first person I called was Mum. She came and stayed with me for 2 or 3 days in my grotty student flat to care for me and make sure I was okay. As a Mum she fulfilled many roles throughout our lives, our driver, our nurse, our kit washer, bank manager, coach, teacher, bank manager, friend, confidant, and adviser. But she was also, as all Mum's are, a worrier – particularly when any of the 3 of us strayed too near the edge of hill tops or cliff edges when out walking! She would spend hours with each of us helping with our homework. She patiently taught Jon about fractions and angles using a chocolate bar when he was struggling with his maths homework. She loved Maths, we all distinctly remember reciting our times tables in the car – although it doesn't seem to have helped Jen! Mum was extremely supportive of everything the three of us did, from hockey 5 nights a week, or judo, football, trampolining, gymnastics, music lessons, and parties. She was particularly supportive of our hockey, driving us all over the country including weekly Friday nights spent driving first Me and then Jon to County training in High Wycombe – an hour drive each way! All this from a person who didn't really like sport! She was however very competitive, she took great pleasure in beating us all regularly at Scrabble and Cards or other family games we played – she worked especially hard to beat Jen at Boxing on the Nintendo Wii a few Christmas's ago! Mum raised 3 extremely independent children – this may have caused a few arguments as we grew up but we were all taught to have our own views and to be as independent as possible. Mum and Dad always encouraged us to follow our dreams and were then always there to pick up the pieces if things went wrong. For instance, Mum got Jen and her friend back from South Africa after they were mugged whilst travelling. She managed the logistical nightmare of booking flights, sending money and helping Dad navigate the Foreign Office's bureaucracy to get Jen home only a few days after the mugging. I can't express it any better than she was just 'there', always there when we needed her and we all love her for that. The move to the Lake District was the best thing our parents ever did. They were prepared to take a risk to follow their dream, something that was very unlike Mum. At the time we didn't fully appreciate the reasons behind it, but we know now that the past 3 years have been the happiest we have ever seen them. For the first time we got to see them as a couple and not just as Mum & Dad. They have both worked tirelessly to make the Guest House successful. Mum was always keen to show us all round whenever we visited - “look at the new Bathroom/pictures/wallpaper/carpet/furniture/crockery/awards/cutlery/paintings...”. It gives us great comfort and peace knowing that they were able to live out their dream together for 3 very very happy years. To know she will never see any of us walk down the aisle or meet her grandchildren is heart breaking but we know she will be proud of us no matter what, and if we can do half as good a job as she did then we should be very happy. Finally, we'd like to thank everyone for making the effort to be here today, Mum wouldn't have wanted a fuss but it's great to see so many people from her life gathered here. Our Mum was a great lady and we will always love and miss her. Thank you.