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July 2018 July 2018

OBITUARIES

in digs on my apprentice wages, I used to visit you occasionally at
your home in the Upminster road Rainham. Clearly you thought I was
starving – I probably was – and without saying a word you instantly fed me.
From memory it was always bacon, eggs and toast!
I have not forgotten.
Do you remember when I visited to tell you that I was joining the army when I
was 17 ½ years old? I was due to go to some unheard of place called
Small load £80 Large load £175 Blandford Forum for my basic training and I had a travel warrant from Waterloo
station. You asked me how I would get to Waterloo and when I said ‘probably
by bus then tube then walk over the bridge’ your immediate reaction was to
turn to Dickie and say: ‘you can take Paddy to Waterloo in the car’.

Dickie’s face was a picture – but Shirley, if you said that was how it would be
done – that is how it was done! And so it was.
I have not forgotten.
The years rolled by, the children were born and you all moved out of ‘the
smoke’ to the beautiful clean air of Dorset.
How can I forget the many visits here to Bere Regis with Pat, Brett and
subsequently Alexandra and how welcome you always made us feel?

I have not forgotten
Do you remember when I gently berated one of the girls for a spelling mistake
she had made in a ‘thank you letter’? I explained that if she did not know how
to spell a word, she should look it up in the dictionary. After a moment or two of
reflection she said ‘yes, but how do I know that I don’t know the correct
spelling’?

Shirley - the look on your face said it all – she gotcha!
I have not forgotten.
How can I forget the tears you cried for me when Pat
died, or indeed the happiness you showed for me
eleven years later when you met Diana?
I have not forgotten.
Now then Dear Shirley,
839209
All that I have said so far, I feel from the bottom of my
heart.

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