At our garden party in August last year (Trina's 50th and my 47th birthday) it was a great opportunity for mum to see lots of family and friends. Mum wrote the following speech:

Do it while you can....

A few months ago, Georgie came around one evening and we talked about life, the good times, the bad times, the ups, and the downs. Fortunately, there have been more ups than downs...

I said to her that if anything were to happen to me, there is no need to be sad or upset. I am 74 and have never had a days illness until now. I have had the most wonderful life I could have ever dreamed of.

I was born just after the war to loving parents. It was quite a hard life, Dad was a farm worker and worked hard all day, and mum brought up the family. There were four of us, Rosemary (who we lost at a young age), Bill, me, and Paul was the youngest. We moved around a lot, but always in the countryside, which I love. I have memories of collecting wood for Christmas so we could have a fire in the best room in the house. Memories of Nativity at the church, when all the village took part. Memories of collecting the 'one day old' chicks from the station. Picking potatoes for our pocket money and later, helping on the farm, sheering and lambing with Dad.

When I left home, I met Mike, and Rosemary met Owen. We were two sisters who married two brothers. Mike and I went on to have a strong and loving marriage. We had three caring children, Katrina, Mark and Rob and I am so proud of them all. I have four fantastic grandchildren: Dan, Georgina, Olivia and Austen who have all grown up to be lovely people. And last but not least, my beautiful great grand-daughter, (what can I say about her), Isla. She is a little gem, a ray of sunshine and has brought me a great deal of joy over the last couple of years.

Since Mike died, nearly 7 years ago, my family have been there to see me through and help out. A day doesn't go by when I don't think about the good times Mike and I had together. We were lucky enough to retire early and go traveling in our motor home; we both never forgot the surprise party at Maisemore village hall before we left. We travelled to some beautiful places; spring in Switzerland, Tuscany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden. And especially Summer in Rouen, where we met up with Pete and Brenda, stopping off at all the little villages. I remember the boys (Mike and Pete) going fishing and they never caught a thing !

After Mike had his bone marrow transplant, which although painful gave us two more wonderful years together, we made the most of it. We travelled through France and Spain, including Mojacar for Mike's birthday, maybe because of the charm of the Indalo Man. When Mike finally lost his brave fight with cancer, I decided to make a fresh start and moved to Churchdown in Gloucester. Although it was hard at first, I joined everything, met Sheila on our first walk, made new friends and went on all the trips.

I wasn't sure how I was going to make it on my own, but Rob and Ellie stepped in and took me on holiday with them, especially for New Year's Eve celebrations. We first went to Prague, with a champagne meal on the river under Charles bridge with fireworks on NYE, and later they nearly lost me when I stepped off a tram, only to look around to see Rob and Ellie still on the tram -waving! We have since been to Budapest, Barcelona,and Copenhagen to name a few... I have been lucky enough to go on many other holidays with them, together with Shelia, (Ellie's mum). We have been to amazing places, like Las Vegas and San Fransisco. To think I was 70 then and I was up at 7am most mornings, and went to bed at 2am from the casino. We flew over the Grand Canyon, watched Cirque Soleil and had dinner in the Eiffel Tower Restaurant on Ellie's 40th birthday overlooking the Bellagio water fountains. We walked over the Golden Gate Bridge and went on the trams. Special memories.

Rob persuaded me I had to go it alone at some point, and booked me a flight to Portugual. Although nervous at first, I am glad I did this first trip, as this was the start of some really enjoyable holidays spending time with Bill and Marianne.

My best friend Margaret, offered that if I needed a traveling companion then she would be there. We did a trial run to Corfu. I think it went well enough as we went to New Zealand not long after that. Although Margaret did have to over come my snoring;amazing what a good set of ear plugs can do. We went to New Zealand to see Mark and family, such an amazing experience. We flew to Gisbourne and then went on a 2 week bus trip, stopping at some lovely places. Then the next year me and Margaret went to the other side of the world to Canada. We went on the Rocky Mountain train, experienced Niagara Falls and and when up the outside (in a glass lift) of the CN tower in Toronto..Scary. Next trip was seeing the mist on the Atlas Mountains in Morocco,that was a great experience. And last year we went to Cape Town in South Africa, I will never forget the beautiful gardens and flowers. This year we went to New Zealand again. I flew with Margaret to Kuala Lumpur who went on to Shanghai, whilst I flew to Auckland to see Mark, Sue and the now the grown up kids. I had the best time ever, I spent so much time with Mark and his family, doing lots of things like walking on a 10K hike around lakes. Olivia treated me to a surprise afternoon tea at a posh hotel in Auckland. Other treats included lovely walks along beautiful beaches around Brown's Bay and watching Austen get his Aikido belts. I am so glad that I had the chance to see them this year. I am pleased I didn't let fear get in the way of setting new challenges and taking every opportunity to enjoy life.

I recently spent a lovely weekend with Trina and Mark in Newquay; I am so pleased that she has found a new life for herself, in a lovely house and is now happy, which is really all any mum can hope for.


So, thank you to all my friends and family who have supported me over the last few difficult months. I feel lucky to be able to get my house in order. I am going to enjoy every minute. So be happy, be strong, and be family.

Love Mum (August 14th 2016 - summer party)