Beryl was my Mother and Paul and Christine’s too,

Wife and daughter, Grandma and friend we all loved her.

She was was warm and friendly, soft and cuddly and always provided an encouraging word.

When we were bored she would saw ‘draw a house, bake a cake, sew a costume’, so she could have more reading time, whilst sitting at the cooker on her own.

Her favourite place was by the oven keeping warm and reading large print books as thick as doorstops, on history and mysteries and whodunit.

Beryl would cook and read, watch TV and read, listen to you and read, the only night off from reading and washing up was when she went to the local ladies meeting, every Tuesday to natter or learn about makeup or fancy holidays or new crafts.

Beryl was fun, she knew how to laugh, she got up to tricks from wearing an arrow headress saying ‘my brain hurts’ to putting a ZZtop poster up in the loo.. she knew how to make us laugh and join in or create fun. She wasn’t the most explorative woman on the planet because she had her adventures between the pages of her books. She was happiest sitting reading and could be found sitting under the sumac tree in the garden for shade on a hot day. She loved her garden and magically it all got done and she grew her favourites, forget me knots, laburnum, sumac and roses.

She loved numbers but hated maths, she loved food but hated baking, she loved outdoors but hated heat.

Beryl was an anomaly. But we loved her methodical ways, her little tin of white chocolate fish and chips for the kiddies her way of making latte before it was a thing !

Beryl made food taste good and could make life fun .That’s why we miss her so much as she went too early too soon.

She loved us all, her kids and grandkids, her husband Alec,¹her friends and neighbours, her parents and aunts, her son in laws and daughter in law. She extended her love around.

She was a wise woman, a kind, loving lady. An organised time saver who invented lots of life hacks, if there was quick way of doing something she’d find it so it gave her more reading time

So today we remember her with love, 32 years since she left us, her legacy lives on in us.. be kind she’d say, don’t fall out with one another, and don’t feel sorry for yourself there is always someone who is in a much worse position than you so be grateful.

Her epitaph was ‘ life is too short to stuff mushrooms’ by Shirley Conran

Missing you Big Bad Bossy Beryl with love 😍