Carol Waddington (6 Nov 1951 - 26 Nov 2022)

In loving memory of Carol Waddington who sadly passed away on 26th November 2022

Carol was born in Godden Green, a district of Sevenoaks, Kent to Pam and Frank Buckland. Frank was in service after leaving the army. Her maternal grandparents were in service at the very grand Gotwick Manor, near East Grinstead and visits there were treasured.

The family moved to Buriton, near Petersfield, where Frank was employed as Butler, Chauffeur and Handyman and Pam as cook to the Rose family. Here Carol grew up and played with the Rose’s girls and enjoyed an unusual time, not as a servant, yet not as family ‘above stairs’. Frank was always keen to do everything well and with appropriate style, and this seemed to be instilled in Carol too.

When the family moved to The Mead in Petersfield and dad worked for Mini models, home of Scalextric, Carol was only too happy to ‘test’ new models before they were released. Carol went on to Havant Grammar School but shunned higher education.

Carol went to work for Plessey for some time before entering the world of insurance and was proud when she achieved her Registered Broker status. This stood in good stead when she joined a company specialising in software for insurance brokers.

When she married Alan in April 1993, Carol was working as a Directors Assistant for a company specialising in arts materials and then as a bookkeeper to Alan’s company and the local carpet supplier. They looked forward to their 30-year anniversary, this coming year.

Whenever work and weather allowed, Alan would often go fishing; Carol wondered what was so good about overnight fishing, so she tagged along – and absolutely loved it! As time went by, she became a competent angler and very knowledgeable about the countryside.

Our friend, Rosie Barham, had her own column in a prominent fishing magazine and when Rosie was very unwell with ‘flu, Carol was happy to step in and provide an article with humorous references to a trip to France. In this episode, we had arrived in France without the packed underwear and a problem with the car which could only be started with a blue jump-wire. Carol delighted in seeing the amazed French faces when she ‘hot-wired’ our car at the local super Marché.

Enjoying numerous trips to France, Carol delighted in speaking the language and even buying French styled clothes while there. She was SO delighted when a French lady wished her good morning in French, not realising she was a Brit’ in disguise!

A few years ago, a long-held wish to travel the Great Glen, including Loch Ness in a self-drive hire boat was realised, with the help of Gill, and this was very impressive with great memories.

In recent years, with lessening mobility, Alan and Carol have taken to ‘posh fishing’ at Cherry Lakes in the Cotswolds, where life is warm and sheltered in a double glazed, centrally heated log cabin.

Despite suffering from arthritis for a number of years, Carol kept as mobile as possible and always without complaint. When it came to her final illness, she dealt with it stoically, announcing that she would go into a nursing home when she could no longer cope at home. We were fortunate to hold her birthday celebrations at Blenheim Court nursing home in Liss, where family and friends visited throughout the day, staff made her a cake and the day was one of warmth and happiness. It is hard to realise that she would leave this life barely three weeks later. She will be sorely missed.