Elaine Jayne Snelgrove (22 Sep 1963 - 1 Jul 2023)

Elaine Snelgrove (22nd September 1963 to 1st July 2023)

Elaine was born at Carn Hyr, Beacon Terrace, in Lizard, Cornwall on 22nd September 1963 to Neville and Joy Green. She was the second of three children, having an elder sister Kim and a younger brother Gary.

Her early life was quite un-eventful, her mother said that she always had trouble waking her up for her feeds, Elaine did like her sleep!

She attended her first school, Landewednack Primary School, located directly opposite her parents’ house, so didn’t have far to go, but I am not sure if she was ever late……………

She loved playing on her own, with her dolls and their house, which her dad built for her and which the family still have. The kids also went to the beach as much as they could, being right near the sea, rode their bikes around the village and played knock down ginger, although that didn’t prove to be good idea, as everyone knew whose kids they were. It was a small village in those day!

Gary and Kim were playing outside one day, as the bungalow was detached, they were running around it, chasing their pet dog, making a lot of noise. Their Dad shouted at them to be quiet otherwise he’d get a bucket of water, but that didn’t bother them and they kept going. Elaine came out to see what was going and as they ran round the corner Elaine got the bucket of water. Her siblings laughed, but she didn’t appreciate the funny side.
Elaine went to Helston Secondary school, which was ten miles from her home, and she also started work, around that time, when she was twelve, waitressing at local hotels. This work ethic was strong in her, so that she could, quote ‘afford to buy the things she wanted.

When she left school, she wanted to become a nanny, but was thwarted in this because there were no training places in Cornwall at that time and was told to try nursing instead. She ended up working in for McCloud and Tonkin, accountants in Helston as well as waitressing in the evening. One day her boss called her in and said he would have to let her go, as some of the businesses in her village had said they were worried that she knew their finances and they didn’t like that. She stood up for herself, suggesting she didn’t work on their cases and her boss relented and agreed she could stay. She always was tenacious when she knew she was right!

She met her first husband, David Buchanan, a few years later and married him on 29th March 1986, later being surprised to find out that he had signed back into the army, his old career. She, however, realized that she had an ideal opportunity to move away from Lizard and see other parts of the world. He was stationed in Munster and she moved over there with him later in the year, where she met her longtime friend Sue.

The army ‘wife’ life did not suit her, she was very lonely and returned to the UK in November 1987, the day after the huge storm that struck in that year and moved into Bonnington Tower, Bromley, where Dave used to live, to await his return.

She got a job as an audio-typist at an engineering recruitment company in Bromley, Woodlands to help with her finances, where unknown to her, her second husband to be, Andrew, was working.

They became close and she met with David to let him know that their marriage was over. She and Andrew moved in together in the tower, but a few months later, when David was returning, they decided to give the flat back to him and bought their first flat at Lee Green in London and moved in in December 1988.

They had their first child, Christopher at Farnborough hospital on 17th October 1989 and eventually decided that they needed to get a bigger place, moving to a house in Lewisham in December 1991.

Their second child, Keeley Joy, joined them on 16th May 1993 and Elaine’s life was complete. She had always wanted children; a boy and a girl were perfect and they became her life and main hobby for the next fifteen years, She was always interested in her nieces and nephew and their children, not having any grand-children of her own.

Keeley always laughs about the day Elaine got a phone call from Chris’s school, telling her he had got chewing gum in his hair. In her matter-of-fact way, she said ‘well you will have to deal with that as my two-year old has covered herself and the kitchen floor in cooking oil!’.

In between, she had worked as well, for Judge and Priestly, tracing agents, PSP, a property management company and Pickfords, the removal company, finally starting her own accounting company with Andrew in about 2001.

Her other loves were her home, her pets and travelling, she always made properties her own, keeping up with the latest styles and trawling through endless books and web pages for ideas for the next ‘project.’

She loved her three cats Bubbles, Squeaky and Taffy and her three dogs, Dudley, Ollie (WHO I AM SURE YOU WILL ALL REMEMBER WITH TREPIDATION!!!) and her final dog Bea, the greyhound for which she had always longed!

Initially, family holidays were mainly in Cornwall, but as the kids grew older, she took them to Jamaica, US Disney, Crete, Malta, on a cruise and to the Greek Islands. She had gotten the exploration bug.

Over the years they were together, she and Andrew, sometimes with friends, ended up travelling to many places in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. She felt lucky and amazed that a simple girl from Cornwall managed to see these new and exciting places!

The family decided to move to Victoria Gardens in Biggin Hill for a better choice of schools for the children in December 1999, where they have been ever since.

Elaine always supported the children’s decisions regarding education and was happy that Chris went to IT college in Orpington and Keeley studied a photography degree at Ravensbourne College and encouraged their jobs choices, even though she had to sack her own son when things weren’t working out for him at her accounting firm. He forgave her………………….!

In 2011 Elaine was diagnosed with breast cancer, after finding a lump, when she woke up one morning. After a very swift meeting with consultants this was removed and courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy were endured, which although tiring, she took remarkably well.

She stayed in remission until August 2019, when the secondary cancer returned in her bones. She managed to fight this for another four years, with additional chemotherapy and drug treatment, until on 1st July 2023, the disease finally took her. However, she did manage one last trip of a lifetime to Egypt in March 2023 and had a great time!

I am sure you would all agree that she was remarkably positive through her health issues and was a fun, thoughtful and lovely lady to have known.