Audrey Bramley (31 Dec 1931 - 12 Jul 2023)

In loving memory of Audrey Bramley who sadly passed away on 12th July 2023.
Mum was born in Selby north Yorkshire on 31/12/31. A date she always complained about as everyone thought that she was a year older.
She spent her early years (some of them war years) between Selby North Yorkshire and Aberford West Yorkshire at her grandads farm along with her mum, dad and 4 other younger siblings. Jean, Reg, Tony & Jeff. There is a 15 year age gap between her and Jeff. At some point they moved into a cottage in Aberford where it was the family home until the 70’s. A place the whole family visited as we all lived quite close.
At 11 she got a scholarship to the grammar school and left at 15. On leaving school her jobs were at Barkers record shop in Leeds and John Smiths brewery in Tadcaster.
In 1953 she married Ron Bramley and they started married life in a cottage with a well instead of running water but soon moved into a shop in main street Aberford. This is were they stayed until we moved to Canada in 1966. In this time they doubled the shop in size brought in self service and whilst Dad also worked as a cash register engineer Mum worked 7 days a week whilst bringing up Susan & myself. There is a leaflet of the improvements made and typically of the era it sounds like dad is running the whole show. It must have made her quite annoyed at the time.
Our time in Canada was short Dad went in November 1965, we followed in January 1966 by the time we arrived he wanted to come home as things were not as expected. You can imagine how mum felt about that!! However we came back home at the end of May by ship.
Dad came home without a job but his company offered him a post in Uddingston south of Glasgow in Scotland. So on the day of the 1966 world cup we moved into our new house. Scotland was a challenge for us all in different ways. Mum worked and we became latchkey kids but it was never a big deal and just got on with it. We stayed there for just over 3 years in a beautiful house which we would have loved to take with us.
In December 1969 we moved to Southampton. Once again both of them worked and they can boast that they owned their house outright. Mum started at C&A moved to Rediffusion rentals then took a break when she tried her hand at a college course before joining the Electricity board in 1975. There she stayed until she retired in 1991 at the age of 60 ( those were the days!!) She did work with Susan proof reading at the Autotrader for a while and with Sherry in the shop she managed for a short period as at that time she still wanted to work but age even at that time took its toll and in 1999 she lost the sight in her right eye due to a stroke.
During this time Susan married and had 2 children Steven & Sherry. They lived very close at one point and were very close to Mum & Dad and spent a lot of time with them. I joined the Navy as a Wren so by 1975 we had both flown the coop. In the 80's Carol had 2 children, Christopher & Jacqueline and lived in Plymouth where Mum visited as often as possible.
In 1981 Mum & Dad moved to Meon View in Moorhill Gardens. A lovely bungalow where she lived until moving into Brook Lane in July 2022.
In the 41 years that she was there they did many changes, new conservatories, different pathways Dad built a fireplace again although not a bar as in previous houses.
Dad was never a keen traveller but in 1979 an old pen pal of Mums got in touch and this led to them going to San Diego twice and travel Europe with them. They had 3 lovely holidays and I dare to say even dad enjoyed them.
Mum & Dad Were married 55 years when he died in February 2009 I can’t hand on heart say that they were happy to the end but they stuck it out together whether that was stubbornness or fear of being alone we will never know but the truth is more likely that neither could bear the fact that the other would end up with more money!!
After Dad died although sometimes lonely she didn’t want to move, we visited a flat in a complex but that was dismissed quickly. So she stayed in Meon View. In 2011 we began to see changes in mum, very slight but nevertheless changes. Dementia was diagnosed in 2014 which was followed by Alzheimer’s in 2017. She broke her hip on Boxing Day 2018 and had a 2 week spell in hospital in October 2020 both of which moved the conditions on.
After the second hospital visit it was decided that Mum could no longer live on her own and Carol moved in to take care of her so she could stay in her own home for as long as possible. As this was during covid it brought different pressures but we are glad that she could still have us around her for longer due to the constraints in the homes at the time.
In June 2022 Mum had a very slight stoke which gave Carol a heads up that things had to change again. She had been to care homes for respite by then and to day care for a few months and had spoken about wanting more company. So at the end of July 2022 Mum moved into Brook Lane where she for the most enjoyed her time there and took part in the activities and unsurprisingly was well liked by the carers.
On July 12th mum suffered a heart attack but it did not cause her any pain and in the evening she quietly passed away. As everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly there was no time for us all to mobilise but we are grateful that Jacqueline and Joe were with her so she wasn’t alone.
However much of a shock as she had never had any previous heart issues and there was no warning we feel that although we are all feeling the pain of her passing we are grateful that she went quickly, pain free and not alone.