Joan Beckham (6 Feb 1930 - 26 Apr 2024)

In loving memory of Joan Beckham (nee Tidmarsh) who sadly passed away, age 94, on 26th April 2024.

Tribute by Joan’s son, Robin

I think the main thing that I will remember mum by, especially in her later years was despite how her health and mobility deteriorated she always greeted everyone with a cheery smile and that positive attitude she had.

Mum was born in 1930 in Shoreditch, The City of London, she spent her childhood living in Mottingham with Mum Lottie, dad George and four siblings George, Con, John and Bryan. Mum was evacuated to Wales and Norfolk in wartime, in fact a few years ago Janet and I took her to visit where she stayed in Hinderclay, Norfolk and the visit brought back happy memories including a walk around the church.

Mum was married to my dad Henry in 1951, I came along four years later and the three of us lived in Eltham.
The family moved back to Mottingham 1969 where mum had grown up.

For a lot of my childhood mum worked as a window dresser, and was an amazingly resourceful lady making clothes for herself and others, sometimes for me which I strongly protested about!! A little later her sewing skill came in useful getting a job in Hinds of Eltham, demonstrating and selling sewing machines to budding crafters.

Hinds was a large department store, I remember her telling me a story how one customer who was clearly like myself a football fan asking her ‘do you sell bags with Leeds on it, they meant Leeds United FC” Mum not being up to speed with Northern football teams gave the advice. You could try the electrical department!! Away walked one confused customer. She came in after work chuckling as the penny had dropped!

Mum loved to be sociable and was a generous friend to many. She adored her family, both close and extended. She liked nothing better than a social gathering with music, laughter, friends and family. In the late 1980’s mum was able to live her dream of owning a twenty bedroom hotel by the sea in Cliftonville, Margate and before that a small guest house in Cambridgeshire in the late 1970’s early 80s.

After selling the hotel she and her sister Connie moved to Larkfield. Sadly her sister Connie passed away in 2008, but mum carried on enjoying life despite missing her sister dearly, with visits from many people including her three cherished grandchildren Oliver, Dominic and Annabel. Mum would always be very excited about our visits and often baked a cake, with varying degrees of success -myself and my children would glance at the cake with slightly raised eyebrows. But her fruit scones were excellent, so I'd often say, 'could you bake us some scones this time mum?'. Mum enjoyed going to the church club in Snodland where she made many friends including Joan, Rita and many more, thanks to Alison and her family for all their hard work, and for mums 90th birthday bash there!

In late 2022, when life became a little too difficult mum moved to The Grove Residential Care Home in Maidstone, and spent almost 18 months there. It was a very happy place for mum and a time she was well cared for and entertained. She was know at the care home for her stylish sense of dress and matching accessories, so I would like to say a warm ‘Thank you’ to everyone at the Grove for helping her stay stylish and for making mum's time there so happy and comfortable.

I know some can't join us at the funeral, in particular Annabel (Andi to family) in Prague and Dominic in Australia, so if you cant join us you can watch live online at 12.30pm, May 15th 2024 using this link* https://watch.obitus.com -user name xama6509 pw/pin 913401 -available after the funeral for 28 days.
*if the link doesn't work please copy and paste the link into the browser.
Thank you for reading this and whatever name you used for my mum, Joan, Nanna or Auntie Joan I think we will always cherish the time spent with her, she was well loved and will be greatly missed by us all. x

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Message from Joan’s 3 Grandchildren:

Our Nanna was a kind, sweet person.
Her three Grandchildren felt her love all through their life, they’d like to share some memories of their Nanna:

Annabel’s first memory with Nanna. Annabel remembers running down a hill at age 3, falling over and hurting her leg. Nanna scooped Annabel up, took her home, cleaned her up and kissed her better. Annabel felt so loved at that moment.
Later in life, Annabel remembers doing some gardening for Nanna at about age 90. Nanna was always happy and upbeat, even with the aches and pains of a 90 something lady. Whilst Annabel was in the garden, Nanna was cooing over Yogi the dog (Nanna adored family dogs). Annabel came in from the garden to find Nanna and Yogi sharing a piece of cake …, she said after giving cake to the dog …”Well, what are Grandmothers for if not spoiling their grandchildren!” (Referring to Yogi as her Grandchild!! Nanna always spoilt those she loved!

Oli will always remember his Nana's loving smile. In the last few years, he has been so glad to see her life become more lively and fun after she moved into a community of wonderful people her age. It was heart warming to see how quickly she made friends with all the new people in her life. Oli will always be comforted by the thought that the last years of her life were filled with love, laughter and fun.

Dom remembers that Nanna was always ready to open the door with a cup of tea, a slice of cake and a story. For Dom, these little things are the ones he will carry with him, close to his heart.

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Remembering Dear Auntie Joan, by her namesake, Joan on behalf of the McHale, Kilgarriff and Richards families.

If you’re listening Auntie, I want you to know how cherished you have been to our whole family. We were blessed that you and Mum were so close. It meant Christmas’s, birthdays, picnics, holidays and life in general was always more fun when you were there. Us McHale kids couldn’t wait to be with you, Nanny, Uncle Henry and Robin!
Denise and I have often said, it was like having two mothers, which was mostly great until we got into trouble!
You have always been so glamorous and keen to grab the mike and belt out a song with that lovely voice of yours. What about all those holiday camp shows we would put on; the fancy dress costumes and Easter bonnets you would knock up and all the competitions we would enter – all brought such joy. Doing the Madison and the Slosh, we would often end up in heap laughing as we all got out of sync and Dad would start doing the Morecambe and Wise ‘Bring me sunshine’ dance as he retreated, poking his tongue out to us all. Then later when you and Mum had the hotel, all those fab times we had singing and dancing in the bar. I so looked forward to the wonderful lazy days spent on Broadstairs beach with you both and the kids, often followed by a fish and chip supper – pure bliss!
Your cheery smile, easy company, creative flare, varied interests, DIY and seamstress skills have all brought you many lifelong friends and accomplishments. Your warm hearted, affection for others always shone through. Caring so lovingly and un begrudgingly for your Mum and our Mum in their times of need, demonstrated your never-ending generosity. This was displayed over and over to our family, throughout your lifetime.
Your keen approach to gadgets and new technology meant your i pad and phone were never far away from you. Always keen to keep in touch, using Face book and WhatsApp etc meant video calls would become the norm. We had long chats about Robins gang, who’d been to visit you, what you were sewing, the new colour on your nails, matching your outfit of course, the films you’d watched and the games you played with the other care home residents, reassured us greatly that you were still enjoying life.
Towards the end, however bad you felt, you never failed to greet me on a call with a beaming smile and “Hello Darling”. You’ll never know how much I’m going to miss that. We always ended our video chats taking it in turns to say “Byeee”, blowing kisses down the phone, then finally, ”over and out”.
We all thank you for being you. For providing us with such wonderful memories. We have been blessed to have been part of such a close and interesting family and friends. Denise, Sean, Luke, Michaela, Carmel, Aidan, George, Bradley, Albie and Darcie all know and feel our family will never be the same without you. You gave so much love and harmony. We miss you dearly but hope you are now with all those you love, that have passed before you. You will stay in our hearts forever.
So here goes for the last time dear Auntie….….. Byeee. Huge kisses. night night and God bless.
Over and Out
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