Gwen Osborn (19 Oct 1931 - 14 Sep 2016)

In loving memory of Gwendoline Osborn who sadly passed away on 14th September 2016.

Mum was born to May and Richard Castle in Acton in 1931. She was the third child of 4 with Frank and Ruth her older siblings and Don her younger brother. It was not an easy early childhood with her Dad away throughout the 2nd World War. In 1940, when the bombing started in London, the family moved to South Emsall, just north of Doncaster being taken in by 3 families. Her mum, Gwen and Don were in one house, Ruth was next door and Frank was up the hill.
On their return Mum won a scholarship to the Green School in Isleworth. She wasn’t a fan of school but came away with a love of reading and interest in figures, both of which stayed with her throughout her life as a member of her book club and in the payroll and wages jobs she held. On leaving school Mum worked for the Post Office Savings Bank near Olympia.
It was through one of her best friends, Sheila Osborn, that she met her husband Alf at the youth club held at the scout hut on their estate). They were married in 1953 and bought their first home in Holmer Green. They had two daughters, Janice born in 1962 and Lesley in 1966.
As a family we moved often following Alf’s job with British Rail. Mum made new homes for us all in Saltash in Cornwall, Lower Weare and then Weston Super Mare in Somerset. Her favourite house was the Weston one and we had a great year by the sea with Mum often walking us back from school along the beach. When Dad moved to the British Rail HQ in London, we moved to Reading and then Purley in Berkshire. Mum was always happy to follow the home trends – rooms were constantly being decorated and flooring changed wherever we lived with some wild combinations at times in the 70s and 80s.
When Dad retired, they moved to Cornwall. It is fair to say that it didn’t work out as expected for any of us and Mum’s life changed suddenly when Dad died unexpectedly from a heart attack in 1987. With so many sad memories, Mum left Cornwall and showing great strength of character, moved to Leamington to start a new phase of her life. There was never going to be anyone that could replace Alf so she began building a life around friends and her interests.
Moving to the Maltings meant she became part of a kind and supportive community that she always appreciated. She made many good friends there and became involved in Meals on Wheels, a craft group, book club and the WI. She was interested in art and was a good watercolour painter.
Always a Londoner at heart, she loved the city all her life, but she enjoyed the diversity of Europe and had many happy holidays there. She was particularly fond of Paris, the culture and cities of Italy, the mountains of Switzerland and Austria, the beaches of Spain and Portugal and of course the food and drink.
Her other passion was music. We grew up in a house with a radio always on in the kitchen. Mum loved a wide range of music being a fan of the Rolling Stones and much of the music of the 60s, Abba and Simon and Garfunkel would play in the 70s and in the 80s we remember her chuckling away to Madness’s Baggy Trousers and Elvis Costello’s I Can’t Stand up for Falling Down. She listened to Big Band swing music and to many of the well known pieces of classical music, particularly liking the music from the ballets, which she used to take us to along with her sister Ruth. She loved to see musicals in the West End, Mama Mia being her favourite. Our happiest memories are of us all laughing and giggling together at many TV comedies, a favourite of us all being the Christmas Morecambe and Wise shows and The Vicar of Dibley, and Mum was always ready for a shopping trip especially if shoes and a nice lunch were involved!
In 1991 she became a grandmother for the first time when Nathan was born. She looked after him every Friday for almost a year when he was one and never let any of us down. She had a special bond with him from the start. In 1994, Megan was born. She loved to take them both to the theatre in Warwick at Christmas and along with Diana, had many happy afternoons of crazy golf in Victoria Park in Leamington. She was immensely proud of Megan when she became a Mum to Tega and they grew even closer over the last two years with her support through some difficult times.
Becoming a great-grandmother to Tega gave her so much joy in her last years particularly when he overcame some of the early challenges in his life. She was so pleased to see him sit up, crawl and go on to play football and cricket in her garden. There might have been 80 years between them but they had a lovely relationship with much laughter involved.

Gwen is fondly remembered as a mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and most importantly as a friend.