Ruth Davidson (10 Nov 1950 - 17 Oct 2017)

Mum

There are so many good memories I have of my mum. Here are just a few.
As some of you will know she liked to knit. Back in the 1970’s when there were only three TV channels, our entertainment was winding up wool so she could knit us jumpers with our names on, just in case we forgot who we were. School jumpers for family and friends became a cottage industry. Jumpers with liquorice allsorts on, or the Rolling Stones tongue to name a few. There was the constant noise of the knitting machine or the clickety clack of knitting needles. Knit one, purl one, knit one, purl one. Is it any wonder I like music with repetitive beats.

My mum was a creature of habit. Our tea was always at 5pm, every night, whether you were hungry or not. Sunday was a roast (apart from the one she did on a Wednesday which threw us all completely), steak on Friday’s, with crispy pancakes, fish fingers, ham butties, sausage and mash and corned beef hash spread liberally on the other days. Trips up and down Walton Vale to see family every Saturday afternoon for decades. Speaking to my sister every Wednesday and Sunday to catch up. Food shopping on the same days, in the same places year after year. One word I wouldn’t use to describe my mum is spontaneous, but over the last year we have managed to get her to build a den, ride a scooter, have a hot tub weekend and fly in a helicopter. All now become cherished memories.

If she didn’t want to do something then nothing was going to make her. Likewise if there was something she did want done, it got done. Gill and I had various chores to do around the house. One of mine was to brush the stairs. Clouds of fluff and dust in my face….a great job for an asthmatic with hay fever! We also had to wash and dry the dishes. I couldn’t see the point of making a tea towel wet so I used to leave them on the draining board to dry. That was until she warned me one night that if I didn’t dry them they would end up in my bed. So when I forgot to do them and went to the pub, I was confronted upon my return with pots, pans, plates and sharp knives, not the easiest of things to remove quietly after a few pints at midnight.

Mum had a dry sense of humour and was daft as a brush. She made cards, played bowls, read take a break and ate too many sweets. She worried too much about other people, especially my sister and I. She was always there to support us, through thick and thin, good times and bad. She doted on her grandchildren, who will all have their own special memories of her. Spending time with family and friends kept her going over the last year and a half. She was a strong woman, right to the end.

Today is a day to celebrate her life, not mourn her death. She has been loved by many, will be missed by more but never forgotten by anyone who knew her.

Neil Davidson