Edwina Redmayne (8 May 1921 - 7 Jan 2015)

Thank you to Kath and Lena, and all those involved in making this such a wonderful celebration of memories of an amazing lady.

Edwina was a resident at Moorlands for 12 years. In those 12 years we found her to be a very proud and graceful lady.
Edwina was known to most staff as "Queenie" due to the fact that she knew what she wanted doing and the order she wanted it doing in. Everything in her room had its own special place and if you moved William or Humphrey you would soon feel the wrath of Edwina.
Above all Edwina has left a gap at Moorlands that will probably never be filled and this is a testament to the lovely lady she was.
She is and will be dearly missed by all staff and it was a pleasure to have known her.

Nana, Edwina, Babs

It’s hard to put my memories of her to paper, but the main one is that she was an always present part of my life and it’s success.

Thoughts of her a nurse during childhood mumps or measles – the only memories I have of this are her and her home in Preston – “Is it the pink or the orange medicine now Nana.” The Thursday night ritual of Tomorrows World and The Invisible Man – later the regular Friday Dinner at her house in Parbold or Tuesday tea at ours. Even her tireless efforts to help me with French home work when it all just seemed to much for either of us.

Looking back I can see she gave me responsibility and respect that I know now as a parent I would have struggled with – letting me get on with lighting the fire whilst knowing I had been the one to set light to the bin in her lounge. And there were always the little jobs – most of which I now know she could ave done in a heart beats – but that she knew would help build me up so kept back.

There will always be a part of me which links with her, the Redmaynes, Salmesbury and the land. Who could so readily take to church to do the flowers, the boy who dropped prayer books between the pew boxes.

What I didn’t give thought to was the character of this quiet, solid woman. In the last few years this has been clear – as for whatever reason time and again she has chosen to keep living her life and done so. Family was clearly as strong driver for her. She became a firm part of my children’s life as well, despite such short meetings. From her there was always the card and a few difficult words on the phone – for them there was a part of their hearts and the family photo wall.

When the news came of her death, Kim and I had the anguish of how to tell them of her passing. We shouldn’t have worried. Within 30 seconds, Charlotte was performing some strange dance around the room as she tried to work out what short of flight she would do as an angel.

So thankyou and fare well Nana.

May the road rise up to greet you.

Jon

My memories of Nana, from childhood were of warm and happy times, mainly involving family. Which as i got older, i could clearly see was everything my Nana was about. Family- the reason and how she got through tough times and then it gave her the tremendous strength we all knew and admired her for... and why we had her in our lives for so long. She was the toughest and most determined lady i knew.

I remember trips to great grandads, where we had tomato soup (even though Nana didnt like tomatoes) and pancakes - which are still one of my favorite comfort foods. The trips to drop Nana off when she was going over to stay with Kath and the family in Derby, and the fun we had on the swop over days- usually at the Park or somewhere nice where we played and i remember doing egg rolling one year when she was going over for Easter. I also, as Jon mentions, remember tea at Nanas on a Friday (Salad with No tomato for Nana) and the treasure troves that were Nanas display cabinets full of all her collections and home to her wonderful Elephants - and if we were good we were allowed to have the key and take out some of these treasures to play with- just for a while.
Happy memories that i shall cherish more so now, everytime i sit round that same dining room table, that has had pride of place in the home i share with my husband Chris for the last 12 years.

I remember spending lots of time with her after the accident, and thats when i suppose i really started to talk to her as a woman and not just my nana. I would go down to the hospital and do her nails for her - ending up with a queue of requests from the other ladies in the ward who also wanted manicures! They would tell me stories and i would then go and sit with Nana and share and chat about the tales they had told.

Nana herself loved to talk, if we hit on the right subject, she could chat for hours, sharing and revealing wonderful and sometimes difficult memories from way back when she was a girl.
In particular recently, she loved a book about Preston. This was full of black and white photos of how it used to be and she would tell me and Chris what it had been like and we would update her on the changes - good and bad.
She also had an amazing sense of humor, and could have me in stitches telling about escapades in the home and things people had said.
She gained herself more family when she moved into the home. The girls grew to love her, and i loved the way she pretended to boss them, and be bossed back by them, playing on it and secretly loving it - she had this way of drawing people to her.

She was the most amazing woman, had more than 9 lives and i thank her for being part of my life and having the resolve to be there to be part af Abi, Charlottes, Ava and Paceys too. They too will be richer for having known her.

God bless you nana, i love you and am so proud of the woman I was able to call my nana. i know you will be with the angels and at peace now your sun has set.

Judi

Almost 13 years ago I visited Nana in Blackpool , after her accident. I must have looked particularly worried that day or she was particularly awake but, I was greeted with ‘there is no need to look so worried Ruth, I’m not dying until I have a Great Grandchild’ A fine example of her stubbornness that we all knew so well. It is this that has seen her through the last 13 years of her life, through that extensive stay in hospital and other trying times in her 93 years.
It was during this time when she was in hospital that I got to know much about Nana’s Childhood, her time with Grandad, and of Mum and Aunty as Children on the farm and the years that followed. I was a party to some odd conversations that were a cross of reality and the dream state she was often in during some of her illness’s, one in particular when she was in a sweet shop she was asking for a ¼ of dolly mixture as though I was in the shop with her, it was like she was back in her childhood, as she had often told stories of her Dad bringing her these sweets on a Sunday evening. But, until this time in hospital, I hadn’t really known very much of those early years, and those hours passed quickly and are greatly treasured.
It was also this hospital stay and the subsequent stay in Moorlands nursing home, the company she was exposed to and the banter and conversation of cleaners, tea ladies and carers and occasionally other patients, that brought out in her a humour, that the family had maybe not seen so much of in the years before. And it was nice to see she was able to take enjoyment from many things in those final years.
But, the Nana that I remember from my childhood, is the one who stayed in my room when she came to stay and once told me off when she arrived from Parbold to find some of my clothes on my bed, in an otherwise perfectly tidy bedroom – I had hurriedly changed before leaving home the day before and had been shouted to hurry so had not had chance to replace clothes. The explanation was never heard. I remember the shouts up to the attic-room when Nick’s music was too loud and she was trying to rest or watch TV in the afternoon. But, I also remember those typical Grandparent things, the mashed banana with squirty cream, or cornflakes for supper, the taster cans of pop in her fridge. The 50p of pocket money a week that miraculously turned in to a £10 note between visits, polishing the silver and brass, making mince pies at Christmas and playing Newmarket after the long drive home from Parbold when she had come to stay for a few weeks. Tea served on the trolley on little plates, Nick and I arguing to sit next to Nana on the settee and in the car. Many Christmas Eve drives to Parbold, waking in the twin room at Nana’s with Nick on Christmas morning and being told by Nana to go back to sleep, but knowing really that she understood we’d struggle.
I loved the walks around Parbold with Kim, Nana’s dog and Nana. At that age, they were probably the only walks I did enjoy! We would walk to the local shops and I remember the shopping bag, the old style that you could fold up and fit in your handbag – they would be very neatly packed with her purchases.
I loved her love of musicals and ice skating and even Rugby we shared many hours together watching Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Judy Gardland or Howard Keel. These are things I have her to thank for, though I am not sure everyone would agree!
I was always mesmerised by Nana’s incredible ability to remember the Kings and Queens and the dates of their reign, wars and significant historical events. I didn’t enjoy History at school but was happy to hear Nana talk of events in history and this was mainly due to my fascination at her memory for it, even in these later years when her memory had started to fail her.
As a Nana, she was always loving and caring and I know grateful for the time she had with each and every child, Grandchild and Great Grandchild. She was very proud of her photos of all 3 generations. More strength seemed to come to her with each Great Grandchild, the fight for another day. She enjoyed visits from Ava, a particular memory is her sitting on Nana’s bed aged about 4, singing Christmas songs as though reading them from a book (she couldn’t read) and Nana thoroughly enjoying the entertainment!
I do not fool myself that it was me that she wanted to see when I visited, but Pacey. I am very glad that Pacey and her have been able to share many happy times over the last 2 or so years, that Pacey looked forward to his time with her, the excitement it gave him drinking from her beaker and the pleasure that it gave Nana. The enjoyment they found in him brumming his cars around her delicate house ornaments as though they were a village created solely for his benefit.
Many of us have been fortunate to have shared some special times with Nana in more recent years, Judi and Chris getting married, Nana’s 90th Birthday, a visit from Jon and the girls, Mum and Ian’s wedding, Pacey’s Christening and Christmas 2013 and I know that we will all now be grateful for those recent memories.
But back to that stubborn lady that saw fit to pass that gene on to all the women in the family, she has battled hard and in the main with a smile on her face to enjoy as much of her life, family and experiences as possible, to find pleasure in a Murder Mystery or an episode of Coro here and there, when many would fail to find any enjoyment anymore. God decided on the 7th January that Nana was weary and it was time for her to rest, and on this occasion she did as she was told…