Rita Hewitt (9 Jul 1939 - 10 Mar 2020)

In loving memory of Rita Hewitt who sadly passed away on 10th March 2020. Rita was born on 9th July 1939 to Bette and Sydney Taylor in Tottenham , London. She was evacuated to Glyndebourne Opera House in Sussex and her early days were spent apart from her younger brother David ,who was also evacuated to East Grinstead.
Today is about celebrating the life of Rita Hewitt,mum to Karina and Nik ,mother-in-law to Mark and Michele , nan to Charlie ,wife to Keith ,also sadly no longer with us and sister to Dave. It is about remembering mum’s achievements and accomplishments and the legacy that she leaves behind in us. Her family was her world - mum always said she “didn’t do friends!” and ,whilst she was inherently sociable and kind and generous to others , she was also hard to please and enjoyed much more the company of her family ,who she felt safe with , felt proud of and who she placed above everything and everyone else!

Most likely this stems from growing up in war time ,away from her own parents ,having been evacuated to Glyndebourne Opera House at a very young age, while her mum ,Bette made bombs in a factory in London and her dad,Sydney , fought in Burma alongside Lord Mountbatten! She always felt this was the reason she was anxious and why she wanted her children always close to her. Once the war was over though mum grew up in Stoke Newington with her younger brother Dave. Mum relayed to us many childhood memories of her life with her brother - she recalled fondly how he found a cat with no legs on a building site and asked her to come and see it. She did not like to tell him the cat’s legs were hidden beneath some bushes growing above the wall as he was adamant the cat could walk along legless! She was proud of being the bossy older sister - she would dress her brother up as a red indian and carry out street surveys , feed him medicine mixed up from various ingredients from the cupboard when they played doctors and nurses and make him hand over his pocket money every Christmas to buy gifts for the family! She never stopped this bossiness , and still sent Dave on wild goose chases to fetch her things whilst she spent some time in a care home last year and he went !

Mum was a hard worker - she spent her life working to provide for us all. She began her career as a book-keeper at a factory called Tyzacks in Clerkenwell and remained there for many years in their accounts and wages department. She was proud of her ability with numbers and could never understand that I did not inherit her mathematical ability when much later she attempted to help me keep my Brownie accounts! Mum sacrificed her career though for her children and gave up working full-time once I was born. Money was tight when we were young and she then had a variety of jobs- she bunched up sea -weed which left her fingers a bright green colour for a lot of the time, she machined hats, kites , made pipes and covered jewellery boxes! Later she cleaned a house in Thorpe Bay , which Nik and I enjoyed visiting ,exploring all the rooms and looking out to see through a telescope upstairs. Mum then spent several years cleaning videos at EPS , a place where I too worked during the holidays ,when videos were cutting edge technology! Finally mum went back to the work she had enjoyed the most and worked for several years in the Post office and then as a book-keeper in Shoebury until she retired.

Providing for us all was mum’s sole aim and Christmas was always the highlight of our childhood. Mum would always worry that she wouldn;t get us what we wanted but ,without fail, Christmas morning we would have a sack (black bin bag) full of presents at the end of our bed! There was nothing she didn’t get for us- a BMX bike for Nik , the latest lego models , Tracey’s tea-party , roller-skates and a guitar! Every year mum would buy Nik a Beano annual ,and that never stopped until last year ! We had to re-house at least 30 years worth!Mum always filled the house with chocolates,crisps , nuts and fruit on Christmas Eve,alongside making decorations from crepe paper to festoon the ceiling! Red,green ,white and silver were the only colours mum would use at Christmas but our house always looked superb! I truly believe we had the best Christmases as children and this never stopped. Mum characteristically though always left everything until Christmas Eve and would stay up all night wrapping gifts and cooking!

Mum was extremely talented artistically ,a skill she inherited from her dad ,who was an artist and a tailor. Mum could make beautiful clothes and as a child I can recall her making me party dresses that were exclusive in design and style! She would make her own clothes too ,often without a pattern! Mum later learnt to decorate cakes and to make cards. Her cakes were exquisite ,she even made my wedding cake! When we moved into our first house mum painted mauve flowers on our door using a state of the art glass painting kit and I believe they are there still! Having little money mum also made many things for our home , including decorations for the Christmas Tree and pictures for the wall. Only recently mum still enjoyed creativity and found peace colouring and watching Create and Craft!

Mum was happiest being a mum! She wanted her children with her always and it is only now that Nik and I can laugh that we actually moved out in stages so mum didn’t really notice and it has made the recent clearing of the house twice as hard as we have had to find homes for our stuff as well as our parents’. ! However, the pressure on us was lifted when she became a nan to Charlie. Charlie was her world and I am truly grateful that mum gave up a college course in web design to become Charlie’s child -minder so I could return to work. She willingly took on looking after him from 6 months old and I know that he is the young man he is because of her care for him. The sea-life centre was their favourite place to visit-I think Charlie had a season ticket! She lovingly took him to Jo Jingles music group which most likely inspired his love of guitar , Sandpiper Nursery and later to Thorpedene School. Charlie enjoyed collecting conkers with his nan and I believe storing them in his Bob the Builder bike. Mum knew what was best for children -spoiling them! Charlie could not be picked up from school without sweets and chocolate ! Even at 80 she would ask me to buy some chocolate for Charlie when I went to do her weekly shop! She thought that Waitrose worked him too hard and never had a bad word to say about him regardless of his behaviour on occasions!Mum didn’t just look after Charlie she threw her heart and soul into his life - she became a school governor at Thorpedene and also ran the raffle every year at the school fete. Most recently she helped him buy his first car ,along with personalised number plate and she even got to be driven to hospital by her grandson despite hardly ever leaving the house these last few years!

There are so many memories that I could recall about Rita , our mum,Charlie’s nan and David’s sister. What has been nice today is just thinking of everything she did do and what a rich and accomplished life she led. She never became rich - although she tried so hard to discover a rare gemstone or start her own business. She was rich because she had a family that cared and stayed close until the end! She knew this and always told me how blessed she was….well most of the time! We will always remember mum’s generosity - she would give us her last penny if she thought it would make us happy! We will always remember her creativity and talent and that she was beautiful , kind , caring and that her family meant the world to her.