Constance "Connie" Gwen Astill (24 Sep 1931 - 22 Apr 2020)

In loving memory of the beautiful Constance Gwen Astill, known to all as Connie, who sadly passed away on 22nd April 2020. Our beautiful Mum and Nana looked into the sun one last time and gave herself to the light, finally free to join those who watch over us and guide us.

Connie’s funeral service will be held at Bramcote Crematorium on Wednesday 6th May at 11am. She will begin her journey from 109 Pedmore Valley, Bestwood Park, Nottingham at around 10:30am.

Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, attendance has been restricted to only 10 people. For those who would like to attend the service remotely, a webcast will be available on the day. Please confirm your virtual attendance via this site or directly to jayastill@googlemail.com and we will send on the link.

And then, when the lockdown lifts, we will party like only our Connie knew how to.

It would have been Connie’s wishes, in these troubled times, that we help others where we can. With that in mind, the family would ask that rather than send flowers, a contribution be made to the Nottingham University Hospitals Charity - linked on this page. This is our way of conveying our thanks to the doctors and nursing staff at Hayward House who put their hearts and souls into caring for the terminally ill, and who did everything in their power to make our Mum’s final months as comfortable and pain free as possible. Our thanks for what they did cannot be measured.

Messages and condolences are also welcomed below.

Love and Thanks- Lori, Jay, Bernice and the family

A LIFE REMEMBERED…

Born on the 24th September 1931 to Albert and Elizabeth Rhoades, she was the youngest of four children. Mum's childhood in Lenton with Mabel, Edith and Albert was filled with happiness, even as the war raged around them. As is often the case with a youngest child, Mum was a livewire - something that never really changed. She looked up to her older sisters, especially Edith, whilst trying to dodge the playful teasing of her brother, who sadly passed away at the age of 16. Mum never talked about this too much other than commenting often on how much her son and grandsons reminded her of him.

When Mum was 17 she gave birth to her first child, a daughter. Times were different then, and she was forced to make the most difficult of all choices - to give up her newborn girl in the knowledge that there was a family out there who would give her daughter the life she deserved. This one decision would stay with Mum for the rest of her life. Mum was 71 years old when she next saw her firstborn, Bernice. Reunited, the knowledge that Bernice’s childhood and life has been a happy one meant the world to Mum, and helped heal a lifelong ache in her heart.
In 1949 Mum married Dennis Wright, a man she adored. Sadly, the marriage was not to last, but she stayed close to the family for the rest of her life. Her sister-in-law, Brenda was, until the end, her very best friend. An inseparable and glamourous pair, they would dance the night away in the Palais or the Colemans and were more than a match for any man who dared to approach. Mum’s eyes would light up mischievously whenever she thought back to those days. What a pair they must have been!
Brenda died in December 2019. It is comforting to know that Brenda is there to welcome our Mum, no doubt with cups of tea and fags at the ready.

In the 60’s, Mum met and began a relationship with Thomas Astill. Together they took on the Peach Tree public house on Sherwood Street (now Lillie Langtrys). These were wonderful days for Mum, and she loved the lifestyle, especially the lock-ins with the celebrities who wandered over after performing at the Theatre Royal. How many people can say they pulled pints for the likes of Cliff Richard, Barbara Windsor and Oliver Reed? Mum often reminisced about those times - of how she ran a tight ship, all the time protected by her huge German Shepherds, Suki and Sherrie.

Connie was always a huge dog lover, and she is probably reunited now with a whole pack of family dogs she loved and never forgot - Suki,Sherrie, Shandy, Casey, Cassie, Dude and his sister, Ritzy, and Chaz. Her latest pair, Ronnie and Reggie, miss her as much as the rest of us. Who is going to share their sandwich with them now?

In 1973, Mum gave birth to her second child, Jay, followed by Lori in 1974. After Jay’s birth, Mum and Tom recognized that the pub life was not ideal for a young family. By 1978 they had married and had given up the Peach Tree to live at Charlbury Road, Wollaton. Here they made many friends and built happy memories. Later they moved to a house in Whitemoor.

Mum’s resilience was once again tested when, in her early fifties, her marriage ended unexpectedly. Mum lost everything but her children. A single parent mum now with pre-teen children, she moved them all to Top Valley in 1983. Life should have been tough, and certainly the family had to get accustomed to living with less in a new neighbourhood. But in typical Connie fashion, she thrived. She found work at Sketchleys, and later in Victoria Centre Market, and made sure her family never went hungry. She added new friends from her neighbours, and loved nothing more than a gossip over the garden fence, or in the cul de sac of Owsthorpe Close, normally armed with a cigarette and a cup of tea. In her final months, when she turned more and more to her memories, she recalled these days as her happiest ever.

Connie was an amazing mum, who loved nothing more than for her children to have friends around. The house was never empty and it was a place most often filled with the sound of laughter. She was a friend to her children, and a teacher too. Connie made sure that her children were equipped for anything life threw at them. This balance created an unbreakable family unit that has never once cracked. It is a family who’s strength started with her, and will continue in those she has left behind.

As a grandma, Mum was a huge softy! Her boys could do no wrong in her eyes. She would spoil them and if we tried to reprimand them she would often mischievously remind us of times when we did exactly the same or worse. The result? Grinning mum and grandkids - frustrated parents! The truth though is this: Dominic, Jake and step-grandson, Dylan, are better men for having her in their lives.

Later in life, when her children were grown, Mum expanded her experiences through travel. She loved nothing more than to see new places, sometimes with her family but also with friends. She travelled to Australia, France (where her oldest daughter, Bernice, lives to this day), South Africa and Portugal to name a few.

To Mum, life was for the living. It was worth fighting for, especially when surrounded by loved ones. For her, to love was to live. Though Mum’s fire dimmed in the last months of her life, it never died. Given only days, she fought on for months. She amazed doctors and nurses every single day. She would make them laugh, or shock them with her constant attempts to escape her bed!! Long after she had the strength to do so, Mum would throw back her covers and say “Come on, things to do!”

That was our Mum. Her star remains forever in our sky, and burns brighter than any other.

Rest Peacefully, Beautiful.