Maureen Valerie Cannon (13 Aug 1940 - 18 Jun 2022)

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Maureen Valerie British Heart Foundation

£175.00 + Gift Aid of £43.75
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Location
St George's Church High Street Beckenham BR3 1AX
Date
11th Jul 2022
Time
2.15pm
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Location
Beckenham Crematorium Elmers End Road Beckenham BR3 4TD
Date
11th Jul 2022
Time
3.30pm

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In loving memory of Maureen Valerie Cannon who sadly passed away on 18th June 2022.

Maureen was born on the 13th August 1940 in a bedroom in Blandford Avenue, Beckenham to Harry & Violet Brooker. One of her most mentioned comments was that she was born in wartime. She did mention the air raid shelter in the back garden and the sirens, which to her, were completely normal. Her dad, Harry, was a carpenter and had a long and varied career in Beckenham. Her mum, Violet, worked in a factory making artificial flowers. They inserted copper into the flowers and an errant piece made it into Violet’s eye, ultimately causing her to lose her eye as a very young woman. Violet went on to become a doting mother to her two girls; Yvonne and Maureen.

Maureen’s earliest memory was sitting in the gutter watching the dustcart. This was a classic pastime of children in the 1940s. When she was about 8 years old, her father made a swing for her. Half was under shelter and the other half wasn’t. She remembered swinging on it in the rain and being rained on going forwards and being sheltered going backwards. A good metaphor for life!

One of Maureen’s most favourite retold memories was about sitting on her father’s lap and putting curlers in his hair. He’d look across at her mother and say, “what’s she doing to me Vi?”.

Maureen loved her childhood and loved talking about it. Especially the radio show ‘Friday Night is Music Night’, where they’d gather around the radio, listening to the latest dance music. They had a family dance (a bit like today’s kitchen disco) and this undoubtedly led to Maureen’s passion for dance as she got older. Childhood is an idea that she cherished throughout her life and made every effort to give Debora and Adrian a magical childhood and continued this with her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

As a young girl, Maureen attended Churchfields Primary School until her family moved to 67 Durban Road in Beckenham. At this point, she attended St George’s School and then went onto Balgowan School, which was a secondary school at that time. It was so close to her house that she wouldn’t leave for school until she heard the school bell ring from her garden (and even then she would go through the back gate and through the alleyway).

She enjoyed going to Brownies as it gave her skills for life. The emergency scissors must have particularly interested her as she later took up a career in hairdressing.

Moving from her idyllic childhood into her early adulthood; Maureen left school and started a hair dressing apprenticeship with Evelyn Paget in the High Street. This was a very ‘well to do’ chain of salons and this was the flagship store. Maureen often talked of her manager, Mr Fine and the time when David Bowie came in for a Ziggy Stardust haircut. Maureen wasn’t the one to create this style but she loved talking about this memory. This apprenticeship blossomed into a lifelong love of hairdressing and she made many friends along the way.

This enabled her to take up Ballroom & Latin Dancing. Maureen went dancing every week at The Regal in Beckenham High Street and this love of dancing would stay with her throughout her life. She excelled in all her dancing examinations. This love of dancing has passed onto her children and grandchildren, with Debora, Adrian, Natalie, Katie and Jessica all achieving nationally recognised dancing awards in Latin and ballroom. They are a testament to her talent.

In her late teens, Maureen frequented Sonny’s Café in Beckenham with friends. This was the late 1950s and rock n roll was all the rage. The boys were looking fine and the girls were swishing their swirly skirts. On one of these evenings out with friends, Maureen met her future husband, Nigel Cannon. One of their mutual friends later became a Rolling Stone. His name was Bill Wyman, you may have heard of him, and he lived in Penge!
Nigel was a smartly dressed young man who worked in television. He lived in nearby Crystal Palace and there was an instant attraction which developed into a relationship, marriage and children. Maureen Valerie Brooker and Nigel Henry Cannon married on 12th August 1961 in this very church. It was the day before Maureen’s 21st birthday, and the wedding reception was at the Beckenham Baths.

Maureen’s niece, Felicity Lucas and her best friend, Maureen Christa, (who'd she met at Evelyn Pagets'), were their bridesmaids. During their early courtship, Nigel used Maureen’s bike to go back and forth. With no phones in either of their homes, communication was difficult – nothing like the youth of today with snapchat and instant messenger!

After the wedding, Maureen’s new Father-in-Law, Harry Cannon, drove them to Gatwick Airport, where they would catch a flight to Guernsey. This was their first flight. A day of firsts!

Guernsey became a popular holiday destination and in 1967, after returning for many annual holidays, Nigel and Maureen met Ron & Lil who also had two children, Frances and Michael. They became firm friends; a friendship which lasted forever.

Nigel and Maureen’s first married abode was Dalmally Road, Addiscombe. Here, they welcomed the birth of their first child, Debora, in 1962. In 1964 they moved to Aylesford Avenue in Beckenham and their second child, Adrian, was born in 1965. A very happy family.

Maureen chose not to learn to drive. On a daily basis, she would walk Debora and Adrian to Marian Vian Primary School in Beckenham and then walk back to school at lunchtime to have lunch, then walk back and then again at the end of the school day. A truly besotted and dedicated mummy.

In 1974 the family moved to Braemar Gardens in West Wickham. As Debora and Adrian were getting older, Maureen took the opportunity to reignite her love of dancing and retake her dance medals.

Maureen continued with her hairdressing in her own homes. Starting at Aylesford Avenue and Braemar Gardens. Saturday mornings at Braemar Gardens was a scene to behold… with friends and neighbours under dryers, being combed out and hair sprayed, perms, you name it Maureen did it! In addition to this, one particular ‘client’, Nigel, always required Maureen to phone High Elms Golf course at 9am each Saturday to get the T off time for the men’s golf the following week! All in a day’s work. There were always grandchildren and other children milling around too, for everyone’s enjoyment.

Fast forward to 1989 (shell suits and all), which saw the beginning of a new generation: grandchildren. Natalie, James, Katie & Nicholas. Later followed Harry and Jessica.

2011 saw yet another layer of offspring being added to the family tree: great grandchildren; Ruby, Lily, Ronnie, Mason, Albii, Freddie and Arabella. And step great grandchildren Kai, Ayla, Myl and Lilly.

Maureen loved children, all of them. Not just ours, she’d often be seen talking with a little one on her trips to the shops. She had such a warm smile and genuine interest, that all children loved her, too.
Maureen, nan, big nan, auntie always looked forward to the many family get togethers with her growing family. Many a lengthy Sunday lunch was spent with children running around and grabbing a cuddle with nan/big nan. There was always an especially warm cuddle for her children in law; Amy and Malcolm.

Over the years since 2003, Maureen and her children and grandchildren attended the Royal Albert Hall to watch the international dancing championships. Maureen absolutely adored this. It was the best night of her year. The glitz, the glamour, the sparkle was so much more vibrant than on Strictly Come Dancing.

Maureen enjoyed music, as you’d expect being a dancer, especially if it had a good beat. Barry Manilow was a firm favourite and she went to see him in concert, many times. In contrast to Latin and Ballroom, she also had a love for getting on the floor when ‘Oops up side your head’ was played at a party. Maureen had a fantastic sense of humour and fun. In fact, her smile and laugh are the most mentioned attributes since her passing.

She loved her bus pass and made the most of it to travel around the local area. Maureen loved her days out with friends down the markets, lunches in the cafe or down the pub. It didn’t matter where she was but who she was with. It didn’t take much to raise a smile and a laugh.

When Maureen moved to Balgowan Road, just around the corner from her sister Yvonne, they did the “Beckenham Run” together twice a week. Sadly, Yvonne passed away in 2018 and Maureen missed her terribly. On their walks, everyone would stop and chat to “the sisters”.

Whilst living in Balgowan Road, in 2006 Maureen took in a stray pregnant cat, Billie, who had been found by Debora. Billie had four kittens; Arthur, Daisy, Megan and Poppy. Adrian and I had Arthur and Daisy, Megan and Poppy went to friends and Maureen enjoyed being kept updated on their progress.

Whilst Maureen lived in Balgowan Road, her grandchildren Natalie and Nicholas went to Balgowan school (which was then a primary school) and they loved to go to nan’s every day after school, as it was conveniently in the same road.

Maureen later became a volunteer at BATH Lewis House in Beckenham Road, where Debora worked for many years. During this time, Maureen assisted with taking a range of people with disabilities on holidays, to the isle of wight. Maureen also joined the Wayfarers, something also organised by BATH Transport and consequently enjoyed many outings with pals, and making many more along the way. Teapot island was always a favourite.

Probably a highlight of her career: Maureen even became the pinup girl for the Bromley Disability Trust poster (back in the day) where she was pictured sitting in a mobility scooter!

Maureen had a taste for travel and was usually sporting a tropical tan. Considering she was no lover of flying, she got around. She enjoyed holidaying to many places with family and friends including Turkey, Corfu, Cyprus, Spain, … and even Florida 7 times!

In 2013, with the help of her bridesmaid, Maureen Christa, Maureen returned to West Wickham, to Red Lodge, where she would spend the rest of her time. How she loved returning to West Wickham where she was still known to many, as many years before this she would walk her dogs, Robbie and Rusty past what would become Red Lodge. Whenever she walked up the high street, it was never without someone stopping to say “Hello Maureen”. Was there no one she didn’t know?

She wasn’t very computer literate but she could FaceTime which was a saving grace especially through the pandemic. She spent many hours chatting with her grandchildren and great grandchildren listening to their activities and joining in with bedtime stories. Her iPad brought their world to her.

As she got older, TV and the telephone were Maureen’s favourite things. Chatting with friends endlessly about what to watch on TV. Going through the TV books and marking out what they’d watch and then calling to remind each other

“Hello duck” she’d say and when leaving “bye duck” that was Maureen’s colloquial language. And to this day her grandchildren are now at it!

The common response to the announcement of Maureen’s passing was how her smile and her laugh was etched in everyone’s minds. What a legacy!

Mum, nan, big nan, auntie, Maureen would have been so happy to have seen so many people at her final journey.

Three words that will always encapsulate our precious mum are kind, generous and happy. May her amazingly infectious laugh echo forever. xx

Nigel Cannon donated £50 in memory of Maureen
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Nigel Cannon donated £100 in memory of Maureen
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Alethea Mitchell wrote

In memory of a lovely lady who made life seem just that little bit sweeter each time I met her.

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Claire Bull donated £25 in memory of Maureen

In memory of a lovely, funny lady who will be greatly missed

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