Alexandra Anne Brown (24 Dec 1970 - 16 Sep 2025)

In loving memory of Alexandra Anne Brown who sadly passed away on 16th September 2025

Alexandra Anne Brown, nee Henshaw...... and let's mention a bit of Baxter thrown in there too...... I felt a bit left out early doors not being a Baxter when everyone else was - graciously Alex married me and readily accepted being a Brown to keep me company amongst our Baxter's....... she was the wife to Antony, mother to Kyle, Michael and Patrick Junior, grandmother to Harvey, Elijah, Eliana and Madeleine with their mothers who dearly loved Alex, Colleen, Millie, Kelsey and Lauren. I also want to recognise Nina, her sister, and Greg, her uncle and also thank the other family and friends here that I can not find time to individually acknowledge. I will do all I can to thank as many of you as possible through the remainder of this afternoon together.

I'm going to put this out there at the beginning - we should not be here to celebrate the life of Alex. It is too soon and there are too many missed adventures that she will now never undertake. She underestimated the frailty of life and backed herself to the very end that in the dark battles she faced that she would be able to conquer them in her own way and on her terms. She was mistaken... and here we are. I can not tell you the anguish I personally feel because, as her husband, I let her down. I tried many ways to reach her and find a means to emphasise that life will bite her in the arse (her very cute arse I might add) if she wasn't more careful with herself. I will learn to cope with that knowing that I loved her and I did the best I could within my many limitations. It just didn't finish the way we hoped, with us travelling, laughing and enjoying watching our wonderful grandchildren grow up. I'll watch over them for you now, sweetheart, I promise. Right, enough of that negative shit that needed a mention! Time to focus on the wonderous, magical and majestic life Alex shared with us.

Alexandra was born 24 December 1970, the daughter of Kenneth and Luda. Alex remembered her early years as loving and all that a youngster could possibly have as a child of the seventies. Her father was a jazz musician and part-owned a couple of music shops. She walked past one of them with me on Mansfield Rd in central Nottingham regularly and shared her memories of that shop with me. Her mother was involved in social care and I have no doubt inspired Alex to become a social worker in her adult life. She must have been 8 or so, I can't remember, when her family went on a holiday to the United States. Alex was an Arnold lass, through and through, she only moved away from Arnold when we lived together in Bestwood Village. And for an Arnold girl in the late seventies to venture across the Atlantic and visit New York, Florida, Washington DC was wondrous, a spectacular time in her childhood and one that embedded in Alex the thrill of travelling and having adventures. Please forgive me, I can only sample aspects of her life in the time we have.

The teenage Alex, however, had to confront the breakdown in her parents' marriage, and when she was sixteen the reality of losing her father, a man whose life fell apart over a number of years and led to his passing in his late thirties. Alex finished secondary school under the cloud of losing her father and, in my mind, was extremely brave to cope with these confronting issues in her family at that precarious teenage period of life. Alex told me that she admired the resolve her mother had and it shaped her and strengthened her as a young adult, though they fought like cats and dogs too apparently........ Alex had so many friends from her school years that she would excitedly tell me about whenever one would emerge from the darkness and into the glow of being one of her Facebook friends. It's a theme of her life, readily able to make friends with her charisma, charm and cheekiness. She loved a party and was always up for a good time.

I will have to skip to her adult years and her time with her first husband, Pat. I'm assuming her teenage years matured Alex ahead of most and by the age of 19 Alex started a relationship with Pat who was in his late twenties by then. They were together for 27 years and married in July 2001. One of the nicest similarities for me with Alex's marriage to Pat and her to me, was that her three beloved sons were at both weddings. Kyle was born 12 January 1993, Michael 16 December 1994, and Patrick Junior 21 June 1996. Alex loved her boys as fiercely as any amazing mother does. She was proud of them and lived her life to ensure they thrived in a happy home. Most of her time with Pat and the boys was on Ashdale Road. Patrick Junior, PJ, or as his birth certificate notes (and I've seen if for myself) Patrick Juonior (thanks Dad Pat for that misspelling) - still lives in this home today and he is shaping the memories of the family home created by his mum into his own home shared with Millie and Eli. The lads speak of a home where their friends were always welcome. I kind of get the inkling that Alex was the cool mum around school. I've met a handful of lads that grew up with Kyle, Michael and PJ and the common message they share was that Alex was kind, open and fun-loving. They spoke about her with the deepest respect and affection. During this time Alex relied on her mother Luda and Kyle, Michael and PJ mention Luda with great affection as a wonderful grandmother to them. Alex was the best grandmother too and a lot of that came from the example of her own mum. At some point in the near future we will have Alex's ashes with Luda at Redhill cemetery and memorialise her alongside her mum there.

Her sons mention she would work hard to provide for her family, sometimes 2 or 3 jobs at a time. As a young mother she would juggle parenting with working at Wilko's or going to do a shift at Daybrook Laundry or the corner shop at Coppice Rd, then on Killisick as examples of the effort she put in to provide for her family. She had that profound, pivotal moment in her life when she badly broke her lower leg in 2004. It led to thrombosis in her leg and a major infection that left her in hospital. When contemplating at this time Alex decided she wanted more in her life. She was intelligent, hard-working and had so much to offer. Alex decided she should go to university and become a social worker. A number of tough yet rewarding years followed as she achieved the necessary qualifications to become a social worker. It opened her horizons being at university and beyond Ashdale Road and her previous work, new opportunities, intellectual arousal and a new group of friends in these years. It was here that Alex became friends with Emily and my experiences with them over my years with Alex was that I was definitely the third wheel as they chatted about life and laughed away until the early hours! Alex would insist I thank her second favourite Tony, Tony Blair, for the government of the time providing free tertiary education that followed on from his tenure as PM. No politics here people - just an example of a success story when education isn't a financial burden. My teaching hat is now going off. With Alex's birthday falling on Christmas Eve she made Christmas an event year in year out. She never complained, well not very much anyway, when she was cooking up a Christmas storm on her birthday or preparing the thousands of pigs in blankets for lads to consume in seconds on Christmas Day. And that was her life for many years as she started out as a social worker and her boys became teenagers and into early adulthood.

So where do I fit in? Alex had confided in Emily and other friends she wanted more from her life at times. This is no reflection on Pat, I simply want to make a point that maybe Alex felt she had changed within that relationship dynamic and she had grown through university, as a social worker and was not the same woman from their earlier times together. Call it a mid-life crisis if you wish - bloody hell, on reflection I was her mid-life crisis!!!!! A brilliant nine year long mid-life crisis. Alex and I met in April 2016. She was on holiday with Emily and her family in Benidorm of all places. For two days of that holiday my time overlapped with hers. This was my first European holiday and I was with my cousin Richard, AJ and their family. I had moved from Australia six months earlier - my mid-life crisis decision! And then the magic of karaoke happened on a Wednesday night! I sang a Beatles number pretty blandly, then for my second number I decided to get the place rocking with a falsetto voice and "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" from The Darkness. That falsetto voice did the trick and Alex fell madly in love with me as all woman do when a man can sing that high - go figure! Well not really....... Alex's go-to karaoke song is Shania Twain "Honey, I'm Home". The DJ later today will introduce you to these classics I'm sure.

Home was Moor Road, Bestwood Village. Alex moved there in June 2016 and I made the move at the end of the school year from North-East Lancashire to become a Nottingham lad. Despite the ups and downs Alex and I had an amazing life together and married on 10 October 2019. Our marriage was centred on travel adventures, family and the beautiful grandchildren that blessed our lives, and above all the love we shared for each other. At this point I want to acknowledge that Pat passed away in June 2017 and this was a very difficult time of adjustment for Alex farewelling Pat whilst our relationship was also quite new and her desire to be there for her sons and the grief they shared losing their father............

TRAVEL!!!!!!
Spain, France, Monaco, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, even Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Vatican City (yes it's a country), Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Egypt and Australia. The Philippines, Turkey and the USA count too if you include airports and a day trip into Hollywood between flights! If you ask Alex what she loved most about our time together she would most certainly tell you it was my desire to see anything and everything, with her happily hanging on to my exhausting travel plan coat-tails. Often, I would leave her in a bar or cafe for her to contentedly watch the world go by as I galavanted to yet another monument, cathedral or castle. We wanted to see the world together and we did as much as we could in the time we had. We became engaged during a visit to Barcelona, and travelled with 21 family and friends to Corfu after the wedding as that was how we were as a couple - sharing adventures and laughter. She would remind me of her angst at my decision to drive 16 hours in one day from Austria to Belgium with 5 countries in between thrown in! We had spent extra time in Italy as we didn't want to leave which meant a long journey to meet up with our scheduled channel crossing. Alex thought I took the direct route! She will never know that Liechtenstein, the edge of France, and Luxembourg were my detours to see how many countries we could go across in one day! She will forgive me Luxembourg I'm sure, the large duty-free complex we visited was a fun and expensive detour. We placed a love lock like many have on a bridge over the Seine in 2016. They get removed over time and it won't be there anymore. When I visited Paris with our grandson, Harvey, I bought another love lock and brought it home to Alex with a promise we would return to Paris and put this new one on the bridge together. I'll have to do that for her in the next few months as that is one of the missed moments we will now not share together in this life. We only recently visited Slovenia on a road trip to meet up with family from Australia, Callum and Abi. I am now so thankful we made that trip in August. One last trip for Alex and I. There were indications on that trip she wasn't as well as she told me she was, but Slovenia was Alex close to her best form, and it turned out to be a wonderful last hurrah.

We also had so many adventures in the UK. Alex loved Liverpool and doing Beatles tours with me, she loved Whitby, returning there 4 times over the years and most of all, my favourite place in the world, the Yorkshire Dales. Alex was always so excited to stay in the Dales and spend time with Kevin, Fiona, Paul also, when we visited. Concerts and festivals were a part of our exciting schedule with too many to mention. I had been to a couple of Foo Fighters concerts so I was so excited to take Alex to see them so we went to the Leeds Festival. When Dave Grohl came on stage Alex started crying, overwhelmed with how cool he is! So Dave became number 1 and I slid to number 2. We loved seeing the Darkness regularly also. The other significant show was ABBA Voyage in London that I surprised her with around one Valentine's Day. Her love for ABBA has no bounds! Rugby League actually became her favourite sport to watch live. She loved big strong men in short shorts - so Dave number 1, Rugby League players 2-49, I might make the top 50 just! We have been to Anfield, Elland Road and Old Trafford but never for football only for Rugby League finals and to enjoy our Australia v England rivalry together. At Anfield we were in the Kop and the sound system failed for the anthems, so, to Alex's bemusement I stood up and belted out Advance Australia Fair to enhance the limited sound around the ground and one by one Australians stood up around the Kop and joined in - who needs a sound system!

This last summer was a complete cricket summer. Alex thrived and was as happy as she had been in the past two years. She even enjoyed the cricket too...... at times....... but being at the cricket grounds was never about the cricket, it was about the people, the sunshine, the craic. Thank you to Andrew and Mary, and Martin, for supporting us over the summer so Alex had her last magical summer. Andrew mentioned last week to me that Alex had the time of her life sitting on a bench at the bottom end of the ground looking at the trees, landscape, the sky - just a shame that games of cricket were being played getting in the way of her scenery! Alex has so many dear friends from over the years at Notts & Arnold Amateur Cricket Club, thank you to those who are here today, that means so much.

In August we took Harvey, Eli and Eliana to the Carmarthen coast in the caravan. I'm so grateful we did that now too as they have fond memories of a holiday shared with Nanny and Poppy. Later on, you are welcome to ask Harvey and Eli the cost of a haircut Alex was treated to on that holiday as we wanted her to feel special - they will remember I assure you as we talked about it in the car - by point of reference - mine usually cost about £10!

Our grandchildren. Oh how she loved you! Harvey, Elijah or Eli, Eliana and Madeleine or Maddie. The four best grandchildren one could hope for. To their parents, can I just say 4 is a good number, I like 4....... but that's not my call! Harvey, your nanny loved you so and was proud of your outgoing nature, that you easily fitted in with anyone anywhere, and would engage in conversations with adults because you are so inquisitive. Eli, nanny loved you so much, she knew that you would go to her first, she enjoyed having that over me. She enjoyed doing activities with you, whether it was drawing, or an activity with you, so many many things she loved with you. Eliana, a female in the family finally after 3 sons and 2 grandsons! Nanny loved your cuddles, playing games on the carpet with you, and having conversations with you as you love a good chatter - as did Nanny. Finally, Maddie, having you arrive to our family this year was one of the brightest aspects of your Nanny's last months. Holding you as a baby was so special to her. In the years to come I hope you can imagine those arms holding you as I tell you the many stories I will share about your grandmother. She adored you, our darling grandchildren. I'm here now for you always. We will talk together about Nanny often I promise so you remember how amazing she was.

And love! What love we shared! I underestimated it and now crave that love. For that I'm at such a loss. So many people have mentioned to me in recent weeks how much she adored me! How noticeable it was to everyone around us. To you Alex, my darling, I am forever grateful you came into my life. Forever grateful you wanted my companionship in life. Forever grateful that you felt I was worthy to be a part of our wonderful family which became the Baxter clan with a little Brown thrown in for good measure. Kyle, Michael, PJ and our family, I love you and wish I had more time here to share more memories from your experiences with your mother. I hope I've covered enough at this juncture to do justice to your beloved mother, She loved you three boys so much. She fought for you. She lit up when she was around you. To our beloved Alex, farewell for now sweetheart.