Ruth Mary Fulford (6 Apr 1955 - 22 Mar 2017)

Ruth, you were the best cheerleader I've ever met, so supportive and encouraging, I bet there is a whole mass of people naming you somewhere near the top of the list of people who contributed the most to the person they have become today, I know you are definitely on my list.
I can't remember the first time I met you, I was under five, but you and Tansin are in a lot of photos and even more memories! You were the coolest mum of all my friends and was always ready and willing with advice, a cuddle, or in later years, a snowball!
You encouraged me on stage with All Hallows', and backstage, and it's thanks to you I have a lifelong love of musical theatre and am still involved in it. Never found another group like it, you made the teenage years so special, and even when Tansin and I grew apart you were still the same warm, hilarious inspiration you always had been to me.
Rest well wonderful Ruth, with much love x

Condolences Rich. What a lovely, honourable cause! Tom P x

Ruth.
To my dad Roy, Ruth was the stunning, adventurous, confident woman who stole his heart as a young man in the Test Match Inn and opened up the world for him, grabbing life by the hand and running with it, and taking him along for the ride. To her sister Ann she was an inspiration, bold and brave; and to her niece Helen, Ruth embodied the confidence and radiance to which she aspired. Each of you will hold on to different, memories, different qualities of Ruth, and the way that she has impacted upon your lives and touched your hearts. To me, she was simply my mum, and embodied everything which that is supposed to mean. She was safety, security, compassion, warmth, comfort and constant, limitless love. She was a friend – someone I could talk to and tell my secrets, who wouldn’t ever judge me but only ever cared about my happiness – and, unlike my sister, wouldn’t dob me in to me Dad at the drop of a hat..
She was fun. She took me to Glastonbury when I was 15 years old, danced with me, queued to get autographs for me, made new friends with me, fell asleep under the stars with me, and kept coming back in later years with her friend Kay and their Glasto Grannies banner, raving with my mates to Dizzee Rascal and drinking cider with us in the sunshine. She was someone who loved people – generous to all of my friends, ready to welcome them all into our home with open arms, always asking after them, taking an interest, talking with them, extending her love and warmth to them, seeing the good in the bunch of golden hearted teenage rabble I routinely dragged home with me. Everybody was her friend. When I was growing up in West Bridgford we couldn’t get 2 minutes down the street without her stopping for a chat with one neighbour or the other. I’m confident that she knew pretty much everyone within a 3 mile radius of our home, and what’s more she actually seemed to like them all. It could take half an hour to walk the 300 meters from our house to the co-op down the alley, as everybody we passed seemed to want to talk to her too.
She was hilarious, from the out of context Airplane puns and Short Circuit quotes to the bizarre way she pronounced the words deeJAY and carrierBAG, to her terrifying the neighbour’s kids when they jumped over the garden wall unannounced to retrieve a ball only to find mum, as usual, stark naked on the sunbed soaking up rays. She was a superbly fancy lady, throwing fab parties, never skimping on the decorations for any event or holiday, directing the junior amateur dramatic society in her spare time, and rather enjoying a glass or nine of fizz whenever there was an excuse.
She fixed a mean G&T, played a blinding hand of gin rummy, worshiped the sun, made good friends in whole other continents, sang the wrong words to all the songs on the radio, cooked up an absolute storm, gave the best, cosiest hugs in the world and was absolutely lovely, to everyone, all of the time, until the end. She doted on her husband, children and grandchildren, and was brilliant to her friends, and to my friends, and to complete strangers.
And she was quietly wise – one of the hardest things about what we’re going through now is that at every turn, at every dilemma and difficulty, our instinct is to turn to my mum for comfort and advice, to ask her how best to deal with the loss of a parent and how best to comfort those grieving. We can’t receive that comfort or advice, but I’m comforted by the fact that all of us feel the same way – we all feel the same loss, and all share beautiful, wonderful memories of my mum. I had always assumed that I loved her so much just because she was my mum, and I really didn’t realise until now that you all loved her just as much, because she wasn’t just my mum – she was actually the best.
Frederick Fulford.

Mum was beautiful inside and out. Whenever I needed her she was there, she guided and comforted me through every argument with friends, every break up, every problem at work and every struggle with motherhood.
Mum was responsible for so many good times too. Memories from when I was a child include amazing birthday celebrations, garden parties, camping holidays, tasty food (tuna crisp Tuesdays drawing in friends and cousins on a weekly basis), smashing it in teddy bear picnic and fancy dress competitions and an amazing hand painted jungle mural in my room. She ran the drama group, performances ranging from Bugsy Malone where we sprayed the audience with silly string to an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream for crying out loud! She even managed to throw rounders games at the Hook and a trip away into the mix.
As a teenager I was embarrassed by the half naked photos, nude painting and (when sunbathing) often naked mother! Despite her lack of clothes she continued to instigate good times. She took me to Glastonbury at the age of 13 and on a mother daughter trip abroad (I wish I could remember where!). She welcomed mine and Fred’s friends into her home and relished being involved in the fun, taking an interest in each friend and picking up our teenage language, ‘bad’ (followed by ‘that means good’) and ‘rinsing my credit’ were some favourites, but she could never quite get her head around ‘know what I'm sayin’ (‘but you didn't say anything, i did?!’). Mum also taught us her own mummy language- did you know if you need to know how to use something you have to read the destructions, hedgehogs are actually called hodgehegs and misled is pronounced mizzled...
As an adult our relationship became stronger and even more important to me. My mum always described me as a daddy's girl, but it was her that I would ring several times each week just to chat, who I turned to for guidance and support, who would text me silly jokes and who I gossiped and shopped with, well shopped with once a year on my birthday- she really did hate shopping!
Mum was so fantastic with Charlie and he loves his Grannie and Grandpa so much! The memories of the annual family holidays we have taken (a tradition I hope to continue) with Mum, Dad, Richard, Charlie, Svante and Fred among others will be cherished forever. Mum chasing the sun, swimming in lakes, sitting in beer gardens, singing her variations of ‘grandpa in my pocket’, always being last to bed, playing trivial pursuits, beating everyone at cards and drinking us all under the table! She cooked us fantastic meals in the evenings, made us picnics for lunches at lakesides or beaches and come to think of it catered for us most breakfast too! Pops you were right, she was the glue that stuck it all together! Mum was scared of going down slopes, miserable in shade and swelled up like balloon when stung by wasps- something that also seemed to happen annually getting worse each time bless her! Despite these things she would struggle on and brave it out to ensure everyone continued to have a happy holiday.
Last year mum took me and charlie on his first camping trip. She and charlie would sit outside the tent people watching, chatting nonsense, eavesdropping on the neighbours and playing cards until dark, something he too will remember forever.
My mum was my biggest fan and tried her best to convince me i was the most beautiful and talented girl in the world. She never judged me and made Richard feel so welcome, accepting him almost immediately into the family, trying desperately to cook something she thought he liked and putting up with (or entertaining...) his flirting!
As an adult my mum was my best friend, she was also her sister's best friend, and I'm sure many of her friends considered her their best friend too. If you asked her? My dad was her best friend, and this was clear to anyone who knew them. In the early days she was the more confident, sociable one. Pop’s tells of how she used to take him by the hand and lead him into new situations and experiences. In later life the roles reversed and it was my dad's turn to take her by the hand. Mum and dad danced together, sang together, did the Times crossword together and were a team, a united front through the good times and bad.
Mum was perfectly wonderful and as my dad would say just lovely. She was silly as heck, super cool and full to the brim with love and snuggles (snuggles especially with Charlie). I couldn't have wished for better and I will aspire to be the amazing mother and wonderful human being that she was.

As a side note - wide mouth frog jokes, lifts being wrong on so many levels, a great craic, swearing using her index finger,the ‘blue table’, easter egg hunts,sunny days at Trent Bridge and the best Christmases in all the land. Oh and definitely shoes and gin, and wine and shoes, and shoes and cider....

Ruth, a beautiful lady with a brilliant family and lots of lovely friends. To me, an aspirational mother to a beautiful daughter Tansin - my dear friend who I will be forever thankful for!

Not long after meeting Ruth she once quietly reassured me, so very perceptively, that I should be more confident and more at one with the world; a memory which often pops into my mind during my less confident moments!

Ruth, with a lovely smile and lovely compliments , a very special lady, forever loved and treasured by many.

Love and best wishes to all,

Kate Ross xxx

Kate.ross@live.com

Ruth - I am sure you are up there smiling on us all.

Ruth -I am sure you you are in a happy place smiling down on us all.

With our deepest condolences to you all. Remembering Ruth with laughter and love, she was a splendid and vivacious lady.

Dear Ruth, such a beautiful friend, thank you for happy memories of the times we shared, we will always miss you xx