Joan Leigh (Passed away 30 Jul 2019)

In loving memory of Mum who passed away peacefully in a nursing home, after a short illness, on the morning of 30th July 2019.

Mum lived to the ripe old age of 92 and had lived in East Grinstead, Holland, Hurst Green, Oxted, Swindon and Horsham. But she was always an Oxted girl and never settled properly after she left Oxted in the mid 80s.

She was very much a woman of her era, she didn't want to travel the world or have a huge number of possessions, family always came first. She and Dad were kind and lived simple, honest, upright, honourable lives and they loved and trusted one another totally. Mum and Dad made a good, happy, loving home for Nicola and I where we, our family and friends were always welcomed. We grew up surrounded by kindness, family and a few dotty aunts!

Mum had been well trained by her Mum, Ada or Dolly, depending which family we are talking to. She went on to train Nicola and I in all her housewifery skills. She cooked, made a huge variety of preserves like bottling fruit and making jam. She made our clothes and knitted our jumpers and our home was a warm welcoming family home. Nicola and I stoutly objected to improving our cleaning skills, But Mum won in the end! We inherited our creativity, love of plants and much more from both Mum and Dad.

There were a good few family parties over the years and Nicola and I buttered much of the bread that went into the sandwiches.

Mum took great joy in her grandchildren Richard and Jessica and they brightened both Dad and Mums' later years. Both took great pleasure in teaching the children their different skills from cooking to carpentry. And enjoyed having good old fashioned fun with the children, Nicola and her husband John.

Mum faithfully nursed Dad though his long illness and her love, dedication and caring skills made a huge difference to his well-being and comfort. They never wanted to be apart after the war years and she did her best to ensure they never were.

Mum bravely moved to Swindon in 2015 to save me having to go up to Horsham every week. She never really enjoyed living here as she remained a country girl and we live in the middle of a large town. But as she lived only a few hundred feet from us, Adrian and I could be with her in a few minutes if there was a problem.

Mum's great gifts included the ability to stay in touch with everyone, never breaking a confidence and seemingly being able to remember huge collections of family history on all sides of the family. She also seemed to be able to name streetloads of people in the Holland/Oxted area. She knew who married whom and what children they had. It appears we were related to half of Oxted!

Becase of Mum's memory and knack of staying in touch with people Nicola's children and I have a rich inheritance of family memories, jokes and sayings to treasure longterm.

I hope you can share a happy memory of Mum here for us all to enjoy. Diana x