Tracey Cadogan (5 Apr 1969 - 2 Oct 2019)

I'm saddened and shocked to hear of your passing, Tracey.
I only knew you for a short time but you were a very supportive colleague.
Condolences to all of your loved ones

A message from Bogey Bum to Fart Face........

I'm sat here really not knowing what to say for this book. Its a really great keep sake for us all to look back at for sure. We can keep pictures of both fun, sad, and odd times we had, and you also had on your own; great times.

These are all times we should remember. My challenge as your brother is quite different....

I"m struggling to write "stuff" down. All I can think of is what I feel now with you gone. Maybe typing this is Cathartic, not that I'm religious, but hopefully it'll stop me being daft.

When you were here......
...I felt that there was somebody watching over me
...I knew that if anything happened to me you would step in and take over
...I knew you were the "overlord" making sure Charlie, Dan and Mum were ok while I was living in Canada, irrelevant of any cost to yourself
...I knew every rescue dog would have been saved if you could have bought an Island to house them all
...I knew every person you deemed worthy to call Friend would be protected by you when needed

.....ultimately, I knew you loved me; even though we never really told each other those words. We would joke about not Loving each other to make it easier saying we did. We should have known better with hindsight.
.....
.....
...I know I'll miss the banter and abuse around Birthdays and Christmas; why am I late sending cards, why am I so useless lol!!

The bottom line is that we had an on and off sibling relationship, good and bad, but more recently good.

I have a hole in my heart that I'll never be able fill Tracey, I promise you I'll make sure the boys and Nana are happy and safe wherever and whatever they decide to be.

See you soon Bum Face, but not too soon. xxxx

Where do we start with Tracey, there are sides to Tracey that may come as a surprise to some and but realized with a smile by others.
Tracey was born into a Military family at RAF Wegberg Hospital in Germany on April 5th 1969.
Moved to Cyprus in 1973 and enjoyed a Hercules evacuation flight back to Yorkshire when Turkey invaded. Tracey then returned to Cyprus 9months later and enjoyed another few years of Sunshine and Sand.
At the age of 11 the family were to be posted to Belize, knowing of Tracey’s fear of creepy crawlies, she started her schooling at The Royal Latin School in Buckinghamshire after which she went to Lancashire Polytechnic to study European Business Studies with Spanish and French. During her studies she spent a year in Lyon brushing up on her language skills.
After an eventful marriage where she lived in Germany, UK and Saudi Arabia, she was over the moon to have welcomed Daniel and Charles into her family. The two boys who really were her world.
She moved to Sawtry in 2007 where she started work at what is now Sawtry Village Academy. The Academy was to form a major part of her life; with her Boys attending and Tracey making some great friends and memories.
Tracey put everything into helping and guiding her Students through their time at the College, after which she would use “Walkies” time with her 3 beloved dogs Toby, Sansa and Murphy to destress and find her happy place. This dedication to her rescue dogs gave her the reputation as the crazy dog lady of Sawtry.
Tracey is survived by her two Sons Daniel and Charles, her Mother Eileen and brother Mark all of whom have their own unique memories of Tracey.

Mum, my final message to you:

Mum, I have already spoken to you at length earlier so I promise I’ll keep this short and sweet for you this time. As you’ve always said to me, “I’ve raised Spartans, you are strong.” so I will try my hardest now to be strong for you. 

Mum there is so much I want to say to you, there is so much I want to show you and there is so much I want to do for you. But you felt that your time now was complete and you moved on, for this Mum, I am happy you are at peace. Mum, I am so proud of you. Mum, I am so grateful for you. Mum, I love you.

Mum, I know now you are in your happy place, I know now you are surrounded by bottles of Pink Gin, Rescued Dogs and multiple David Beckhams. I know now you are free to go as you please without a worry in the world. I know now you are looking fondly down at both I and Charlie, I know now you eagerly await what challenges the future holds for us both and how we will overcome them, I know now that you are excitedly waiting for I and Charlie to flourish over time and what happiness the future holds for us both.

I know now you are dancing away to your favourite songs, with your favourite food in your favourite company. 

But most importantly, I know now how to keep your memory forever. I know now that you are the most important part of my future. I know now that in your honour I am to keep on going, with strength, honesty and kindness. I know now this is what you wanted but now I know you moved on to another place knowing your biggest success is Charlie and me. I know now and forever more, we have your strength to keep on going, just like you. 

I know now you have been preparing me to be the man I am today, I know now that all the times you have spent talking through my ideas, my problems and my wishes you have been guiding me to be a man with integrity, intelligence and ambition. I know now you are the reason I am happy. I know now you have given me the tools to go on.

Mum I know now how to keep your memory, your legacy and your name forever. I know now you want me to be happy. I know now you want Charlie to be happy. I know now when I think of you, I will feel such happiness, I know now your family is your legacy.

Mum I know now this is not goodbye, I know now this is not farewell. I know now you are just waiting for me to have the same successes as you. I know now I will see you again.

Mum, I love with all my heart. Sleep well Mum, you deserve it more than you will ever know. I love you Mum. Sleep tight and sweetest of dreams. 

From Me Mum:

Before I begin, I cannot go forward without saying this to you Charlie.

I am so proud of you.

You truly are growing into a brilliant, strong and incredibly intelligent young man and I know Mum is so proud of you. Mum will be always watching over you from her doggy heaven and I’m sure no matter what your future holds Charlie, Mum will always be proud of you, as much as she loved you with all her heart.

Now, if you ask me to repeat that in future, I shall tell you where to go.

Mum. Oh mum, there are no words that I can use to start off your tribute as no words will ever begin to do you justice in a way you deserve. But please, bare with me as I promise to try my hardest for you. The same way you always worked your hardest for me and Charlie and of course your beloved Dogs..who still to this day I reckon you loved more than me because as I was moving out, you had measured out my bedroom for your dogs even before I’d got out the front door. 

I have spoken to many of your friends in recent days Mum, they have all said truly incredible things about you, your friendship, your loyalty, your wit, your humour and your kindness all being just a few of those kind words. But what everyone has said Mum, is how proud of your boys you were, both me and Charlie always knew this, but Mum know this. Both I and Charlie are proud of you, so incredibly proud of you. 

There are many memories that I can share about you Mum, but I’ve obviously been quite selective about these, I can’t have people believing you had a fun side, as let’s be honest Darth Vadar never had fun!

One memory I can share Mum and please forgive me for this is your fantastic dancing on the Nintendo Wii. A few years ago Mum bought a Wii for the living room TV and rather amusingly bought Just Dance 1, 2 and 3. Now those of you who may have seen Mum dance on occasion, I tell you now, what you have seen is nothing compared to Mum dancing to Viva Las Vegas on Wii Dance or Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Somehow Mum also knew the upcoming moves to every song, I honestly believe Mum would practice the routines when I wasn’t there. As much as I tried, Mum also knew when I was about to get a cheeky video of her and refused to Dance in hope that her secret obsession would remain secret.

Although, going against me on Just Dance really isn’t much competition, I can just about Dance my way to the front of the buffet nowadays and that’s about it.

Staying on the subject of Wii Games, one game that I could beat Mum on was Mario Kart. Those who know me more personally know that I am probably as good a driver as Lewis Hamilton (I think) so it was in no doubt that I would beat Mum on this game…although Mum would often try to change gears and use a handbrake in real life so the I guess it was never in any doubt I would win. 

More recently, Mum has helped me join the Police force, please may I ask that people now wanting to boo me at this point wait until we are outside were pork flavoured refreshments can be provided.

Mum may have mentioned my choice of career at some point, but she may also not, but there is no way everyone here today won’t have seen Mum’s continuous arguments on Social Media defending the Police against some knowitall being a keyboard warrior online, Mum would usually combat their hatred with the comment "Some village is missing their idiot.”

Oh how Mum would often text me screenshots of the arguments she’d got into, often with the smug and laughing emojis. There can be no doubt of your loyalty here Mum, for this, I will be forever grateful.

It’s not just been social media war campaigns Mum has fought, I remember once being stood as an event for Officers and their families at my Police HQ. I was stood quite happily chatting away to one of my most respected and experienced Sergeants. I remember Mum comes strolling over with a big grin on her face, a grin that filled me with such fear as I knew exactly what was coming. She took my Sergeants hand, shook it, hard, I could see my 6’3 Sergeant wincing, at this point I was nervously sipping on my drink. Mum stared straight into my Sergeant’s eyes and without hesitation said to him,
“IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO MY BOY. ITS YOU IM COMING FOR.” I nearly spat out the contents of my mouth as Mum proudly strutted off. Even to this day, this Sergeant of 30 years service of working in Luton still says to me he is terrified of my Mum. Job done there Mum I think, you may have possibly ruined any hope of mine to be promoted…

Now I can honestly go on for days about all the fond memories I have of Mum but I’m sure, looking around this church no one wants to hear me blubbering on anymore so I will bring this to an end. 

Mum, this isn’t farewell, I know you are with me always, this isn’t goodbye, I know you are just walking the dogs somewhere more peaceful. I know you will still walk by my side, your words of wisdom will always be in my mind. You have taught me to be proud, you have taught me to be strong and you have taught me to care for those I hold close. Mum, you have been my strength, my teacher and my protector. I love you Mum to the moon and starts and back again and although I would give anything to hear to say one more time ‘Love you Dote’ as you would always say, I can now say this to you.

In the final words of our favourite poem;

Stand Down Mum, Your Duty is Complete. 

It really is great to see all of you here to give Tracey the sendoff she deserves. Its very apparent that she had an impact on many more than just her family, she would be really embarrassed at this show of affection, so well done! My name is Mark and I am Tracey’s considerably younger Brother, I can finally get to say that without Tracey jumping in trying to persuade everybody she’s the younger one! We had a fun relationship, with some good old sibling arguments and fights like every family, but she was always fiercely protective of me and her family.
I recall one instance when we were living in Germany, before either one of us went off to Boarding Schools, I was lying on the sofa after school minding my own business watching Blue Peter when she decided she wanted the sofa.
Being the loving and considerably younger brother, I made just enough space for her to sit down. She slowly managed to squeeze her legs up and proceeded to kick the bejeezus out of me until I gave her a bit more space. Again, being the loving younger brother, I gave her what I thought was enough space only for her to grab my big toe and start twisting signing “Twist ‘em round and break them off”, needless to say she got the entire sofa!!!
Ever since then I’ve had an issue with feet!
Something that Tracey got the last say on. While she was in hospital, she wanted some cream for her feet which we brought in. Realising she couldn’t do it herself Nana and I had the dubious task of massaging her feet. Even though she was in some pain I’ll never forget the smug grin she had on her face which basically was saying “Gotcha!!”. I think you can imagine that look. I also recall a time when I was dropped off at Boarding school and Tracey was dancing on the parade square outside my House trying to embarrass me but I knew the truth that she was flirting with the Upper Sixth lads! She denied this buy I knew the truth!
We heard from the Academy earlier, obviously she made quite the impact on a number of people during her time there. I understand that there was a running joke that whenever she would walk into a classroom, the students would see her and all they had running through their heads was the Darth Vader march!! When we were making the arrangements for today we did all have quite a laugh when Daniel and Charlie suggested we have Darth Vader’s theme music play as we brought her in. The mortified look on Nana’s face was priceless, Tracey would definitely have got a kick out of that.
These are the memories I’ll cherish, the fun times, the joking, the mickey taking, the name calling, surprising her for her 50th Birthday, and the love Tracey had for her family and friends.

Sweet Dreams sis.

From Charlie:

I think, looking out at all of your faces really serves as testament to how impactful Mum truly was. As much as this is a final word to try and summarise Mum's amazing life; this is not a farewell. 

I can say with absolute certainty that she is smiling down on us, so Mum this is a message to you as much as it is a message to all of those gathered here today. 

We all have our stories, or own personal anecdotes outlining your grace... and some as I'm sure outline her clumsiness and fantastic sense of humour. 

Mum truly is the best of us, from her fierce loyalty and devotion to family, to her emphasis on kindness and respecting others. 

My favourite time with Mum would be the road to and from Hamerton Zoo where I work, the bumps that would intermittently interrupt our conversation and turn our stomachs. In fact, on one eventful journey home she had brought me an ice cold bottle of water, a lovely gesture as she sipped on her hot chocolate as I got in to the car, soaked from the torrential rain. However as it turned out, Mum hadn't screwed the lid on properly, so then came the first bump in the road, lo and behold; as I took my sip, THUD, the lid came off and out poured 750ml of cold water. Mum was quite literally howling for the entirety of the journey home. 

Now I don't want to drone on, simply put it would be impossible to fit every story into a book, let alone a speech. Mum always said that I had a way with extravagant words, so in my last chance to show some teenage rebellion, I'll keep this short and sweet. Thank you for everything, for raising me the way you did, for the life you've given me, and for the family you've gifted me. I want you to know that I'm in safe hands, and that we'll always look out for each other. For that, I thank you, this isn't goodbye by any means:

Until we meet again.

We are heartbroken at the sudden loss of our beloved niece Tracey. Keep dancing with the angels. Say hello to David from us. Loved and missed so much. Love Uncle Victor and Auntie Maureen. X💔

Staff at the Academy wished to have a floral tribute for Tracey and raised funds for this. The surplus of the funds will be donated to Sue Ryder. Two pictures are attached which represent the Norman House that Tracey was a huge part of at the Academy.

Goodbye my friend, Angela Nottage (Richardson) RLS 1981-1987

Tracey,

I can’t thank you enough for your support over the years, you’ve encouraged me to follow my dreams and always believed in me.

You were so much fun to be around, you’ll be greatly missed.

Lauren xx

I miss you.
I want to tell you all my news.
I want to hear your news too.
I want join you in lovely walks, in our lovely fields.
I want to remind you of how much I and others love you!

I miss you and I loved you x
xx

Tracey - you are Queen of Bop-It and our hearts. ...
Potatoes in the river, babies on the floor, champagne & room service knocking on the door; Evenings playing Bop-It - high scores on voicemail, trivial pursuit - a winner without fail; Galaxy bars, drinking wine & Take That, you were always there for me ... taking time to chat; birthdays spent together, Bake-Off and Masterchef you could win them all with your amazing birthday cake 3 tiers tall. Next on-line sales, reading books and Hello ... my memories of you I will never let go. Funny, mischievous and a twinkle in your eye, although you are gone it will never be goodbye, for our friendship will endure this temporary parting of ways and happy memories of our time will endure me through my days.

You were one in a million, a real diamond of a friend, tirelessly loyal and determined. How can I forget you ... I never will ... your sharp wit, cheeky sense of humour and your ability to have us all in fits. I wish I had seen more of you, and I will always regret that but no one will ever replace you, the best friend of all. JO xxxx

So sad to hear the news of Tracey’s passing. Will remember so much fun from times in Germany and beyond.

Although I never met Tracey, I know from being friends with Dan that she was a phenomenal woman who will be sorely missed by so many. Sending endless love and thoughts, rest in peace beautiful lady xx