Florence Maureen Munnery (5 Apr 1932 - 25 Apr 2021)

In loving memory of Florence Maureen Munnery who sadly passed away on 25th April 2021

Maureen was born to Nellie and Frederick Bursby in Bletchingley on 5th April 1932 at no 7 Lamberts Cottages and she was proud of the fact that she was the first child ever to be born in the street.

She was the 2nd child of 4 but was only registered as ‘a girl’ rather than by name on 15th May 1932 – it seems there was some kind of disagreement on what to call her. Nan by the brook (who only Maureen's eldest daughter Marlene remembers) wanted her to be named Dawn as that is the time of day she was born.

Fred Bursby was her eldest brother and she was followed by Kenny and Colin. Marlene knows only too well what it must be like to be a sister with 3 brothers...

Maureen was baptized Florence Maureen Bursby at St Johns Church Redhill
on 17th July 1932 but has always preferred to be known as Maureen. Even her old school bible dated 1942 had the name Maureen written inside.

She went to school in Bletchingley but once the evacuees arrived, this would only be in the mornings as the evacuees attended school in the afternoons. Maureen was herself evacuated to Burley in the New Forest in 1944 and she had fond memories of her time there on a farm.

She left school at the age of 14 and initially worked in a bandage factory which was next to St Mary’s Church Bletchingley. This factory is where she met her lifelong friend Nora (also known as Nicky). They kept in touch for over 70 years!

Maureen first met her husband to be, Arthur Munnery, at Merstham British Legion where he was out for the evening with his father and brothers. Arthur and Maureen met up as a foursome a few times before their 1st proper date on May 13th 1952 when they went to the local cinema to see the latest Marlon Brando film. Their courtship continued - her youngest brother Colin remembers Arthur arriving at Lamberts Cottages on his bicycle, wearing a bow tie and clutching a large bunch of flowers and most likely a big silly grin, which her husband to be became well known for. Maureen didn’t know until much later how highly her future father in law regarded her as he had told his son “you can’t do any better than Maureen”.

Maureen and Arthur got married on 29th September 1956 at Reigate Registry Office. By now Maureen was working as a machine operator in a food factory. This is likely the reason she never had any sauces in the house like ketchup or mayonnaise as the smell would remind her of her job! The only condiments her family recall were salt, pepper and mustard.

The newly weds moved to a caravan in Smallfield and their 1st child Marlene was born here on 8th September 1957.

They subsequently moved to 3 Marchants Place in Nutfield Marsh which was a 2 up 2 down and was in fact one of 4 houses owned by Arthur's father. Her family recall that Arthur used to collect the rent from the 3 other properties. They didn't have hot running water and there was only an outside toilet in a shed at the bottom of the garden.

Despite the lack of modern amenities, they continued to live a happy and simple life here and were blessed with 3 new arrivals. (Sadly, Maureen lost a 2nd baby after Marlene was born). Ian (also known as Mig) was born on 5th July 1961. Pete was born just over 2 years later on 18th September 1963. Lastly, less than 3 years later, Ray (also known as Pud or the Chump) was born on 18th January 1966.

The family then moved on to 41 Clare Cottages Bletchingley in October 1968 where they enjoyed new concepts like a flushing indoor toilet, running hot water and lots of neighbours.

Family life continued in much the same way as others in their area with the usual ups and downs. Youngest son Ray (Pud or Chump) spent 2 years on crutches after being diagnosed with Perthes Hip disease. Pete can recall seeing them return from hospital for the first time and his mum having to quickly grab hold of Ray’s hood to prevent him falling head first down the acutely angled front path…

Maureen has always been a very proud and extremely industrious lady. Unbeknown to her children at the time, she was the instigator of numerous amusing sayings and descriptions of certain food items. These have passed down into their collective common vocabulary leaving her 4 children and partners with lots of fond and highly amusing memories and anecdotes.

Maureen was always baking, cleaning and cooking. She used to bake bread on Saturday afternoons where there would be bowls of dough placed in the airing cupboard to rise before making the bread for their Saturday evening tea. Using his bricklaying skills, her husband Arthur would make Scooby Doo sized sandwiches that should have had local planning permission. Home baked cakes and a Sainsbury’s crunchy chocolate biscuit would often complete the meal. The sandwich fillings would have been the same as any other family apart from BIG TIN which was a product unique to 41 Clare Cottages. Another unique item of food was FLUFFY EGG. Pete didn’t find out until much later on that this was in fact known by the rest of the world as an omelette! Cold custard skin was such a delicacy that there was a strict rota, so no-one missed out but Arthur seemed to own all the pie crusts, regardless of whose plate they were on. One particular comment from Maureen to Ian all those years ago has meant that all of her children, even to this day, are thrown into a state of indecision if offered a range of sandwich fillings which includes pork.

At some point in the early 70’s, Maureen appeared to declare war on the rest of the family’s enjoyment of evening TV. Her first ‘weapon’ in this amusing family conflict was an electric press pedal sewing machine which was able to fire staccato, machine gun like bursts of noise at crucial points in TV dramas or sitcoms. It had the added advantage of creating horizontal static lines across the screen, so being able to lip read would not have been an advantage.

Later, Maureen upped the ante and acquired a manual knitting machine meaning that she was no longer restricted to just small pieces of dialogue as she was now able to obliterate entire scenes from TV shows with a noise that her eldest son Mig remembers as “like someone starting up a combine harvester in the room”.

The boys, however, benefited from these 2 ‘weapons of war’ as Maureen kitted them out in matching sweaters and possibly the most versatile garment of the 70’s – elasticated crimplene trousers!! The design of these trousers meant they could be worn inside out and/or back to front as the only distinguishing marks were a large hole at the top and two smaller ones at the bottom.

Maureen’s final acquisition was the large hair dryer! This was capable of drowning out entire episodes. It filled the lounge with a Phil Spector like wall of sound, could run uninterrupted for long periods of time and seemed to need no input from herself. Secure in the knowledge that she was saving her children from a life of TV addiction, she would sit under this ‘weapon of mass disruption’ and do the Daily Express crossword as well as the Target word game, searching for the elusive big word… Much much later on Maureen would still enjoy word puzzles and ironically many TV shows such as Pointless.

Maureen and Arthur would take the 3 boys on a yearly trip to Croydon in the school summer holidays on the 411 bus with a Rover Ticket to buy something for herself or the house. They remember the tedium of the shops like Stone Dri, C&A, Brentford Nylons and Littlewoods (although they liked the fact there was a restaurant where they were treated to an ice cream Sundae). They also recall the sweetener of the last visit of the day to Zodiac Toys in the Whitgift Centre. They especially remember not really wanting to go shopping with their mother in Redhill if it involved trips to Ghinns, Jones's or Pendreds. This held no interest to 3 adolescent boys.

One Christmas, possibly in 1977, the 4 children were given a group present – a dart board. Arthur and his 4 children spent many hours practising and trying to develop increasingly complex methods of gamesmanship to achieve the upper hand. Very soon Sunday nights became darts night. Although not bitten by the darts bug quite as badly as the rest of the family, Maureen would still join in – usually partnering up with her husband. Despite not having put in the hours of practice, like the rest of her family, Maureen utilised something best described as a variable oche to level the playing field for herself. Everyone else stood behind the mark on the floor but Maureen stood wherever she wanted. Her throw could only be described as ‘unique’. The dart seemed to get released from somewhere behind her head and travelled over rather than under the light shade (possibly glancing the ceiling on the odd occasion) but still somehow making it to the dart board. Several winning doubles were hit with this rather unorthodox delivery, much to the amusement of Arthur and the disbelief of their opponents, her children.

One by one the 4 children flew the nest and left Maureen and Arthur in the 3 bedroom house. It was only at this time that Maureen and her husband started to go on holiday – this was always with the same coach company – Shearings!

It may have been on one of these coach holidays that they were introduced to something that appears to be highly addictive to people of a pensionable age. That being the music of Daniel O’Donnell. Both Arthur and Maureen loved the little Irishman’s work and bought tapes, CD’s, DVD’s and even ventured into London to see him in concert. Luckily for their children this happened after they had all left home and made the choosing of presents for them a much more straightforward process.

Maureen and Arthur agreed to move to the 1 bedroom flat at Stychens Close which had been offered to them by the local council. They moved there in April 1996, so Maureen was now living very close to her old school from 60 years previously.

Sadly, within 5 years of moving to the flat, her husband Arthur passed away from prostrate cancer at the relatively young age of 71.

Now on her own, Maureen decided to stick to as much of her previous routine as possible. Tuesday and Saturday mornings would be spent shopping in Redhill on the bus and every Thursday she would visit the hairdressers in Redhill.

As the years passed, Maureen was less able to manage the heavier shopping, so family members helped out with this and over the final 4 years, they did all of her shopping. Even once she was effectively housebound, she still enjoyed a trip to the hairdressers (now located in Bletchingley) initially on foot, then with her son Pete and partner Sue by car and occasionally in a newly acquired wheelchair. Maureen had always been a very proud lady and even when she wasn't seeing anyone, she still wanted to have the weekly hair do!

On 20th September 2020, after a fall at home, Maureen was taken into East Surrey Hospital. She had not been feeling well for some time and really needed heart surgery, however, this was of course, out of the question and against her earlier wishes.
Maureen remained in East Surrey Hospital where they could keep an eye on her, build her strength back up again, whilst doing any necessary tests. After 10 days and once ESH were happy with her progress, she was transferred to Caterham Dene for further rehabilitation. She spent most of October 2020 here and towards the end of her stay, a care package was put in place for her return to the flat on 2nd November 2020.
Maureen was obviously very pleased to be back home and responded quite well to having carers visit her 4 times a day, every day. She was eating better and embraced the additional company.
Visiting her wasn’t feasible for all family members due to Covid restrictions but Pete and his partner Sue formed a bubble with her, which made things more pleasant and easier for the family as a whole to keep an eye on her needs more closely.
As expected, Maureen’s heart continued to be the cause of her deteriorating health. On 16th April this year, she was referred back to ESH after a home visit from a doctor. The prognosis was not good and there was not a lot that could be done for her medically that didn’t involve surgery. The family did their very best to get her back home, where she really wanted to be. Pete and his partner Sue stayed in her flat from the time she was released from hospital until she passed peacefully in her sleep. It was decided that she should receive end of life care at home. It was a difficult time but it was exactly what she wanted to happen. During this time, she was visited by all of her children and their partners as well as her 2 grandchildren Gary and Kelly. She was very pleased that she was able to see them all with ease in her own home.
Having reached the grand old age of 89 on the 5th of April this year, she passed away, peacefully, on Sunday 25th April at home in her own bed as per her wishes and in the knowledge that she was not alone.