Doreen Leonard

As a teenager mum went on holiday to the Isle of Man. Where she enjoyed staying in a guest house with her mum, brother and friends. They travelled on the train to Liverpool and then on the Isle of Man Ferry to Douglas. The guest house was right on the seafront. As mum got older she got her first job as a glassblower in Miles Platting in Manchester, but we aren’t sure why but, she left and got a job at Woolworths in the cafe. Here she met a girl called Veronica who introduced mum to Harry, our dad. They courted for quite a while and in 1959 they married and proceeded to have 7 children. When we were growing up mum would wash all of our clothes in the twin tub and put them all through the mangle in the backyard. On a Sunday she would make Sunday roast dinner for 12 lunch. And then spend the rest of the day ironing our clothes and polishing our shoes for school and pressing dad’s shirts. She’d make fairy cakes and victoria sponge. And for supper, we would have macaroni cheese on toast. She was a brilliant cook. And the best mum ever. In 2003 mum moved to Cornwall with the youngest child Jason and his wife Kerry. Mum loved Cornwall and thoroughly enjoyed walking, bowls, line dancing and was a member of U3A. It was lovely to see her finally resting and enjoying herself. We were very sad when mum started getting poorly about 10 years ago. But she always smiled and always said she was fine. We will always remember our beautiful mum and her happy smiling face.