In Memory of Grandma Beesley and Grandma Taylor
It seems like yesterday that I lost my two gorgeous Grandmas’, but it has been 10 years now. I can’t quite believe it, nor can I truly believe that they have gone.
On the 10th March 1998 in the morning I received a heartbreaking phone call from my Dad telling me that my Grandma had died. I instantly knew he meant his Mum, Dorothy. I was at university at the time and took the news badly. Later that evening I received another phonecall from Dad, who told me that my other Grandma, Violet, had also died. For their deaths to be on the same day, though they never spoke and lived miles away from each other, was just too tragic for words.
Grandma Beesley was 70; she had died instantly of a heart attack. Grandma Taylor was a mere 62 years old and she died of pneumonia, having spent her final few years lying in bed too scared and too depressed to get up.
Grandma ‘Violet’ Taylor
(My sister Jo on the left, I am on the right)
Although I didn’t see much of Grandma Taylor she was a character and I loved her to bits. She really reminded me of Mum in so many ways, and seemed such a delicate soul. She was an agoraphobia sufferer, which was to eventually cut her life short. The family moved to Wigan when I was a baby and I only wish that they hadn’t - I don’t think she would have been so depressed had she had two very stubborn granddaughters to keep her in check! I would have liked to have known her better.
Grandma ‘Dorothy’ Beesley
(With my Dad in the 70s)
If anyone mentioned ‘your Grandma’ I would instantly think of Grandma Beesley. She lived very close and we saw her often, although again she also did not like to leave the house in her later years. I don’t think she liked being ‘old’.
Grandma was very young minded and would give anything a whirl (as long as it didn’t mean leaving the house). She had a strong personality and fiery temper, and wasn’t particularly well behaved in her younger days from what I gather! I am a lot like her in many ways! I miss her terribly, although I am thankful that I have good memories of her.
When I was younger we used to go round to her house and pinch cat biscuits from her larder; I still love them although I don’t make a habit of eating them these days! She would have a party at Christmas and I have the most wonderful memories of these; all the kids together causing havoc whilst the adults nattered in the lounge. We used to hide under the kitchen table and pretend to be mice; and got in trouble for eating all the crabsticks. The game ‘Murder in the Dark’ was just the best!
When I worked at the Manor Barn pub I would go to see her after a lunchtime shift, and she would always tell me off for having ‘wet hair’ when it was only cold from being outside, and smothered in hair products! When I said that I wanted to dye my hair brown again (it was blonde at the time) she would go mad. She will probably be having a go at my brown hair now, wherever she is!
I’ll never stop missing her; I only wish that the last time I visited home from university I had gone to see her. I left uni soon after losing her, I don’t think I will ever get over it. I suppose because it was the first real bereavement I had, not remembering my Grandad who died when I was 5.
Apologies for the sad post, but this anniversary reminds me not only of how long it has been since I last saw them, but also how long it may be before I ever see them again.
