Elizabeth Veronica Fay known to most people as Lily but to us she was just mum. She was born 15th June 1933 in Dublin Ireland the 2nd eldest daughter to Richard and Julia.
She had 4 sisters Maureen, Sheila, Ann, Kathleen and one brother Richard.
She spent her early years in Dublin and met and later married Richard on 1st August 1956 and they moved to Birmingham in England. Mum fell pregnant and moved back to Ireland to be with her mother for the birth and on 5th December 1957 Carol was born.
They moved back to England to Greenshields Road sharing a house with Noreen and John and on 8th November 1961 they welcomed me (Anthony) into the world and they then moved to Kirkman Close where 12 months later on 19th November 1962 Derek was born.
Mum settled into family life looking after us making sure we were well looked after, then on 27th October 1966 Julie was born which completed the family. We moved to Cardington Road that year and it was to become the family home ever since.
As we grew older Mum took on cleaning work at a local solicitors and I remember going with her some evenings to help her, or in any case use the paper in the photo copier to draw on.
There were times when we all sat at the front window when the bus pulled up opposite the house and we looked out to see if mum was on it coming home from work.
Many of our family holidays were spent in Ireland which allowed us to form close contact with our Irish cousins, many a happy time was spent in Ireland.
As we became more independent mum took on more work and began working in the Manna bakery shop on London Road and many a time we used to go in there and get our lunches. She remained working in the shop until the bakery closed but kept on working as a cleaner for an old boss of hers.
Dad sadly passed away in 1984 and Mum was widowed at the age of 50, as we all grew older we all moved out and this left mum alone in the house.
She became a nan to Richard, Matthew, Katie, Rosie, Hannah, Declan, Georgia and Kieran and recently became a great nan to Layla and Freddie. Her grandchildren were a great source of contentment for mum and she especially enjoyed looking after them in their early years.
She maintained contact with her sisters and spent holidays in Ireland and England with Sheila, Maureen and Kathleen as Ann and Richard had sadly passed away. This was a source of great comfort to her.
Mum and dad used to go out every Sunday evening to the Anchor Public House where Dad worked and she enjoyed the odd Jamieson’s or two. When we were out for family meals to celebrate someone’s birthday she had the odd glass of Rose wine. She enjoyed these family meals especially watching the sibling rivalry play out between us.
There was even on one occasion following a friend’s wedding we even took mum to a nightclub in town – she really enjoyed that watching the youth of the day making fools of themselves.
Mum was very independent and used to go for long walks daily especially after receiving a gift of Dusty the dog from Julie after dad had passed away. She was in excellent health throughout most of her life, sadly she was hospitalised a few years ago and since then her heart began to fail. Despite this she continued to live alone and look after herself, each of us had our roles with mum, I was the Admin person in charge of the paperwork and official looking letters, Julie was the hairdresser/ shopper, Derek the gardener and Carol the Chauffeur tourist guide who took mum to the cinema regularly as mum always liked going to see the latest blockbuster, such as Downton Abbey.
This was done to such an extent that if she had a problem with her TV she would wait for me to go around or if there was a problem with the heating she would wait for Derek rather than ask another one of us even if we were in the house at the time. Many a time we all said why didn’t you say and we could have sorted it out earlier.
Mum was a very kind forgiving person who had this look when she was not happy it was enough for all of us to know to go no further, even in hospital this last time she showed her displeasure and we all knew exactly what she was thinking.
Many here will have their own memories of Mum we all have far too many to mention but it is safe to say we have all grown up to be the people we are thanks to MUM. Rest in Peace we will miss you.