Merry Christmas image – from the collection of Julie Goucher, 2021

Today marks what would have been my beloved Grandmother’s 110th birthday.

Regular readers of this blog will have read various posts about my Grandparents and the families they descended from. I am very proud of them and the achievements they accomplished. I have been suddenly aware that apart from being my Grandmother, she was also a wife, a mother, a friend, sister and much, much more. In writing this post, I remember her, upon her birthday. The reality is, that I think of her every day and miss her the same. She was a huge influence in my life and her passing left quite a void

In the Spring after we moved Devon, I purchased a beautiful peach coloured rose. My husband planted it in her memory and every time I looked out of the breakfast room window I pondered on what she would think of my zero gardening ability. The rose is lovely, and despite some fairly harsh Winters in Devon. It continued to flourish, with much assistance from my beloved. When we moved from Devon to Durham and the rose came too. Alas it did not survive our first Durham winter.

Usually on her birthday I purchase a bunch of vibrant coloured flowers, as that is how I recall her, bright, happy and always joking, and place the vase in a location where I can enjoy the flowers.

Copyright – Photograph is from the personal collection of Julie Goucher.

Today’s posts is in memory of an outstanding lady, who was my maternal Grandmother who gave me so much. I want to acknowledge her achievements and values.

The photograph here is of my Grandmother, Lilian Edith Butcher nee Matthews (1912 – 1995) on the occasion of her 21st Birthday.