Mum was born in Bunclody, County Wexford on 28 Feb 1932, the 2nd of 9 children.

She had a traditional Catholic upbringing, convent schools, attending church and a close-knit family life. Even though distance separated them as they grew up, she continued to share a close bond with her brothers and sisters Joe, Pat, Eddie, Michael, Will, Mary and Lily.

If mum were a stick of rock, she would have the word ‘family’ stamped through her core. Her sister Lily became substitute ‘Mum’ to the younger siblings from an early age and Bridie took over this role when Lily moved to England. She had immense respect and love for their Dad (John), known as Jack who managed to keep his family together despite many hardships. Mum held this nurturing trait in her sole and cemented her ‘family first’ core value. 

She loved hosting family get togethers and Brian and I hold cherished memories of special occasions with Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. Thank you – We love you all. 

She was the one we relied on for advice and help with homework and exam revision. Her knowledge of the Latin language through her Catholic upbringing enabled her to help Brian with conjugating Latin verbs and if she didn’t know an answer, she would help us look it up in her Encyclopaedia Britannica. Karen remembers that if you ever said you were bored, mum would say “read a dictionary” and so she did…. She always listened to our worries and problems and offered good, sound advice.

She came to England in 1948, having proudly gained her school certificate of education and always instilled in us the importance of education and continuous learning.

She married Dad (William Goldie) on 6th June 1953 and had her first-born Son, Adrian.  

Dad was serving in the Royal Iniskillen Fusiliers and was posted to Cyprus shortly after Adrian was born. Mum and Adrian joined him and often recounted happy memories of that time. The local Cypriots commented that Adrian must be Cypriot – “him no Anglaisica”, they would say.

They also lived in Malaysia until 1957 when Mum and Adrian returned home on a troop ship.  Due to the Suez Canal being closed they had a lengthy detour around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. She had happy memories of stopovers in particular the Mount Lavinia Hotel in Sri Lanka. They also lived in Singapore and Malta. Brian and Karen were born in Preston, Lancashire and lived in Germany whilst Dad completed his final years in the Army.  

Mum found being a young Army wife and Mother quite hard and she wouldn’t have coped without making life-long friends with her Army family. She loved the Mess Dinner Dances and fancy-dress Balls.   

In 1964/65 Dad left the Army and they settled in Bristol, where she lived until 2013 before her move to Devon. They frequently holidayed in Devon and loved staying in hotels, hiring a beach hut on the sea-front and taking part in traditional sea-side entertainment.  She had a mischievous sense of humour and loved party games, dressing up etc but did not like being centre of attention. If there was a prank to be played you can bet your life that mum had instigated it in the background. 

At various family weddings, she was famous for instigating harmless practical jokes on newlyweds such as making ‘apple pie’ beds sprinkled with confetti and decorating the ‘going away’ car with ‘just married’ using old shoes and cans tied to the bumpers. 

When we were young, Mum had part-time jobs. She worked evenings in the Little Thatch restaurant and loved dressing up for their themed evenings. You’ll see photos of her at Halloween, Burns Night, World Cup etc. She took up full time work in the late 60s as a Supervisor in Tesco and later worked in the admin centre as a bookkeeper for them. She worked full time until the age of 73 as a Pharmacy assistant in Keynsham. Her friends there remember lots of laughs and silly pranks, instigated by Mum. 

She had an inquisitive mind and loved crosswords and jigsaw puzzles. She loved hosting a family dinner followed by playing board games. We remember playing Risk, sometimes all night until a winner was declared. We know that she cheated, especially as she would pass extra armies under the table to whoever was losing. She also had a love for gardening, something she shared with Tony and Izzy, swapping plants and seedlings and had the knack to grow a beautiful plant from an old stick. The children and grandchildren spent many happy hours playing and paddling in her garden surrounded by lovely blooms and fragrances. She also enjoyed watching 5 Nations Rugby, Football and horse racing and always supported Ireland or Scotland, never England😊

She became a Grandmother to Tory in 1978 and Katie in 1981. Although she felt that 46 was very young to be a grandmother, she liked nothing better than playing with them and spent ages baking and making fantastic picnics for us to share at the seaside. Three more grandchildren followed, namely Steven, Jason and Megan. She looked after them one day a week whilst Karen was at work and NEVER took a day off sick. She was immensely proud of their achievements and never missed a Sports Day, Fete or School play. She also loved seeing photos and videos of her 4 Great-Grandchildren, Annabelle, Maddie, Brodie and Stanley.