Janet  - Eulogy

I would firstly like to thank those members of our close family who have braved the pandemic to be with us today and also those of our friends and relations who are unable to be with us but are watching this on the video link.  It means a lot to me and the family to know there is so much love for Janet. 
 
Occasionally there is a person who is special and who touches many other lives and inspires people by the way they live their life and the examples they set for those around them. One such special person was my dear wife Janet.
 
Of course I did not know this when I first met her when she was 16 and going into the sixth form at the local grammar school. I just thought she was a good looking girl with a lively personality  and I would like to ask her out. When I look back at the photographs taken at the time I can still see what I saw in her but looking at me I am not sure why she agreed….
 
Apart from a brief time at the start of our university courses we have been together for almost sixty years. We set up our first home together in Sale Manchester where Susan was born in  1966. We then moved to a new house in Leigh in Lancashire to be nearer to where my job was going to be after university and where in 1968 Jane, our second daughter, was born. 
 
Later we moved to Neston on the Wirral where we spent a very happy 5 years and I have fond memories of family days out exploring the estuaries of the Dee and Mersey rivers and the hills of North Wales. During our time there we became members of Round Table and Ladies Circle  which was to be a big part of our lives for many years to come.
 
 In 1974 we moved to Marlow and were immediately welcomed into the local Round Table and Ladies Circle clubs. Janet was the Lady Chairman of Circle in the year 1978-79 and the friendships we made then have stayed with us to this day. As the girls were growing up and well established in schools, Janet was able to return to her Sociology studies as an external student at Newlands College.  In 1984 she gained the first , First Class Honors degree in Sociology that the College had ever had and all this while looking after 2 kids, a dog and an absentee husband who was away most of each week. 
 
 
Sadly in 1989 at the age of 43 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and for those of you who have been affected by this terrible disease you know how your whole world is suddenly turned upside down. At that time the survival rate was estimated to be around 5 years and so she started on a series of radio and chemotherapy treatments with much trepidation. In the case of Janet how wrong were those predictions because she has survived for 31 years. Throughout all that time she remained positive and would never give up.  Every few years the cancer would rear its head again and we would start a whole new series of treatments. The Chiltern Hospital was very familiar to us and ironically I can say that due to her determination and the treatment she received there she has actually outlived a number of her oncologists.
 
At school Janet had always been a keen sports player; hockey, netball and lacrosse in the winter and tennis, rounders and cricket in the summer. Tennis was her favourite  and she was a member of the County Junior Tennis Team. However as time went on we both decided that such active sports were becoming a little exhausting so we took up golf. We were members of Hazlemere golf club for a number of years and then moved to Harleyford when it opened in 1996. She was always a lively member of the Ladies Section and she served on the Board as Ladies Captain in 2005/06. Who could forget her Lady Captain’s Away day when 48 lady members set off in a coach for a two-day golfing trip to Le Touquet.
 
Throughout the 1990’s holidays abroad provided us with some of our most memorable occasions. Europe, America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand were all visited and I have fond memories of roaming round New Zealand in a campervan, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, scuba diving in Egypt and Fiji and taking the Rocky Mountaineer train ride in Canada. More recently we started cycling the tow paths of the canals in England and Scotland and have had some amazing times. Not bad for someone with cancer…. 
 
During this period she also started art lessons in Maidenhead and over the years she made many friends at the art class run by Jane Wheaton. She also became rather good at it and I shall treasure forever the paintings she has done and which now are proudly displayed in our house.
 
Although she was involved in many different things her greatest love was always her grandchildren, Hannah, Beccy, Harry, Ollie and Eme. When they were very young she would spend countless days picking them up from school and looking after them while their Mom’s were at work, travelling tirelessly between Watford, Chartridge and Marlow. We even had to buy a 7 seater  car so she comfortably get all 5 and a couple of dogs in at once. Mondays was always tea together in Watford where Sue would leave a meal for them all. It was only recently that Sue found out the Grandma never used the tea but took them all to McDonalds instead and swore them all to secrecy. A special bond grew up between Janet and her grandchildren  and even now when they are all in their 20’s that bond is still so strong. Last year Beccy got married and Janet at the age of 73 went on the Hen weekend . Janet was a great fan of George Ezra so again last year the five of them orgainised a visit to the Isle of Wight Music Festival where he was performing. 
 
As we say our last goodbyes to Janet we can all reflect on the memories we have  of her, the resolution, the determination and joy of living  which to me means she was indeed a very special person who will be sadly missed but never forgotten.