2nd April 1915 to 2nd May 2004   Eileen E.M. Lock daughter of Hubert & Edith Stanway . wife of Harold . mother of Martin

"Martin with his Mummie, Granma & Granpa at 23 Clyde Rd 27th August 1950 - aged 11 months."

The young Eileen, plus a favourite doll...

On Holiday a few years later

With her husband at a Rank Organization party

Almost 90 years is time for a substantial and varied life, and I think that that is what my mother had.  After World War I her father was assigned to stay in France to help the country get back on its feet, due in part no doubt to his experience with the railways, so some of her earliest summers were spent in the French countryside.  After a more conventional British education, there was work, including working for the Bristol-based Sun Insurance Company - and there was the world of amateur dramatics, too, including national competitions. World War II was already under way when she and my father married, so some of the furniture they started their new life together with was in the new more economical style - and none the worse for that!  And then, later in the 1940s, there was the move to London, staying first of all in rented rooms in Highgate, then moving to a small semi-detached house in Rayners Lane.  And then it was decided that mother's parents ought not to live alone, so the two couples joined financial forces to buy a larger house - and in 1955, in late spring, the five of us moved into our new home in Northwood.  The grass was so long in the back garden that, until a man with a scythe was engaged, I could completely vanish from sight if I ran out there... So, mother spent almost half a century in this big, friendly house.  I am very glad that, when my father died, aged 80, I was able to give up my flat in Worcester and move back into the "ancestral home".  We must have had around two decades together, and I must say that my mother was an excellent companion, always fun and positive.  She continued to be active with the local (and regional) National Council of Women, and other worthwhile causes, such as the British Sailors Society, as long as was reasonable; she went on regular organised trips to France with her friends, while we often took holidays in the Worcester area and elsewhere to keep in touch with relatives, and she continued to lead an active, happy life. Still, all things must end; all we can do now is share our memories, and these few sample pictures.