Mum was a warm, caring human being and I know she wouldn’t have wanted me to be all melancholy and saccharine doing this, so I decided to make this more into a little story of her life. She had a great sense of humour, going as far as even greeting people with a little ‘air-low’ (hello) an impression of Eccles from the Goon show. She loved to laugh and we were all happy to give her a helping hand in that department. All in all she just wanted to be remembered as ‘A great old broad’, (Reference from: Guys and Dolls). Obviously you can’t fit a whole lifetime into a few paragraphs, but I will try my best.
Clare Anthony Maynard was born in Klinstown, Kilkenny, during the feast of St Anthony of Padua, in the year 1934. As a child during the War, when playing in the fields around her home, with her brothers and sisters, they could on occasion hear a familiar sound coming from the clouds. When they looked up they would sometimes see a German aircraft being pursued by a Spitfire across the sky, this was actually a common occurrence during the summer of 1940. She once told me, that she raised a fledgling Jackdaw, which would sit on her shoulder for hours, whilst she read in the garden. This love of reading and caring for others, were two things which would become a large part of her life. Once she was of age, she left her home for England to train as a nurse, finding herself at the Farnborough General Hospital (Now known as the Princess Royal University Hospital) in Kent. There she worked hard and made lots of friends, but moved on to Plymouth to share a flat with her best friend Joyce, where they trained at the Alexander Maternity Home. They had lots of fun together and sometimes they could be found dancing the night away with among others, British sailors and French pilots.
It was a little time after this that she met Robert (known as Bob), a young Royal Navy NCO, whom she’d later marry and together they would have four children. The first was Victoria, while living in Redruth, Cornwall, then Jenifer in Haverford West, Wales, before settling in Gurnard on the Isle of Wight, where they brought Edward and Conor into the world. For the first few years whilst Bob was still in the Navy, Clare stayed with her mother-in law, but largely raised the children single-handed. Soon after Bob retired from the Navy and they decided to make a new life as hoteliers here in Shanklin.
When the children were all old enough for school, Clare went back to nursing and enjoyed a long productive career, rising to the position of Sister. Once again she made lots of friends, during her time at Shanklin , Frank James and Newport hospitals. In her spare time, which was seldom, she would while away the time reading her favourite detective novels or doing a crossword in the relative seclusion of the car, only occasionally being interrupted by a needy child. Sometime after this and when all the children had become well-adjusted adults, mum and dad decided to part-company from one another. In a relatively amical departure, dad went off to pastures new and found another life in the wilds of Scotland, whilst mum stayed amongst her friends and family in Shanklin.
She had a great love of music, especially Hollywood musicals, big band jazz and the crooners. That never stopped her enjoying something a little more contemporary whenever the mood took her. I have a vague memory of my mum and Auntie Anne singing and dancing in the kitchen, along to the disco hit, Enough is Enough by Donna Summer and Barbara Streisand. Like with most people, she took a little from a lot of things which she enjoyed. One by one we moved away, some further than others. The girls stayed fairly close by, whilst us lads had to go further afield, but never so far that we couldn’t pick-up a phone and call whenever we felt the need. My brother and I would make sure we would visit at least a few times a year; at Easter, sometimes during the summer, but always at Christmas. It wasn’t until our dad died though, that I began to have a change of mind. I hadn’t got to know him as well as I had wanted and it occurred to me that I didn’t know mum quite as well as I should either.
It was when I was changing jobs that I thought ‘Enough is enough (ha ha), so decided to move back down and as expected, Mumsie welcomed me with open arms. During our time away there had been a few additions to the family, Vicky had a daughter named Robyn and Jenny two, named Evan and Tegan. Mum was now a doting grandmother and always loved their little visits. Con must have felt the same way as me, because he joined us a couple of years later and as time moved on I did get to know Mumsie a lot better, we all did. She made an indelible imprint on my life as I’m sure she did with all who knew her and I am now so happy that I made that decision.
Love you Mum
