Edna Wickstead

“Memories are precious, they don’t go away. We think of you always, and not just today”

Edna aged 87 years sadly passed away on 16th April 2022 in her sleep at St Luke’s Hospice after a short illness.

She was a much loved mother of Julie, Stuart and Mark, grandmother and great grandmother.

A retired nurse and health visitor, she spent many happy years walking with her friends and family all over the UK.

Edna joins her best friend and late husband Charlie whom she loved and missed greatly.

Her funeral took place on Friday 6th May at Crewe Crematorium Chapel at 1.45pm

Kind donations in memory of Edna are for St Luke’s Hospice.

For further information and to offer your condolences, please telephone our Funeral Home on 01270 584447

*****************************************************************************************************************

Mum was born on August the 12th 1934 – the ‘Glorious 12th’ as it’s known – which is very
fitting for a lady who was glorious in all she did.
Though the news of her cancer at Christmas came as a huge shock to us all, being the
ever pragmatist she said that we weren’t to be upset as she’d lived a wonderful life; with
a loving family of children, grandchildren, and now two great-grandchildren – Dylan &
Lily – and that’s what we should celebrate today.
Mum was the 3rd of 4 children of John and Sarah Smith and spent her early life growing
up in Liverpool on Langrove Street. Aunty May, the eldest, is watching from her home in
Winchester and we send her all our love. Next was Uncle John who was sadly taken
from them when he was only in his early 30s and then the baby of the family – Uncle Bill
– who passed away in 2018.
She had a happy childhood even if it was a bit squashed in their terraced house with 4
kids running around. But like so many children of her age, at the start of the war, she
was evacuated – to Newquay in North Wales. She was only five years old when she left
Liverpool, but despite being away from her parents for 4 years, mum remembers this
with fond memories as she and Aunty May were taken in by an elderly couple called
Captain and Mrs. Williams. They had the run of their big house and there was even a
maid – Myra – to look after them. But most importantly – she was delighted that she
didn’t have to share a bed with her big sister like she had to back in Liverpool!
As a child, mum loved school, and it was there that she began her love of learning –
especially reading. She adored books of any kind, though science fiction and thrillers
were her favourites. Even in the last few years when mum’s eyes had deteriorated, she
still ‘read’, though by now it was by listening to her talking books from the RNIB.
She loved telling me all about her latest one; in fact, she was a bugger for giving away a
pivotal moment in a book. We’ve had many a conversation which began first by her
saying… ‘Oh, yes I’ve read that’ followed by… “Have you got to the bit where he died?”
Thanks, mum!
Mum left school, as a lot of youngsters did in those days at 15, with her school
certificate, but was unsure what she wanted to do. So, she went to work as an office
junior at the Liverpool Stock Exchange, but after two years she decided that what she
really wanted to do was to go into nursing. So, she applied and was accepted onto the
training course at Sefton General Hospital and after three years became a qualified
nurse. And as you can see from the Order of Service a very beautiful one too.
During this time, she started to go to the local youth club with friends Lily and Olwyn,
and it was there that she first laid eyes on Charlie. According to mum, he made a beeline
for her, and before long they were ‘courting’ as she put it. She was a bit worried about
introducing him to her parents as he was a whole seven years older than her, but with
their delighted approval, they got engaged and then married in January 1957.

They honeymooned in London and mum told me how she persuaded Dad to go to a
West End show. Dad only liked cowboy films so she told him it was a play about
cowboys which was – almost true. So as the curtains opened on ‘Oklahoma’ and the
music struck up, dad turned to mum with a classic ‘Ed, it’s a bloody musical!’.
So, they settled into married life and eighteen months later I appeared followed two
years later by Stuart. During her pregnancy with Mark, dad was persuaded by a cousin
of mum’s (the Maddens) to apply for a job as a lecturer, teaching building skills to
Ghanaian students in one of their new colleges.
And so began their next adventure. Dad had to go out and start before Mark was born,
but 5 weeks after he had arrived, like one of those pioneering women of old, Mum
packed up her home in Liverpool and with 3 young children – flew the then 12-hour
journey out to Ghana by herself.
For the first couple of days, we all stayed with Auntie Jean and Uncle Chris who had a
typical large colonial house near Accra, the capital. Then it was time for us to travel to
our new house. So we piled into dad’s un-airconditioned car and after nearly a day’s
journey, we arrived hot, sweaty and dusty at our new home in Kpando. What greeted
mum was not the luxurious home she was expecting, but a bush house on stilts, with
just a wood-burning cooker, no fridge, and limited electricity provided by a generator.
After threatening to return to the UK on the very next plane, dad did go out the next day
and ‘treated’ her to a gas fridge.
Despite this inauspicious start, mum loved her time in Ghana and has recounted many a
tale of her time there with dad and us three. Gin seemed to feature heavily in a lot of
their events and mum to this day always loved a good G&T, preferably Gordons, or as an
alternative, a nice glass of prosecco.
However, all good things must come to an end. I’d already left Ghana to come to school
here, so for the boys’ schooling, and (hopefully) missing me, they decided to return to
the UK. Dad got a job as a chief lecturer at a college back in their hometown of Liverpool
and mum retrained as a Health Visitor so we finally settled in the village of Parbold in
Lancashire.
This meant we were now close enough to both sets of families, the Smiths and the
Wicksteads, and we made up for lost time with lots of visits and parties with them. And
it’s lovely that some of my cousins are here today.
Sadly, aged just 49, dad died suddenly of a heart attack, and so mum lost the love of her
life. By nature, she always had a resilient streak in her, so for our sakes as well as her
own, she just cracked on with life; supporting us as we started to find our own paths.
Me at Durham University, training to be a teacher; Stuart in the RAF and Mark finishing
6 th form college before heading to university himself.
As we all began to fly the nest, she carried on working as a Health Visitor in Shevington
until her retirement in 1993. Just before she retired, Mum had the opportunity to move
to the village of Mawdesley, when a lovely cottage came up for sale. She moved into

‘Melrose’ and quickly made friends with her lovely neighbours John and Margaret, Sid
and Mavis.
Once retired, Pauline another neighbour on Bluestone Lane persuaded her to join her
walking group and so started another a new passion. Along with Pauline, John &
Margaret, Daphne & Alan, Val & Pete, Little Pete and Ernie, I believe she must have
walked every inch of the Lakes, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales during her last
25 years. She had a few misadventures on her travels; she broke her wrist, got chased
by a cow (even to this day she didn’t like to cross a field with one in) and fell into a bog
up to her waist, and got soaked with mud right through to her knickers. Fortunately,
Margaret saved the day as she always carried spare clothing (including most
importantly, clean knickers).
She also loved going on ‘HF’ walking holidays and I think we were all persuaded to join
her at one point or other – whether we liked walking or not. I remember talking to her
on the phone as she and David were reaching the summit of Ben Nevis. Not bad for a 66-
year-old.
Another one of her passions was watching or listening to any sport – football, rugby,
Formula 1 you name it, but cricket was her main love. It was through mum that I also
caught the bug and we’d spend many a happy hour listening to ‘Test Match Special’
together or discussing the latest match. So, it’s rather fitting that we are able to hold her
Wake at Haslington Cricket Club.
Like I said earlier, Mum loved learning about new things and so completed an Open
University degree during the early days of her retirement. She was also a great source of
general knowledge, loving all the quiz programmes on TV, especially ‘Pointless’. In her
eyes, a Wickstead family gathering wasn’t complete without a good quiz, normally
supplied by granddaughter Laura – and mum could always be relied upon to shout out ‘I
KNOW THAT ONE’ – enthusiastically blurting out the answer – even when it wasn’t her
turn.
Recently she discovered the joys of her virtual assistant, ‘Alexa’, that grandson Tom had
set up for her at home. She was always very polite saying ‘Please’ when asking for ‘Radio
5 Live’ or for her favourite programme ‘The Archers’. We all knew not to ring her
between 7 & 7.15 on a weekday evening when it was on; she used to love talking about
the goings-on at Ambridge to anyone who’d listen – whether they followed the show or
not!
Mum also had a wonderful sense of humour and loved a good joke – the ‘naughtier’ the
better. However, she was absolutely rubbish at retelling them. Tears of laughter would
come streaming down her face before she got anywhere near the punchline.
As Suzannah said, Mum was someone we all turned to when we needed advice and was
great at keeping our secrets; she could ALWAYS be relied upon to tell everyone what
she’d been told in the utmost confidence. I was chatting to mum a couple of months ago
and as we all know; did she like to talk! Hence why she could never keep a secret.

She recited this verse from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘The Brook’. She said her
rather exasperated English teacher used to quote it to her when she wouldn’t stop
talking in class.

You chatter, chatter, as you flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But Edna goes on for ever.

Well, you will go on forever, mum. She was the central cog of the family – and loved us
all with every bone in her body; as we loved her. And most significantly, Mum taught us
what is really important in life – to love – support – and care for family and friends – until
the end.
Here’s to you mum, finally enjoying that G&T with dad. CHEERS.