Patricia Atkinson “Pat”

“Sad are the hearts that love you, Silent the tears that fall”

Pat passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her family on 28th March 2022 aged 85 years.

The beloved Wife of the late Ron. Much loved Mum to Steph & Chrissie and the late Ian & Neil.

Also a cherished Nan Pat, Great Nana and Good Friend.

Her funeral took place on Friday 8th April at 10am in Crewe Crematorium Chapel.

Donations are welcome to St Luke’s Hospice.

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

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Patricia Hamlett Atkinson
A much loved Mum, Nan, Nana, Great Nana,…our friend Pat

Pat was born in Middlewich, on 8th August 1936,
the first born to William and Marjorie Wilson, with younger brother Billy coming
along a couple of years later.

Pat’s Dad was a Guard on the Railways and at the age 2, Pat and her family moved to
Crewe.

We should note that not long after their move to Crewe, World War 2 started – life
mustn’t have been easy, but no doubt helped develop Pat into the strong character
she proved to be. Pat told us that despite troubled times, her Mum and Dad did
everything for her, right through to her late teens life was easy, Pat had everything
she wished for; BUT with one exception – she wasn’t allowed to go to the pub.

After Bedford Street Schools, Pat attended Crewe Grammar in Ruskin Road – it was a
mixed school in those days. As well as doing well academically, Pat was a very
accomplished swimmer, taking part in many competitions.

On leaving school, Pat’s first job was at Woolworths, where she worked in the
upstairs office and thereafter worked in the office at Basford Dairy.

And then one day Pat’s life changed forever, when she met Ron, in a queue at the
Odeon Cinema. It was love at first sight and their love soon blossomed.

But before you know it, along came the call to National Service and in 1956 Ron
joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

After being ‘demobbed’ in March 1958, Ron and Pat married on 25th October that
same year.

In time four children came along … first came Steph, then Chrissie and then twin
brothers Ian and Neil.

Both Pat and Ron were very hard working and both had two jobs, with Pat working
an evening shift at Calmic to support the family. For Pat and Ron, family came first.

In 1967 the Atkinson family became £10 POMS, emigrating to Australia on a ship
named Castell Felice. It must have been very exciting for the four kids. I expect it
was very exciting for the grown ups too, every passenger they all had one thing in
common – they were all emigrating with the promise of a better life down under.
Pat told me that they made many lifelong friends during that voyage.

After six weeks, they finally arrived in South Australia. After a couple of nights in
Adelaide the family moved to and settled a little further north in Whyhalla.

Their new home was a bungalow on a bare patch of rough land; with little rain and
scorching heat, not much grows there. Friends they had met on the ship, also moved
to the same street and the family soon settled to their new life in Oz.

Both Pat and Ron worked for the Broken Hill Proprietary … BHP, a steel works. And
just like back home both had two jobs to provide the best for their family. Once
again, family came first.

Away from work, the laid-back Aussie lifestyle was good and the kids would often go
the beach after school and swim from jetty to jetty.

The kids and their Dad really enjoyed the sunshine and the heat, but Pat not so
much. Just one room in the bungalow had an air conditioning unit and Steph and
Chrissie told me that Mum would often lock herself in there to keep cool.

Chrissie also told me that she and her brothers thought Steph to be spoiled and so
they would cause trouble to attract attention by winding each other up. Pat would
often delegate Ron to reprimand them, but it wasn’t unknown for Pat to literally
wash the kids mouths out with soap! Chrissie says she was too fast for Pat and
would often run off to escape punishment. Pat’s own escape was to sometimes give
the kids a dollar each and send off to the swimming pool for the day; I guess that
made it a good day for everyone. Except Ron of course; he was at work!

Despite this example, the one thing that shines bright to me whilst making these
notes, is that Pat and Ron did everything they could to give their kids the best
upbringing possible.

The family enjoyed many adventures in Australia.

One time they drove from Whyalla to Sydney – over 1,000 miles across the Stuart
Highway.

Now it’s not unfair to say that neither Pat nor Ron were the best of drivers, so you’ve
got to admire them for setting out on that journey; especially as it wasn’t unusual for
them to get lost! It would have been a tough drive for anyone, but for the
Atkinson family, Steph made it all the more challenging when she decided to run
away into the bush!

After several years, and despite all the good things about life in Australia, the draw of
family ties here in the UK, saw them return and settle back Crewe.

And I for one, am so glad they did – otherwise I would never have met Steph!
Hopefully, that’s Brownie points for me Steph!

Pat’s first job back home was Manageress at Harold Penk Bookmakers in Gresty
Road. And then for a long time worked with brother Billy looking after the books at
his car business.

As I’ve already mentioned, there is no doubt that Pat was hard worker, but away
from work Pat loved a good party with friends. Steph told me that she was often the
designated driver and it was not unusual at the end of the evening to have to ‘assist’
Pat into the car and then ‘assist’ her up the stairs at home. I’m pretty sure most of
us have been there at some time in our lives!

Pat had a spell working in the Railway Station Café, and in 1985 Pat started work at
The Crown in Nantwich, looking after the office for Susan and Philip Martin.

Eventually Pat decided to retire and when not spending time with her extended
family, Pat loved to travel. I lost count of how many holidays all around the world,
including frequent trips back to Australia. America, Portugal, Malta, Tunisia and
Cyprus. Whilst not at all religious, they were interested to visited Bethlehem.

Just like that long drive in Australia, where like us, at least they drive on the right, Pat
and Ron were not at all daunted at the prospect of driving in Florida where they
visited many of the state’s attractions. Before setting out Pat would always ask ‘Ron
have you got your medication?’ to which Ron often replied ‘Leave me alone, of
course I have’. And then at some point along the journey Ron would realise that he
hadn’t got his medication after all and they had to turn around and go back to collect
it.

There are several stories from their driving experience in Florida, but for me, there’s
one I’ll never forget. Pat and Ron had flown in from Manchester arriving at Sanford
Airport where everything went smoothly, and they collected the car in no time at all.
Now it’s just a thirty-minute drive from the airport to the house, BUT, three hours
later, they found themselves still circling the airport service road! Can you imagine
the tension in that car – Ron driving and Pat navigating – getting nowhere! They did
eventually get to the house though.

After a while Pat decided to return to work and looked after the books for
McGarrigle Estate Agents, before retiring for good in 2009.

Now fully retired Pat’s first priority was to keep husband Ron busy, giving him a list of
jobs to do each day, whilst Pat kept busy watching TV.

Pat loved a gadget and her favourite TV Channel was QVC, the shopping channel.
Pat set out to be their number one customer, making countless purchases, whether
she needed them or not and many of which were often soon discarded.

Whilst Pat loved her gadgets, she could not deal with light bulbs nor batteries; yet
she was a dab hand on the computer – Steph and Chrissie refer to her as a FaceBook
Stalker!

As well as the shopping channel, Pat loved listening to Country Music, especially Elvis,
Johnny Cash and Slim Dusty in particular.

Looking back on Pat’s life I believe she achieved everything she wanted to. Family,
work, travels, an amazing story – Pat did so much more in her life than many of us
do; a life truly fulfilled.

For me though, and as I mentioned before, Pat’s love of her family and her time
spent with them was everything to her;

Although, and if I dare say it, this was closely followed by her love of a packet of fags
and a glass of Vodka!

Having tragically lost sons Neil and Ian at such a young age and then Ron five years
ago, you could have forgiven Pat for giving up on life; but she didn’t; not Pat.
Pat continued to be dedicated to her family and I’ll never forget that welcoming smile
whenever we visited.

Finally though, Pat’s time had come and a little while ago, she had told me she was
ready to go.

But Pat would want me to make very clear today, none of us should be sad, we
should instead, remember all those happy memories and good times together.

I reckon if we could hear Pat now, she’d be saying ‘Just get on with it and get
yourselves off to the pub’

And she’d be right, let’s all remember those many happy memories of an amazing
lady. And of course, later, let us drink a toast of thanks for Pat’s life.

Goodnight ‘Pat’ May you rest in peace.