Kieran was born on 22nd January 2001 and to say kenny was a proud Grandad was an understatement. He doted on him  and there was a bond between them from the word go, at the time Elaine lived in Romford and we lived in Dalston so we really only got to see him once a week to start with, then we would have him every weekend we could. Kenny loved having him around and would teach him things, the older Kieran grew the closer they got, Kenny would get in from work and before even taking his coat off he would be picking up the phone to speak to him to ask how his day had been, what he was doing at school. When he spent the weekend with us they would do things together in the garden like building the bird feeder, cutting the hedge, and i'd often get back from shopping to find Kenny asleep on the settee and kieran asleep on top him as you can see in the photo they were like two peas in a pod. Kenny always looked forward to Fridays cause he knew when he got home from work Kieran would be here waiting for him    

We first went to Cyprus at the end of June 1998 it was the first holiday we had had on our own, we booked into the Toxotis hotel and think we both found it a bit strained, ridiculous really considering we had been married for 23 years. we couldnt seem to agree on what we wanted to do, and started rowing with one another. Kenny wanted to go home and wanted me to find out about booking flights home, I half heartedly enquired at reception and went back up to our room I dont remember what I told him but we decided to go down to the bar, thats where we met Toni and Joanne, we started talking and got on great Kenny and Toni played pool for ages and that was the start of a brilliant friendship and holiday we spent a lot of time with them going out for meals and drinks and evryone enjoyed it so much that whem it somehow came up that it was Kenny's birthday in September Toni said why dont we come back here for your Birthday which is what we did. We had a lovely Birthday meal at Anatolas in Protaras, Tony booked a ride on a speed boat which Kenny loved I had to be taken back to shore as I was petrified same as when he got me on a jet ski i only lasted about 5 mins they brought their friends Alison and Romi with them this time and we all got on fantastic, we didnt want the holiday to end. We made friends with George and Athi who ran the bar at the Toxotis and we used to be in the bar till 2-4 am, when we returned the following years although our flight didnt arrive till the early hours George would keep the bar open till we got there to have a drink with us, I think it was the following year that we bought the appartment in Cyprus but even though we were no longer staying at the Toxotis we still spent most of our time there. if we had been out for the day or to the beach we would always stop of there and Athi would have a shot ready for us, and they took us to a lovely local restuarant where the locals ate and got star treatment. I think Kenny would agree that they were some of the happiest times we had, we were always made to feel like family and got such a lovely greeting each time we returned, its the only time you ever see kenny a little bit drunk one night when we were there with Margaret and David kenny was a little worse for wear that when they started doing the conga round the pool Kenny joined in I was petrified in case it started getting out of hand and people got pushed in he pool I said to david stay with him Dave dont let anyone push him in the pool he'll bloody drown, all was ok but Kenny didnt give a damn anyway he was enjoying himself too much. I think he really grew to love Cyprus as much as I did and it was sad when we had to sell the appartment, unfortunately that was the last time we went and we never did get to go abroad again. he had spoke about going to Sharm el Sheik but never got the chance.    

We didnt have many holidays when the kids were young, certainly none abroad the furthest we went was Jersey and Devon, and this will do to start off some of things that happened around our Holidays.
We booked this holiday to Devon and as it turned out itwas to be one of the hottest summers on record, Kenny had never sunbathed  before so never really got a colour other on his arm from driving, we went down to the beach and Kenny has lay down, fell asleep I was a bit miffed cause i couldnt sunbathe as I had to keep and eye on the kids, when time to go we get up go back to the chalet, well that night Kenny was as bright as a lobster he was shivering, burning up couldnt move his legs think he had first degree burns. The ollowing day Lorraine and Bill come down and theres Kenny on the sofa not able to move, Lorraine said put some baby oil in a bath and have a soak it will soften up the skin a bit, so I run him a nice warm bath and put the baby oil in, well he had to call me to help him out the bath, when he came out we were in stitches cause where there was so much oil in the water he couldnt getout he was lipping all over the place, Lorraine said to me how much did you put in you only needed a few drops I said nearly half the bottle. well we laughed about that time for years afterwards. The first holiday abroad we booked was to the domincan republic now anyone who knows Kenny knows that he only eats plain food no spices even the smell of them would make him heave, so why did we choose an all inclusive to the  Domincan Republic ? Anyway we did and we were to be there for thee weeks we arrived on the Monday, lovely welcome from the locals shown to our room when we come down you could smell the food or should I say spices, the resturant ran right along the hotel so you could not get away from it Kenny said no way can I go in there to eat he was actually heaving so we said we would try and get him some bread and butter and tea and bring it up to the room we managed to take him up some french stick, there was no where other than in the hotel room that you could get away from the smell and Kenny being Kenny no matter that it had cost the earth says we have to go home. The following morning we speak to the rep and explain the situation I must admit there was a few times I thought Kenny was going to throw up whilst talking to her and said that we will have to arrange a flight home, she thats fine I can do that but there is only flights in and out on Mondays so we were stuck for at least a week, she offered to get us moved to another hotel but said the food would be the same, we asked her if there was anywhere we could get plain or english food  and she said she would get the names of some resturants near by, so for the first few days all he ate was bread and we managed to find some pringles in a little shop  down the road, and yet who gets the dodgy stomach he couldnt keep anything down or up for that matter he was so bad that we ad to call the doctor out who said when he came had we left it another day there could have been serious consequencies as he was totally and dangerously dehydrated, he gets out this massive injection which he administers to kenny and then another one for the sickness and tablets to take in water. I ask you how many people could end up being that ill when they wasnt even eating the hotel food. Eventually we found a great bar down the road that did burgers and steaks so each day me and the kids would eat in the resturant then go with Kenny to get his meal, another holiday memory we used to have a good laugh about for years.The following year the whole family booked a holiday to Portugal and I must say it is the best holiday we ever had we all still talk about it now, but one of the things Sean remembers the most was when we went into McDonalds he knew kenny was funny about food and that he didnt like ketchup but tink he thought some of it was put on well we all did our orders ad Kennys was two Plain Cheeseburgers, he ate the first one then somehow he was given the wrong one and he bit into it and immediately tasted the  ketchup well hes thrown it and immediately started heaving and think he actually threw up im not sure, Sean coudnt believe it but learnt that day that kenny was serious about ketchup making him sick {funny}.
Theres more funny holiday stories to be told but ill come back to them another day. 

When we met Kenny was working at Carlton bakeries with his brother Bill, Norman his dad and uncle joey and at times if i remember rightly even my dad worked there too. We moved into the house at the back of the bakery and as Kenny mostly worked nights I used to go into the bakery and make them tea, and we always had lovely warm fresh bread and rolls.
As I said earlier my memories useless so I cant remember exatly how long we lived there but I know Elaine was born 30th June 1975 whilst we were still living there, we were on the council housing list with not much prospect of actually being offered a place so at the time the council could nominate you to the GLC if you found work outside London, Kenny got a job in a bakery at Royston so we applied to the GLC but until we were offered somewhere Kenny was driving back and forth each day although his sister Carol who lived in Huntingdon said he could stay there he preferred to come home, he didnt like being away from home and definately not staying somewhere without me. We were offered a brand new three bedroomed house in Sandy which we accepted and moved, I think we stayed there for about three years because I was pregnant with Dean when we decided to come back to London, its the quickest move ive ever known I remember Kenny was working the Friday night and me and my friend packed up my whole house on our own and we moved back to London on the Saturday morning. This wasnt a moonlight flit, running from rent arrears or anything it was a spur of the moment decision.
We stayed at mums for a while then a flat came available justtwo doors away from where mum and dad lived upstairs and Lorraine and Bill downstairs, and Margaret and david two doors away. We were back on the council housing list and Dean was born 10th April 1979 and the day before his first birthday we were offered the maisonette at Hawthorne Close where we lived for 25 years. Mind you we nearly didnt take the place cause when we went to view it was horrible everywhere was dark the kitchen cupboards were painted navy blue the hallway and front room had horrible dark green wallpaper which also went over the ceiling Kenny see it and said no way am I living in that.
Luckily we had a bit of a nosey neighbour upstairs who came down when she see us viewing the property we told her we were going to refuse because of the state of the place but she talked us into going up to her place for a cuppa and to see hers so we could get an idea of how it could look, it worked we could see the potential so we accepted it but told the council we needed time to redecorate, so for weeks me and Edna was round ther every day using paint stripper on the cupboards it took ages and was so messy and we stripped all the disgusting green paper off the walls and ceiling, and just gave it all a lick of paint the difference was amazing.  It was a nice home and where the kids grew up, and where we became close frieds with Ann and Billy Henderson unfortunately Ann passed away last year. We had a lot of good times with Ann and Bill and me and Ann were always in one anothers houses.

I first met Kenny through Lorraine and Bill arranging a sort of blind date, we met in the pub and although he made me laugh a lot I didnt think he was right for me so i left early, I got back home and went downstairs to tell Lorraine what had happened but unbeknown to me kenny had turned up on my doorstep and mum had invited him in., Ive come in and there sitting in the armchair is Kenny, now I dont know why, or what changed in that minute but I suddenly found myself sitting on his lap talking and laughing as if we had known one another for years. That was the start of 36 years together. I think it was only a couple of months before we were engaged and then the following year on 25th January 1975 we were married at Hackney Town Hall ther was a few people who said that it would never last. How Wrong They Were.

I am supposed to be clearing out cupboards at the moment, then started reading the lovely messages left for Kenny and decided its about time i started writing down some of the memories I have from over the years.I have to be honest and say that my memory for dates etc is useless but im gonna try and recall as much as possible so we can look back on it for years to come, no doubt ill skip back and forth over the years as I remember things.