Kay watched her children have their families and she would do anything she could to help them in any way she could.  When Karen said she had to move to Derbyshire because her husband Martin had a promotion Kay could not have been more understanding for she told me Karen "I will miss you all so much but you need to go and have your life as I have had mine"...these words will stay with me forever as I felt so guilty about leaving them at a time in their lives when I felt they needed me most but my Mum was so supportive as always...but it still broke my heart to leave them and to this day it still hurts.

Kay my wonderful Mum died unexpectedly, she had suffered with really bad nosebleeds when on warfarin and had been in and out of the hospital with these for quite a few years but always managed to come back out of hospital and carry on.  She was however deteriorating she was not able to do all the things that she used to do and this frustrated her and she felt very tired in the last few years but she was still here and she was still caring and asking how everyone else was all the time...She was the best, she loved us all so much and it is with a heavy heart that I write this.  

The phone call from Marie telling me that our wonderful, loving, caring, kind, Mum had passed away will stay with me forever as it is the day that I lost a big chunk of me as a part of me I feel went with her......a piece of my heart. She is etched on the piece that is left behind also and there will never be a day that I don't think of her and long to have her back here..I will never ever get over losing my Mum, my Best Friend.xxx

R.I.P. Kay Clutson the best Wife, Mum, Nan and Great Nanny anyone could have....you were as the song says 'Simply The Best' and now you are as another song says....In the Arms of the Angels. xxx




 

 

Kay and Roy were enjoying life their daughter Marie had got married to Barrie who she had started going out with at 14 and Grandchildren Jason and Lisa soon followed.  Kay and Roy so loved the Grandkids how proud Kay was when she held her first Grandchild Jason in her arms for the first time...I know because I was their, she did nothing but smile and tell everyone that she met about him. Family for Kay was everything, she would never let any of her family go without anything and she was there whenever they needed her.

Roy took early retirement from the Post Office but Kay continued to work even at Roy's insistance that she did not need to, eventually Roy persuaded Kay to give up her job at Shalets so that they could go for a month long holiday to California to see his Sister June and all her family there in 1990.

Kay and Roy had a ball in California the month went far too quickly and it was so nice to meet some of the family that they had never met.  They returned again to celebrate the wedding of Rachel (June's daughter) and once again it was a holiday they were to talk of for a long time.  The family in America loved Kay with her wicked sense of humour and sense of fun as even though she was getting older she had a true zest for life.  They would laugh at how she used to pu Roy in his place when his acting the clown was going a little too far...she used to roll those eyes towards the heavens and that look said it all...but she never stayed mad for long!

Kay and Roy then watched their second daughter Karen get married to Martin in 1997 and the next grandchild Taylor arrived just two years later.  Kay and Roy looked after Taylor whilst Karen worked part time...she used to call him her boy.   When Taylor got seriously ill at the age of two Kay was heartbroken and visited the hospital in Oxford with Roy every day....how could this be her beloved boy so poorly, thankfully Taylor made a full recovery. Six years later when Kay and Roy thought there would be no more grandchildren Karen announced that she was expecting a second and another little boy Jamie was born in 2005. They also became great grandparents this year to Jack (Jasons son) and then in 2006 to Ollie (Lisa's son).

Both their daughters settled and 4 lovely Grandchildren and two great grandchildren how happy were they with their life.  But this happiness was to be ended very suddenly in 2006 when Barrie Marie's husband tragically passed away with Oesphagus Cancer.  Kay could not understand how this could be how she would see the passing of one of her childrens spouses...she often said "This is not the way it is suppose to happen, its so wrong"....She so felt for Marie, Jason and Lisa and shed many a tear over his passing... 

There then followed two more great grandkids...Teagan (Lisa's little girl) and Amy (Jason's little girl)....Kay and Roy loved them all. 

Kay and Roy moved into their family home in Rodway Road in 1960 and it was in the January of 1961 that their second daughter Karen (me) was born.  Life was getting better for them Roy was working for the Post Office and had a regular income.  Life was looking better for the Clutson family and Kay was never more happy than looking after her darling daughters Marie and Karen whom she so loved.  Kay's Mother even got to visit from Derry a few times when Karen was a baby, helping her daughter out with her second child as she had done with Marie the first.

Kay had several part time jobs in the intervening years working at Silver Fleece in the evenings when Roy came home from work and eventually getting back into the garment trade that she had learnt as a young child in Derry in the Shirt Factories.  She made great friends in these jobs and always went off to work with a smile on her face.... yes Kay loved nothing than being busy she just never sat down if she was not at work she was cooking up a storm in the kitchen, Irish scone bread, apple crumbles, apple pies, stews, casseroles, lovely roast dinners...yes Kay was a fab, fab cook and Roy's waistline was testament to that!!

So Kay, Roy and their daughter Marie moved across the sea from Northern Ireland to England and moved to Reading Roy's home town.  This was not an easy move for Kay she missed her family and her friends in Derry so much. They moved in with Roy's Mother, well we all know that living with the in laws is never easy but living with them and only having one bedroom to yourself and sharing this with a toddler made life very hard for her. Kay told me her daughter Karen that she cried every day for months and was just so homesick, she told me this very recently when I moved to Derby from Reading, as she said she totally knew how I was feeling leaving everyone behind.  But for Kay there were no trips home to see her family as they could just not afford it.

Kay and Roy then moved into lodgings for a while and it was here and whilst attending St James Catholic Church that her longing for home eased.  She met another lady from Ireland from the south from Cork and they became great friends, 'Kathleen Kulan' cheered my Mum up and I know she was forever grateful to her.  They used to take their toddler girls into the Forbury Gardens in Reading and sit and chat and watch them play and have Sunday tea together regularly.  Kathleen and Kay became great friends and to this day their familes are in contact.  They were Godparents to one another's children and their children have carried this tradition on.

Kay's sister Lily was also now living in England as she had married Maurice another sailor off the same boat as Roy.  Kay and Roy used to visit Lily and Maurice as much as they could.  As the years passed many more of Kay's family ended up in England lots of her cousins ended up living in Slough and family outings to visit them easied Kay's longing for Derry. 

Kay and Roy were eventually offered a council house in Rodway Road in Tilehurst and their lives changed again..... 

Kay used to love dancing, she used to attend regularly the dance hall at the Diamond in Londonderry, it was at one of these dances that she met Roy a sailor from England who was stationed in Derry on a boat called The Creole.  Roy was not the best of dancers, she said when recalling his dancing skills "He had 2 left feet" but 2 left feet or not Kay arranged to go on a date with him.  Roy remembers standing at the corner of the street where they had arranged to meet and seeing a coat yes a coat walking down the street with a little head sticking out of the top of it and high stilettos at the bottom...Kay was only 4ft 11 and the coat was a long 40's style swing coat which clearly dwarfed her but that made no difference to Roy as he took one look at her and fell in love. 

Kay and Roy were married on 30th July 1951 at the Long Tower in Derry they spent their honeymoon in Dublin and went as two and came back as 3! There daughter Marie was born 9 months later but Roy was not there as in the intervening time he had been stationed to Hong Kong with the Royal Navy and did not see Marie until she was 2 and a half.  Marie was not the easiest of babies Kay used to say of her "she was a screamer".  Kay remained living with her Mum during this period and it was Kays Mother who also had to endure the relentless sleepless nights with young baby Marie who had them pacing the house!  

Roy returned to Derry but on taking one look at her Dad when the ship docked Marie ran off screaming in the opposite direction...well those of us who know Roy could understand why lol.

Roy then left the Navy and it was decided that as there was not much work in Derry for him that they would return to his home town of Reading in England where he felt he was best able to support his family.  This was an extremely hard decision for Kay to make as she had to leave all her family and her beloved Derry where she had spent all her life.....how easy was the next stage of her life going to be? 

My Dad always used to sing this song to my Mum... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X66cIgdcfGs

Kathleen was born on the 17th January 1925 in Derry Northern Ireland.  She was the first born daughter.  Not much is known about Kathleens very early childhood as it is not something she really discussed that much with any of us her family.  She had one younger sister Lily, and one younger brother Raymond and they all lived at 329 Bishop Street. Her Mother and Father had another child who sadly passed away very young. Kathleen grew up in a loving family and it was with great sadness that she waved her father off to find work in America.

Kathleen's father set off to America to follow his sister as there was little work for him in Derry and he felt that he could give his family a better life in the USA.  He left Kathleen's Mother and the rest of the siblings behind with the plan that when he had got settled there they would follow him out for a new life.

Sadly the McClintock family never made it to the USA as Kathleen's father died of a heart attack on a New York street.  There was no identification on him when he was found but then they uncovered a letter in his top pocket addressed to his beloved daughter Kathleen....

Kathleen left school at 14 and set off to work in one of the shirt factories in Derry and most of her wages were handed over to her Mother to help support the family and her younger siblings....these were not easy years for any of the family, but life was to change for Kathleen when she found true love.....